HR/CN/755

SUBCOMMISSION ON PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION AND PROTECTION OF MINORITIES CONCLUDES FORTY-EIGHTH SESSION

The panel, at this forty-eighth gathering, received and discussed the first part of an in-depth study on the situation of systematic rape, sexual slavery and slave-like practices during wartime, including internal conflict (document E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/26). It also was presented with a final report on the challenge posed to human rights by extreme poverty and heard -- as it has for several years -- further contentions from its expert members, country delegations and non-governmental organizations that more attention should be paid to economic, social and cultural rights, especially to problems hindering economic development in much of the world. Those views were also expressed during the debate on another agenda item, "the new international economic order and the promotion of human rights".

As in previous years, the Subcommission reviewed human rights situations in specific countries. It passed resolutions on the state of human rights in Kosovo, Rwanda, Burundi, Iraq, Iran and the Israeli-occupied Arab territories. It approved Chairman's statements encouraging the "transition to peace" in Guatemala, deploring recent violent clashes in Cyprus, expressing its "strongest condemnation" of the kidnapping or murder of hostages anywhere, and -- by secret ballot -- adopted a decision calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Chechnya.

It also adopted without a vote a resolution expressing deep concern at reports of the serious consequences the international economic embargo imposed on Iraq was having on that country's civilian population, and appealed for more effective supply of food and medicines to civilians.

In other resolutions, the Subcommission expressed support for the convening of a world conference to combat racism and racial discrimination; recommended that governments prohibit the advertising or publicizing of sex tourism; recommended that relevant international forums, in particular the Conference on Disarmament, should immediately start negotiations on nuclear disarmament with the ultimate goal of eliminating those weapons; requested the

Commission on Human Rights to establish a working group to examine the effects of the activities of transnational corporations on economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development; and decided to entrust one of its members with the task of preparing a working paper on the "potentially adverse consequences of scientific progress and its applications for the integrity, dignity and human rights of the individual".

In total, the Subcommission adopted 36 resolutions, 19 decisions, and three Chairman's statements.

On the subject of indigenous peoples -- a matter of considerable concern to the Subcommission for a number of years -- several resolutions and decisions were adopted, including a recommendation that the Commission appoint Subcommission expert Erica-Irene A. Daes as Special Rapporteur to conduct a comprehensive study of the problem of recognition of and respect for indigenous land rights.

Much time and debate were devoted to the Subcommission's methods of work, in part in response to requests for a review by the panel's parent body, the Commission.

Formed in 1947 to undertake studies and make recommendations to the Commission, the Subcommission often has carried out seminal work on international standards for the protection of human rights. Debate at its sessions largely has been based on the studies and reports prepared by its 26 members, who are independent experts elected by the Commission. Two closed meetings were held this year to discuss methods of work, while in plenary numerous suggestions were made on how the panel might modify its agenda item on the question of violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any country in order to avoid duplication of Commission actions and more effectively achieve positive results.

Among action taken on that question, the panel decided not to propose any new studies or reports at the session, with the exception of working papers without financial implications and cases where studies or reports were specifically recommended by competent working groups of the Subcommission. It also decided to take no action at next year's session under that same agenda item in respect of human rights situations which the Commission was considering under the public procedures for dealing with human rights violations. At its closing meeting this morning, the panel adopted its report, which contains a streamlined 1997 provisional agenda of 14 items, compared to the 22 examined at the 1996 session.

During closed meetings under its "1503 procedure", the Subcommission considered, as it does every year, communications from individuals or groups claiming their rights had been violated by governments.

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The just concluded session was opened with an address by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jos� Ayala-Lasso, who also dealt with the idea of a change in tactics by noting that challenges to rights and fundamental freedoms were changing in character and complexity and required a shift from theoretical discussion to practical responses. This morning, a representative of the Centre for Human Rights, speaking on behalf of Mr. Ayala-Lasso, underlined the role played by the Subcommission in the evolution of the human activities of the United Nations.

Before adjourning this morning, the Subcommission Chairman, Asbjorn Eide (Norway), issued a positive evaluation of the session, which he said had seen the in-depth review of the panel's working methods, including the decision not to examine country situations already being considered by the Commission. There were still problems, chief among them the lack of time: the Subcommission had too much work to squeeze into four weeks. But in considering the difficulties, one must also see the Subcommission as a forum of collaboration and cooperation for the promotion of the global enjoyment of human rights.

Action on Human Rights Violations in Any Country

Regarding violations of human rights anywhere in the world, the Subcommission adopted resolutions and decisions through which it:

-- Supported warmly the Middle East peace process begun at Madrid and the subsequent bilateral negotiations through which it had been continued; endorsed the achievements to date, which constituted important initial and continuing steps in achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, and urged all parties to implement the agreements which had been reached, expressing the hope that successful steps would be taken soon;

-- Strongly condemned the large-scale repression, measures and practices of discrimination and the violation of human rights committed against the defenceless ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo by the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro);

-- Appealed to the international community to provide the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with the means to enable it to prosecute and try those guilty of genocide and massacres in that country; and called upon the Government of Rwanda to intensify its efforts to ensure that those persons incarcerated, among whom there were very probably innocent persons, were brought to trial;

-- Noted favourably the adoption by the Security Council of the report by the International Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of Burundian President Melchior Ndadaye in October 1993, and into the massacres that followed; considered that the prompt publication of that report should make it

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possible to remove immediately from Burundian public life those whose direct responsibility in the assassination and the massacres had been demonstrated, irrespective of ethnic group of position in Burundian institutions, including the army;

-- Expressed its concern at the exceptional gravity of the human rights situation in Iraq; requested the Government of Iraq to respect all obligations undertaken in accepting Security Council resolution 986 (1995) and to guarantee a fair and equitable distribution of humanitarian supplies to all regions of Iraq; and strongly condemned the violation of human rights by the Government of Iraq and the horrible deterioration of social conditions in the country;

-- Welcomed, in a Chairman's statement, the signing on 6 May by the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) of the Agreement on Socio-economic Aspects and the Agrarian Situation; expressed its concern that the reports on the situation of human rights in Guatemala continued to indicate that serious violations of human rights persisted, despite the measures taken by the new Government there;

-- Reaffirmed that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian and other Arab territories, including Jerusalem, constituted a gross violation of human rights; called upon the States parties to the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War to ensure respect by Israel for the Convention; called upon Israel to comply with international obligations and respect international law, to desist from establishing Israeli settlements in the Palestinian and other occupied territories, and to dismantle them;

-- Requested the Government of Iran to investigate fully in order to end the alleged violations of human rights in the country which included: excessive use of the death penalty; numerous cases of torture and inhuman treatment and punishment; failure to meet international standards for due process and administration of justice; religious discrimination; expressed deep concern at continuing reports of aggression against Iranian Kurdish refugees and rocket attacks against Iranian opponents' bases on the territory of neighbouring countries; and

-- Expressed deep concern at the reports of the serious consequences the international economic embargo imposed on Iraq for the past six years was having on the entire civilian population in Iraq, in particular on children, women and the most underprivileged sectors of the population; and decided to appeal once again to the international community as a whole and to all governments, including that of Iraq, to facilitate the supply of food and medicines to the civilian population.

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Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Under its consideration of racial discrimination, the Subcommission adopted texts by which it:

-- Called upon States to contribute generously to the Trust Fund for the Programme for the Third Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination; requested the Secretary-General to take every measure to ensure implementation of the recommendation by the General Assembly to establish a focal point on racism within the Centre for Human Rights for the coordination of the activities under the Third Decade.

Administration of Justice and Human Rights of Detainees

Acting on administration of justice and human rights of detainees, the Subcommission:

-- Decided to transmit the revised draft basic principles and guidelines on the right to reparation for victims of gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms to the Commission for its consideration, together with comments of the sessional working group on the administration of justice and the question of compensation;

-- Requested that Subcommission member Stanislav V. Chernichenko work in cooperation with member David Weissbrodt to compile and update the study on the right to a fair trial and a remedy so that it could be published in one volume in the United Nations Human Rights Study Series in all official languages of the Organization;

-- Requested the Special Rapporteur on human rights and states of emergency to update the list of States which had proclaimed, extended or terminated a state of emergency with a view to its consideration at its forty-ninth session; and

-- Decided to request the Special Rapporteur on the administration of justice and the human rights on the question of impunity of perpetrators of violations of human rights (civil and political rights) to submit to its forty-ninth session a revised version of the set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity.

Contemporary Forms of Slavery

Under its consideration of contemporary forms of slavery the Subcommission:

-- Welcomed the preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur on systematic rape and sexual slavery during periods of armed conflict, and

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requested her to submit her final report to the Subcommission's forty-ninth session;

-- Recommended that governments prohibit the advertising or publicizing of sex tourism and that they do not facilitate other commercial activities involving sexual exploitation; encouraged governments to establish specific projects for the protection of the victims of traffic in persons and of prostitution from the risk of infection with the HIV virus and the spread of AIDS; and

-- Suggested that the Secretary-General consider entrusting the mandate of the Board of Trustees of the Trust Fund to the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, with a view to greater efficiency and a reduction in operating expenses; and urged all governments, governmental, non-governmental and other relevant organizations and institutions to contribute to the Fund.

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

In a series of actions relating to economic, social and cultural rights, the Subcommission:

-- Urged Member States to strengthen international cooperation for promoting the realization of the right to development; decided to continue consideration of questions related to that right as a sub-item under its item on the new international economic order; requested the Secretary-General to invite all relevant United Nations bodies and agencies to step up their action aimed at promoting international cooperation for the realization of the right to development and to provide to him information thereon;

-- Welcomed the recommendation requesting the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure follow-up, with the possible assistance of experts, while continuing to give priority to the participation of persons living in extreme poverty and the non-governmental organizations representing them;

-- Welcomed with satisfaction the second interim report of the Special Rapporteur on the question of impunity of perpetrators of violations of human rights (economic, social, and cultural rights), and requested the Special Rapporteur to submit his final report to the Subcommission at its forth-ninth session; -- Requested the Commission to establish a working group to identify and examine the effects of the methods of work and activities of transnational corporations on economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development; make recommendations aimed at regulating those methods of work and activities to ensure that they were in keeping with the economic and social objectives of the countries in which they operated;

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-- Appealed to world leaders, through the Commission, when they assembled in Rome for the World Food Summit later this year, to reaffirm the fundamental right of every man, women and child to be free from hunger;

-- Welcomed the provisional report on human rights and income distribution and endorsed the conclusion that the concentration of wealth constituted a serious obstacle to the realization of human rights, and that equality of opportunity was an essential element for participating effectively in the development process;

-- Strongly urged governments to undertake measures at all levels to eliminate the practice of forced eviction and to confer legal security of tenure on all persons, in particular those currently threatened with forced eviction; requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights to give due attention to the practice of forced eviction.

Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples

Acting on matters relating to indigenous populations, the Subcommission:

-- Recommended that the Working Group on Indigenous Populations cooperate as a body of experts in any conceptual clarifications or analysis which might assist the working group established by the Commission to elaborate further the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples; requested the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group to prepare a supplementary note on the concept of "indigenous people";

-- Recommended that the relevant United Nations departments establish separate accounts and separate bodies for the United Nations Voluntary Funds for Indigenous Populations and Voluntary Fund for the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People and, if possible, transfer the financial management of the Funds from New York to Geneva;

-- Recommended that the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples be adopted as early as possible in the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People; and recommended that special attention be given to improving the extent of the participation of indigenous peoples in planning and implementing the activities of the Decade;

-- Requested the Secretary-General, in preparing his review of existing mechanisms, procedures, and programmes within the United Nations concerning indigenous people, to take into account the views and opinions on the permanent forum expressed at the fourteenth session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and information received from indigenous peoples and communities, as well as from governments;

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-- Affirmed that religion or belief was one of the fundamental elements of anyone's conception of life and that freedom of religion or belief should be fully respected and guaranteed; invited the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on religious intolerance to take into account the specific problems faced by indigenous people relating to the destruction and violation of their sacred sites and religious ceremonies;

-- Decided to transmit to the Commission the principles and guidelines annexed to the final report of the Special Rapporteur on the protection of the heritage of indigenous people; welcomed the high priority given to protection of the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples by the States parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity;

-- Recommended that the Commission appoint Erica-Irene A. Daes as Special Rapporteur to conduct a comprehensive study of the problem of recognition of and respect for indigenous land rights; and

-- Decided to request Special Rapporteur Miguel Alfonso Mart�nez to submit his final report on the study on treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between States and indigenous populations in due time to be considered by the Working Group on Indigenous Populations at its fifteenth session.

Protection of Minorities

On matters related to the protection of minorities, the Subcommission urged the Working Group on Minorities to continue to act as the main forum for consideration and possible resolution of problems between minorities and governments, as well as among minorities themselves; and invited the Group to increase its cooperation with the High Commissioner for Human Rights with a view to strengthening his preventive activities and enhancing his responses to minority situations warranting urgent action.

Human Rights and Scientific and Technological Developments

The Subcommission decided to entrust member Osman El-Hajj� with the task of preparing, without financial implications, a working paper on the potentially adverse consequences of scientific progress and its applications for the integrity, dignity and human rights of the individual, and called on the international scientific community and international organizations concerned to cooperate with Mr. El-Hajj� in carrying out that task.

International Peace and Security

On matters concerning international peace and security, the Subcommission:

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-- Affirmed that weapons of mass destruction and, in particular, nuclear weapons should have no role to play in international relations and thus should be eliminated;

-- Further reaffirmed its support for a total ban on the production, marketing and use of such weapons; urged States that had not yet done so to sign and ratify the Convention on Conventional Weapons and Protocols thereto;

-- Urged all States to be guided in their national policies by the need to curb production and spread of weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effect, in particular nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, fuel-air bombs, napalm, cluster bombs, biological weaponry and weaponry containing depleted uranium;

-- Requested the Secretary-General to collect information from governments and other relevant sources on the use of such weapons and on their consequential and cumulative effects, and to submit a report on the matter to the Subcommission at its forty-ninth session.

Freedom of Movement

Acting on freedom of movement, the Subcommission:

-- Affirmed the right of persons to remain in peace in their own homes, on their own lands, and in their own countries; affirmed the right of refugees and internally displaced persons to return voluntarily to their places of origin; urged governments and other actors to cease at once all practices of forced displacement, population transfers and "ethnic cleansing" in violation of international law, and not to forcibly return persons to areas where their lives, security or freedom would be in danger;

-- Decided to entrust one of its members, Volodymyr Boutkevitch, with the task of preparing, without financial implications, a working paper on the right to freedom of movement and related issues for submission to the Subcommission at its forty-ninth session; and

-- Expressed deep concern at the growing manifestations of racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination and inhuman or degrading treatment directed against migrant workers in different parts of the world; and urged countries of employment to comply with basic standards relating to decent treatment.

Promotion of Human Rights Concerning promotion of human rights, the Subcommission deeply regretted that the thirtieth and twentieth anniversaries of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had not been celebrated.

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Human Rights and Women

Acting on human and women, the Subcommission appealed to all governments that had not yet done so to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women without resort to reservations; and urged Member States to adopt measures for the effective implementation of the Declaration, taking into special consideration women and girl child who were at high risk of violence.

Methods of Work of Subcommission

Concerning its methods of work, the Subcommission:

-- Decided to request the Secretary-General to examine the financial and other implications of organizing its sessions according to each of the following proposals: (a) one session of four weeks with two meetings each working day; (b) one session of five weeks with one week of two meetings each working day and four weeks of one meeting each working day; (c) one session of six weeks of one meeting each working day;

-- Recognizing the need of the Subcommission to bring to a successful conclusion studies already initiated, it decided that at its forty-eighth session it would not propose any new studies or reports, with the exception of working papers without financial considerations;

-- Decided to entrust Ribot Hatano with the task of preparing, without financial implications, a working paper containing a compilation of existing guidelines, decisions and other instruments applicable to the procedures of the Subcommission; and

-- Decided to take no action at its forty-ninth session under the item on violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any country on human rights situations which the Commission was considering under the public procedures for dealing with human rights violations.

Other Issues

In other actions, the Subcommission:

-- Decided to entrust two of its members with the preparation, without financial implications, of such a working paper together with two members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, to be submitted to the two bodies at their respective sessions in August 1997.

-- Called upon all States to ensure that their legislation, policies and practices, including those in the context of HIV/AIDS, respected international human rights standards, did not have the effect of inhibiting HIV/AIDS

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prevention and care programmes, in particular with respect to women, children, indigenous peoples, minorities, refugees, migrants, sex workers, men who were homosexuals, injecting drug users and prisoners;

-- Decided to request one of its members, Stanislav V. Chernichenko, an expanded working paper to be entitled "Recognition of gross and massive violations of human rights perpetrated on the orders of governments or sanctioned by them as an international crime";

-- Reaffirmed that traditional practices affecting the health of women and children constituted a definite form of violence against women and a serious violation of the human rights of women;

-- Reiterated its unequivocal condemnation of all acts, methods and practices of terrorism, regardless of motivation, aimed at the destruction of fundamental freedoms, as human rights violations aimed at the destruction of fundamental freedoms and democracy, threatening territorial integrity and security of States, destabilizing legitimately constituted governments, undermining pluralistic civil society, and having adverse consequences on the economic and social development of States;

-- Decided to recommend that the Commission appoint its expert Osman El-Hajj� to prepare an expanded working paper to identify and list obstacles to democracy, classify them by category of rights and propose solutions for their elimination;

-- Requested Special Rapporteur Awn Al-Khasawneh to submit to its forty-ninth session a final report on human rights dimensions of population transfers; and

-- Requested that the declarations it adopted on emergency situations be transmitted immediately to the Department of Public Information so as to ensure their widest possible dissemination.

Subcommission Membership, Officers

The members and alternates (*) of the Subcommission are: Miguel Alfonso Mart�nez, *Marianela Ferriol Echevarr�a (Cuba); Mohammed Sardar Ali Khan (India); Judith Sefi Attah, *Christy Ezim Mbonu (Nigeria); Jos� Bengoa (Chile); Marc Bossuyt, *Guy Genot (Belgium); Volodymr Boutkevitch, *Oleg Shamshur (Ukraine); Stanislav V. Chernichenko, *Teimuraz O. Ramishvili (Russian Federation); Erica-Irene A. Daes, *Kalliopi Koufa (Greece); Asbjorn Eide, *Jan Helgesen (Norway); Osman El-Hajje (Lebanon); Fan Guoxiang, *Zhong Shukong (China); Clemencia Forero Ucros, *Alberto D�az Uribe (Colombia); El Hadji Guiss�, *Ndary Toure (Senegal); Lucy Gwanmesia (Cameroon); Ribot Hatano, *Yozo Yokota (Japan); Louis Joinet, *Emmanuel Decaux (France); Ahmed Khalifa, *Ahmed Khalil (Egypt); Miguel Lim�n Rojas, *H�ctor Fix Zamudio (Mexico); Jos�

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Augusto Lindgren Alves, *Mar�lia S. Zelner Gon�alves (Brazil); Ioan Maxim, *Antoanella Iulia Motoc (Romania); Mustapha Mehedi (Algeria); Claire Palley, *John Merrills (United Kingdom); Sang Yong Park, *Myung Chul Hahm (Republic of Korea); Halima Embarek Warzazi (Morocco); David Weissbrodt, *Gay J. McDougall (United States); and Fisseha Yimer (Ethiopia).

The officers of the 1996 session were: Mr. Eide (Norway), Chairman; Mr. Ali Khan (India), Mr. Chernichenko (Russian Federation) and Mr. Lindgren Alves (Brazil) were Vice-Chairmen; and Ms. Gwanmesia (Cameroon) was the Rapporteur.

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