Briefing note, 13 March 1998

13 March 1998


John Mills, the media officer for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that Mrs. Mary Robinson had yesterday issued a statement regarding letters she had written to President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and President Franjo Tudjman of the Republic of Croatia. Copies of the High Commissioner's statement were put downstairs yesterday afternoon. Today, the High Commissioner was following up on those letters through her office in Belgrade. She had three extra human rights officers ready to move to Pristina the minute approval for their entry was granted.

Mr. Mills said that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination yesterday concluded its consideration of the report of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This morning it was concluding the report of Armenia and this afternoon, CERD would start with Libya. Next Monday, there were two short considerations, Cameroon and then Cambodia. Conclusions would be adopted starting next Tuesday but they would normally not be available until the end of the week.

Mr. Mills said that he had a question at the last briefing regarding the Working Group on Disappearances report which did not mention the very large numbers of refugees presumed missing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The explanation for that was that the working methods of the Working Group on Disappearances give it a very specific role which is to act as the link between families of people who disappeared and Governments in order to obtain information about the fate of missing people. There needed to be a report to the Working Group from a family or a non-governmental organization with a link to a family. In the absence of such reports, the situation of the missing people in the former Zaire had not come under the mandate of the Working Group.

In response to a follow-up question, Mr. Mills said that the work of the Working Group on Disappearances acted as a humanitarian link between extended families and close friends who were worried about people they knew and who did not have easy access to authorities for reasons which were understandable in some cases. The Working Group functioned as a link to assist those people who were worried to find out what had happened to loved ones, and its record over the years had been impressive. If members of a family approached the Working Group about missing persons in the former Zaire, they would look into it. But there had been not such requests to date.

Pre-empting a regular question at recent briefings Mr. Mills said that he understood that there would be a decision this afternoon on announcing a new Special Rapporteur for the Former Yugoslavia.

Finally, regarding the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Mills said that there was a list of dignitaries issued by the Information Service in its calender. Another list covering dignitaries for the whole of the Commission was also available. Mr. Mills said that, thanks to the support Mme Gastaut, he would be assisted during the Commission by Mme Sophie Zaouche who would be in Room C337 and contactable on 9171905.

A correspondent said that she had been told that there had been special security measures during the Commission, with certain restrictions on how to enter which mainly affected NGOs. She wanted to know what were the special security measures and whether they affected journalists as well and whether he could confirm that these measures had been taken because last year, people pretending to be members of NGOs who were actually members of an unspecified Indian terror organization had harassed members of the Commission, and the year before, it was supposed to be members of the Basque separatist group ETA who were bullying certain members of the Commission. She asked what the special measures would be. She also said that in the past, NGOs could place speakers on their list who were not members of their organization, therefore, for instance allowing torture victims to speak to the audience. NGOs she had spoken to feared that in future, these kind of direct witnesses would not have access to the Commission.

Mr. Mills said that this year, procedures in Geneva would be like procedures in place at Headquarters in New York. The key security-related change this year was that both delegations and NGOs entering the grounds to attend the Commission or other meetings were going to be required to have picture identification cards. This was the same procedure in place in New York at the moment. There had been over the past few years a number of concerns, he would not specify which particular concerns had triggered what actions, but after the last Commission, there had been a careful review involving the Security Office of UNOG, the Office of the High Commissioner and other departments. There was no intention for there to be any reduction in the participation of NGOs. NGOs which had consultative status with the Economic and Social Council would be allowed to participate and they would continue to be able to nominate the members of their delegations according to their own criteria as had been practised in the past. The United Nations was not envisioning constraints on the participation of NGOs in the Commission.

A correspondent asked if journalists could have access to the main hall with their press badges. Mr. Mills said that the only exception to the rule regarding picture identity cards was for journalists. Visiting journalists would not have to go over to the accreditation office at the Villa Feuillantine. They could enter with the badges they were given, and the accredited press to UNOG already had badges with their pictures on them.

A reporter noted that contrary to last years, there had been no traditional background briefing for the Commission. She also suggested that now that a French attache had been appointed, a Spanish press attache should follow. She said that in a report of the Working Group on Disappearances, the report quoted 343 people missing and a graph had only 338 persons. She wondered where those five missing persons were.

Mr. Mills said that he took note of her first two points. Regarding the inconsistent figures on Mexico, there was an error between the figure given in the text relating to Mexico and the graph. There had been an error in generating the graph and the figure in the text was correct. The journalist said that this was a very delicate error and it was not possible for journalists to work with reports like this. Mr. Mills said he had already raised this point with the person assisting with the Working Group.

A correspondent asked who set up the speakers list for foreign ministers in the Commission and how come Iran had the honour to being the first speaker. Mr. Mills said he had no information on that point, but noted that Iran was currently the Chair of the Organization of Islamic Conference.