Briefing note, 16 January 1998

16 January 1998


The media officer for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that Mrs. Mary Robinson was in Geneva. Yesterday, she met with Prince Ranariddh of Cambodia. This meeting was part of her preparations for the visit to Cambodia next week. This meeting was an opportunity for Prince Ranariddh to present his concerns on a range of human rights issues in his country.

Mr. Mills said the High Commissioner's working visit to Cambodia would run from 22 to 25 January. She would have meetings with the second Prime Minister, Mr. Hun Sen, with other Government officials, with her own Office, as well as with non-governmental organizations and the United Nations agencies working in Cambodia. He noted that the High Commissioner's Office in Cambodia currently comprised around 20 international staff - staff members, consultants and volunteers included - and 30 local staff.

Mr. Mills said that this morning the High Commissioner would meet Mr. Fernando Naranjo, the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica. Mrs. Robinson had not been able to see him when she met other foreign ministers in New York in September.

A correspondent said that when she first took up her post, the High Commissioner had said she would be the voice of victims. More than 1,000 people had been massacred in Algeria since the beginning of Ramadan. The High Commissioner had also said that she would stop making public statements on Algeria, but would use a combination of private and public work. The correspondent noted that the High Commissioner had had no private contact with Algerian officials since the beginning of Ramadan, and asked if she would remain silent on this issue.

Mr. Mills said that concerning Algeria, the High Commissioner very much welcomed the decision by the Algerian authorities to accept the ministerial visit by the European Union troika. She continued to believe that the human rights dimension of Algeria's crisis was a matter for international concern, and she supported efforts to engage the authorities in a way which would enhance the security of people there. The High Commissioner also felt there was a pressing need for humanitarian assistance now for the communities devastated by these murderous attacks. This week, she had raised with senior colleagues in the United Nations system the issue of Algeria, and the aim was to consider what further contributions the United Nations could make to alleviate the situation. Those discussions were continuing and Mr. Mills said that there was not much more he could say about them.

Of course, Mrs. Robinson believed that the killings in Algeria over the recent years and particularly since the onset of Ramadan were an affront to basic human values. She was very aware at the moment of the plight of ordinary men and women and children trying to go about their lives in what must be a terrifyingly insecure atmosphere.

The correspondent said that the High Commissioner had had several months to consult on this issue. Did she have any idea what could be done. Mr. Mills said that the consultations which the correspondent referred to after Mrs. Robinson took office were consultations with the UN's various human rights mechanisms. What she was doing now was moving the issue on and raising it with senior colleagues in the United Nations system. The High Commissioner had seen that the first step would be to talk to the United Nations human rights "network" and then see what the United Nations system could do.

The correspondent asked whether the High Commissioner was speaking to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or other specialized agencies for humanitarian assistance. Mr. Mills said that he could not go on further on this issue. Obviously, people like Mrs. Sadako Ogata, the High Commissioner for Refugees , and Mrs. Carol Bellamy, the head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), were part of the ongoing discussions.

The correspondent said that people were not suffering in Algeria, they were dying, and asked what could humanitarian help do for them. Mr. Mills said that it was obvious that when large numbers of people were killed, whole communities became devastated by these attacks and there was a need for humanitarian assistance to help the suffering among the survivors and wounded, the children who were orphaned and the old people who were left without support. There was a humanitarian dimension. That was not Mrs. Robinson's main focus which was the protection of the ordinary people trying to go about their lives. She was raising this as one aspect which was a matter of concern.

Asked if there had been any contacts between Mrs. Robinson and Algerian officials in 1998, Mr. Mills said that the correspondent had raised this question in the context of what the High Commissioner had said about quiet diplomacy. If he started discussing these contacts, they would no longer be private. Mr. Mills said that he was not aware as to whether there had been contacts, but if there had been contacts and the High Commissioner wished them to be known, then correspondents would hear about them.

Concerning Chiapas, a correspondent said that last Tuesday, a couple of organizations from Mexico presented the High Commissioner with a suggestion to create a permanent Commission for Human Rights in Chiapas, similar to the Office that the High Commissioner had opened in Colombia. The correspondent asked if the High Commissioner had considered the project.

Mr. Mills said that for the benefit of other correspondents who were not familiar with this issue - last Tuesday, a delegation from the international committee of the "Frente Zapatista de Liberación Nacional" (FZLN) came to the Palais des Nations and met staff of the Office of the High Commissioner concerned with the indigenous programme. They presented a letter for the High Commissioner which explained their view of the crisis confronting indigenous people in their region. The representatives of FZLN requested the High Commissioner to urge the Mexican authorities to ensure the protection of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas and to establish a permanent presence in the region. The High Commissioner had seen the letter, was studying the dossier and would be responding to it. He would try to make that response public. The Special Rapporteur on Summary, Arbitrary and Extrajudicial Executions, Mr. Bacre N'Diaye, had received considerable information on the killings in Chiapas and would shortly send a communication to the Government of Mexico for their comments. He said this would be a private communication, but his concerns and the responses of the Government would be in his report, possibly to the Commission on Human Rights but certainly to the General Assembly.

Asked whether Ambassador Sahnoon (the United Nations and OAU envoy for the Great Lakes Region) was now a consultant to the High Commissioner and what his mandate might be, Mr. Mills said he had no information on this point.

A correspondent asked if the issue of "land rights" would be raised in the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Mills said he would check and let her know. The same correspondent asked whether arms trafficking for Rwanda would be discussed by the Commission. Mr Mills said he did not remember it as an agenda item, but that did not mean that it could not come up in the overall consideration of human rights in Rwanda.