Briefing note, 24 March 1998

24 March 1998


John Mills, media officer for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said this would be a day for multilateral meetings. High Commissioner Mary Robinson would be meeting with the Director of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, with the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and with the Secretary-General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. In the afternoon, the High Commissioner would be meeting with delegations from the Contact Group countries regarding Kosovo. As announced last week, the High Commissioner was trying to send an additional three human rights officers to Kosovo, but they had not yet been issued with visas.

At 1 p.m., he continued, the High Commissioner would take part in a forum on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights organized by ATD Quart Monde.

Mr. Mills recalled that yesterday evening the High Commissioner had issued a statement expressing her serious concern over the continuing difficulties experienced by the Secretary-General's Investigative Team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The HC had also sent a message yesterday to an NGO gathering opposing the increase in the use of the death penalty.

Tomorrow, the High Commissioner would be chairing a roundtable discussion on the role of benchmarks in realizing econonomic, social and cultural rights. The aim was to make practical and concrete something that had been rather neglected, both in disussions of human rights and in implementation of those rights. An example of what a benchmark might be was the commitment by South Africa that within five years there would be potable water within 200 metres of every person's house. That was a simple benchmark that could mean a lot to the lives of people with no ready access to clean water.

Regarding the Commission on Human Rights, Mr Mills said he had put the first of the daily highlights of the Commission. The highlights gave a quick overview of the agenda items, speakers, reports, press conferences and other events surrounding the Commission. Meanwhile, the Chairman this morning had discussed with the bureau his proposal for a review of the mechanisms and agenda of the Commission. This was very much along the lines of his briefing to the media yesterday. The proposals would also be discussed with the NGOs this afternoon and a paper would be made available tomorrow.

Responding to a question at the last briefing concerning individual communications from Algeria, Mr. Mills said that in the case of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, there were still no communications registered. He was checking regarding the individual petition procedures of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention against Torture, but he expected the answer to be the same.

Did he have any idea of when Mr.Jiri Dienstbier (Special Rapporteur for the former Yugoslavia) would be coming to Geneva? a correspondent asked. Mr. Mills said he was apparently travelling at the moment. There was an invitation and efforts were underway to find a date when he could come.