COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS CONCLUDES DEBATE ON ECONOMIC RIGHTS, TAKES UP CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

Commission on Human Rights
58th session
11 April 2002
Morning



Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria Speaks,
Experts on Children Present Reports



The Commission on Human Rights completed this morning its annual discussion of economic, social and cultural rights, hearing from a series of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) contending, among other things, that efforts to combat poverty were not receiving sufficient support from the international community and from the richer nations of the world. Several NGOs called for rapid development of a draft optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cutural Rights that would allow complaints of violations of such rights to be filed by individuals.
Statistics were cited by several organizations, including Pax Romana, which said that in the year 2000 the global outlay for defense was around $ 825 billion while Official Development Assistance fell to a low of $ 53 billion.
Brief introductions of reports were provided by Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the impact of armed conflict on children, and by Juan Miguel Petit, the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography.
Mr. Otunnu said the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian occupied territories and loss of civilian life, including children and women, and the growing humanitarian emergency were a cause of concern. The Special Representative urged the Israeli authorities to ensure the application of humanitarian law, in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The phenomenon of suicide bombings was also unacceptable on all grounds and was particularly tragic since it affected children. He also expressed concern about abducted children in northern Uganda.
Mr. Petit said this was his first statement before the Commission and he would have liked to go into some detail, but this would not be possible due to time restrictions. The whole human rights community was in difficulty when situations such as this occurred. In his report, the Rapporteur remarks among other things that children are at greater risk than adults of contracting HIV/AIDS when both are in prostitution, given children's comparative physical weakness and lack of knowledge and experience about how to protect themselves.
Toward the end of the meeting, the Commission began its debate on civil and political rights, listening to statements from Pakistan and Spain (on behalf of the European Union).
Alhaji Sule Lamido, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, delivered a guest address, telling the Commission among other things that the capacity of many countries to promote the right to development for their citizens was gravely constrained by crippling debt burdens, poverty, diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and lack of access to technology. Mr. Lamido also said legitimate quests for fundamental freedoms and universally accepted civil and political rights should not be construed as terrorism.
During the meeting Commission Chairman Krzysytof Jakubowski read out a statement announcing that a ceremony would take place in New York later today marking the arrival of the sixtieth ratification of the Rome Statute, thus bringing the entry into force of the International Criminal Court established by the Statute.
Speaking at the morning session were representatives of Himilayan Research and Cultural Foundation; Internfaith International; Medecins du Monde; International Association for Non-Aligned Studies; International Organization for the Development of Freedom of Education; Organization for Defending Victims of Violence; Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law, and Development; International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development; Asian Legal Resource Centre; Colombian Commission of Jurists; Pax Romana; Association Tunisienne pour l'auto developpement et la solidarite; Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; Liberal International; Indian Movement "Tupaj Amaru"; Society for Threatened Peoples; Women's International Democratic Federation; International Fellowship of Reconciliation; American Association of Jurists; International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples; Habitat International Coalition; Movement against Racism and for Friendship among Peoples; International Institute for Peace; Indigenous World Association; International Council of AIDS Service Organizations; and International Human Rights Law Group.
Delivering statements in exercise of the right of reply were Turkey, Cuba, Algeria, Cyprus, Sierra Leone, and the United States.
The Commission will reconvene at 3 p.m. to carry on with its discussion of civil and political rights.

General Statement
ALHAJI SULE LAMIDO, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, said Nigeria was perhaps a case study in how a Government, with abiding faith and commitment, could positively change its human rights record almost instantly. At the moment, Nigeria had several human rights bills before the National Assembly aimed at bringing domestic laws into line with international standards. The Government had also approved ratification of the Optional Protocols of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Until a few days ago, many countries, human rights groups and members of several civil societies abroad had expressed concern over the case of Safiya Hussein, a woman who was sentenced to death by a Shari'a court. While some countries appealed for clemency, several others believed that Nigeria should be cited for gross violation of human rights. However, Nigeria had always believed in the integrity of its judicial system, respect for rule of law and due process, as typified by the outcome of the case, in which the accused was set free through due process.
Mr. Lamido said that as Nigeria worked towards ensuring civil and political rights for its people, it was not losing sight of the fact that without education, health, employment, and housing, civil and political rights would not mean much. The capacity of many developing countries to promote the right to development for their citizens was gravely constrained by crippling debt burdens, poverty, diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and lack of access to technology. In the case of Nigeria, its ability to guarantee the right to development of its citizens was further threatened by the continuous refusal of some developed countries to repatriate Nigeria's funds illicitly transferred into their banks in spite of bilateral and multilateral treaties. The Commission should take the lead in the fight to repatriate those funds to their countries of origin, at least for the sake of children.
Nigeria rejected terrorism in all its manifestations, Mr. Lamido said. Nigeria did not subscribe to the perception that every act of a people in pursuit of their legitimate needs and aspirations should be dismissed as terrorism. The quest by people for fundamental freedoms and universally accepted civil and political rights should not be construed as terrorism. Nigeria was inclined to believe that any oppression of those seeking to enjoy such freedoms and rights would amount to an act of terrorism. There was a need for a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of terrorism, for it was not something which should be judged from the prism of materialism, but one that deserved appreciation through enhanced knowledge of other peoples' cultures and through tolerance of other civilizations. Indeed, from African experience of the colonial struggles on the continent, Nigeria was aware that armed resistance, for example, was the only recourse available to some oppressed peoples in the pursuit of their legitimate right to self-determination.

Rights of the Child
In advance of general debate under this agenda item the Commission heard introductions to two reports.
The report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict (E/CN.4/2002/85) notes among other things that instruments for protection of such children had been strengthened by the coming into force of the relevant Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child; that nonetheless the plight of children in situations of armed conflict will remain grave unless all parties to conflicts adhere to international standards for protecting children; that the Special Representative is working on methods for monitoring and reporting on the situation in such children; that impunity must be addressed; that a research network and coordinated secretariat have been established on the rights of children in armed conflicts; that the Commission on Human Rights should appoint a Special Rapporteur for northern Uganda to monitor and report to the commission on the situation there and to call for immediate dismantling of "protected villages" and the return of affected populations to their homes; and that an informal working group has been set up on child-protection training for peacekeeping personnel..
The report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (E/CN.4/2002/88) notes that it is the first for the current Rapporteur, who was appointed in July 2001; outlines anticipated working methods, including the use of urgent appeals and letters of allegation transmitted to Governments, and methods of investigation of individual complaints of the sale of children and of the involvement of children and prostitution; and provides brief commentary on two issues: the entry into force of the relevant Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the link between HIV/AIDS and children caught up in prostitution. The Rapporteur remarks that children are at greater risk than adults of contracting HIV/AIDS when both are in prostitution, given children's comparative physical weakness and lack of knowledge and experience about how to protect themselves.

Presentation of Reports
OLARA OTUNNU, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the impact of armed conflict on children, introducing his report (E/CN.4/2002/85), said the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian occupied territories and loss of civilian life, including children and women, and the growing humanitarian emergency were a cause of concern. The Special Representative urged the Israeli authorities to ensure the application of humanitarian law, in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The phenomenon of suicide bombings was unacceptable on all grounds and was particularly tragic since it affected children. Concern was felt as well over abducted children in northern Uganda. There were reports of major military operations by the Ugandan People's Defense Forces in Sudan. The primary casualties of these operations were young persons who themselves had been victims of abduction. The Governments of Sudan and Uganda were urged to ensure the safety of abducted children. The recent report concerning allegations of sexual exploitation in refugee camps was serious and called for serious investigation. Preventive measures were needed to eliminate such practices and abuses. An important victory for children had been the coming into force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ratification of the Rome Statute. These victories should be translated into tangible results on the ground.
JUAN MIGUEL PETIT, Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, introduced his report E/CN.4/2002/88) and said it was his first statement before the Commission and he would have liked to go into some detail, but this would not be possible due to time restrictions. The whole human rights community was in difficulty when situations such as this occurred.

Debate on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
K. WARIKOO, of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, said that in Afghanistan, there had been a total collapse of all social and economic structures under the Taliban regime. The regime had turned the country into a breeding ground for training terrorists, fundamentalists, drug production and arms trafficking. Agriculture, industry, trade, handicrafts, the monetary system, education, health care -- all had been in shambles. Similarly, there were devastating consequences from terrorism and religious extremism in Jammu and Kashmir. Terrorists there defined their campaigns in terms of religion and in opposition to the indigenous composite cultural ethos. The damage caused to the social fabric by religious extremists and terrorists during the past 12 years had systematically violated the economic, social and cultural rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
MOHAMMAD AHSAN, of Interfaith International, said the economic, social and cultural rights of the people of Sindh province in Pakistan continued to be grossly violated by the ruling ethnic majority of Punjabis in Pakistan. Sindh province depended on its agrarian economy. But reduction in the quantity of water from the river Sindh to the farmers of the province had seriously threatened their means of subsistence. The water of Sindh was being given to Punjab at the expense of Sindh. The oligarchy of Punjab province also perpetrated discrimination in the field of employment. The Commission was called upon to urge the Islamabad Government to take steps to replace the current Pakistani Constitution with one that reflected the spirit of the Pakistan Resolution of 1940. That alone could do justice to ethnic and religious minorities in Pakistan.
GRACIELA ROBERT, of Medecins du Monde, said the right to health, much like other basic and fundamental rights, was not being respected. The right to health was a comprehensive right which included the right to access. This depended largely on the political will of the State. A crucial problem related to globalization was access to drugs and medicines. Essential drugs and treatments were inaccessible to the vast majority of the world's population. This constituted a violation of the right to health. The Commission was reminded that 2.4 billion people lacked access to any health infrastructure. It was possible to reduce this staggering number and it was the duty of the Commission and the States present here today to do so.
HARISH GUPTA, of the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, said that without educating the girl child and including women in adult literacy programmes, their involvement in rapidly creating a modern social economy and polity could not be realized. The experience of many east and south Asian countries had shown that. The scope of the economic, social and cultural rights, along with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, had now been extended to include the basic needs of humanity. A child who grew up subjected to corporal punishment was likely to repeat such abuse on the next generation; he or she was likely to lack self-esteem and confidence and to be over dependent on his or her parents. It was necessary for developed countries to realize that it had taken them more than three centuries to create the economic infrastructure needed to support relatively satisfactory implementation of economic, social and cultural rights for all citizens.
ALFRED FERNANDEZ, of the International Organization for the Development of Freedom of Education, said his organization worked to promote education and access to schooling. The right to education must be given prominence. The organization had published a report on the education situation in 85 countries. This was the first study undertaken on the implementation of the right to education. The report concentrated on legal aspects of the freedom of teaching and pointed to a lack of legal provisions authorizing the creation of private schools. The study also indicated that 39 per cent of countries subsidized the salaries of teachers. These countries also had a high level of education, according to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indicators.
YADOLLAH MOHAMMADI TCHRANI, of the Organization for Defending Victims of Violence, said globalization had been the central issue of the beginning of the century. This concept was widely used by all walks of life throughout the world. Globalization must be an opportunity for all, an opportunity which made a new atmosphere, an atmosphere for development, peace, justice and human dignity everywhere on the globe. Actions that had been taken so far were invaluable but more work was needed. In a world where information technology and increasing awareness had brought human beings more and more close to each other, human rights violations were no longer acceptable. While expressing concern over existing human rights violations, the organization expressed hope for a world of peace and security based on respect for human dignity.
VIRADA SOMSWASDI, of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, said research over the last six years in the Asian region had shown that current economic policies and programmes under World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements were having devastating impacts on people and the environment. For many developing countries in the region, the situation had clearly deteriorated. Climate impacts due to massive globalization had led to water shortages, deforestation and desertification. There had been increased contamination of land and water systems from the use of pesticides and fertilizers under cash cropping programmes. Research had found that the negative impacts of WTO agreements combined with structural adjustment programmes had further marginalized small producers and had increased unemployment and poverty. It also had found that the emphasis on trade and exports had undoubtedly benefited exporters and transnational corporations but had left the poor with decreased access to the land and food which they needed to survive.
ISABELLE SOLON, of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, said the time had come to complement the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights with a complaints mechanism that would significantly contribute to the realization of those rights. Adoption of an optional protocol was important in both principle and practice. In principle, it would illustrate the commitment of States to the indivisibility of all human rights and in practice it would offer victims of violations a forum for submitting complaints and for seeking remedies for violations. The Commission was urged to create an open-ended working group with a mandate to proceed towards early adoption of such a protocol.
ASMIN FRANSISKA, of the Asian Legal Resource Centre, said on 29 November 2001, Dr. Salao Tun Than appeared in front of Yangon Town Hall, Myanmar, in his academic gown. There he began handing out a petition calling for the military Government of Myanmar to step down and allow for multi-party elections within one year. Within minutes he was taken away by members of the security forces. He had since been held in prison. He was now seventy-four years old. Dr. Salai Tun Than was an agricultural scientist who had devoted his life to the rural development of Myanmar. His arrest reinforced the validity of previous statements made by the Centre. It exposed the regime's rhetorical pretensions towards economic and social development as fraudulent. It also demonstrated the patent absurdity of an authoritarian military Government talking about fundamental economic rights first, democratization later.
NATALIA LOPEZ, of the Colombian Commission of Jurists, said that her organization considered that it was of vital importance for the Commission to work towards the adoption of an optional protocol to the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights during the current session. Some Latin American Governments, far from promoting the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights, had eroded these rights. In Colombia, for example, Congress had approved in 2001 a Constitutional reform that cut the budgets for education and health. Consequently, the number of people who would not be able to access health services and education would increase, thus aggravating the situation in several regions of the country. The Colombian Commission of Jurists supported the recommendation that the proposed working group on the adoption of an optional protocol should be open to NGOs and other social actors.
MBOJE MJOMBE, of Pax Romana, said the outcome of the Monterrey meeting on financing for development had been meagre when compared to every-day financing for defense. The contributions by the European countries and the United States in response to Monterrey were about $ 12 billion, which did not even cover the costs envisaged for health or universal primary education. On the other hand, for the year 2000, the global outlay for defense was around $ 825 billion. For the same year, Official Development Assistance fell to a low of $53 billion. This was totally unacceptable because it increased the inequalities already so pronounced because of globalization. As long as finance, the dominant factor of globalization, remained footloose and eradication of poverty was densely politicized, the poor had no food to eat, no place to sleep and no schools for their children. The relevant Special Rapporteur was called on to explore adequately ways and means to make primary education universal.
ANA LEURINDA, of Association Tunisienne pour l'Auto-Developpement et la Solidarite (ATLAS), said that according to the organization's experience on the ground, solidarity and the fight against poverty were important for the promotion of human rights and respect for human dignity. It was still useful to recall that human rights were indivisible and it was necessary to deal with them using a global approach. The Tunisian Parliament had just adopted a text amending the Constitution with regard to public life, focusing particularly on human rights and fundamental freedoms. Constitutional reforms were devoted to fostering tolerance and solidarity as the basis for society. Tunisia had proposed an initiative, adopted by the General Assembly, to create an International Fund for Solidarity. The fund would be devoted to eradicating poverty.
MARTA VASQUEZ, of the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees, said that the situation prevailing in many Latin American countries was one of daily poverty and hunger. The worst forms of political repression such as torture, forced disappearances and murder, were linked to violations of economic, social and cultural rights. The spiral of violations had its root in situations of structural violence, to lack of food, and to misery, which constituted a form of violence against human beings that was as serious as torture. Economic reforms, corrupt politicians and transnational corporations made the situation worse. Poor people bore the burden of foreign debt, which exclusively benefited small corrupt segments of society. Through their policies, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund exacerbated this repression. These institutions should incorporate human rights into their policies. They should not forget the plight of starving people, the jobless, and the old when adopting their policies.
ANNA BIONDI, of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions,, said the union movement had always lobbied strongly for the recognition of a link between trade and human rights, especially in regard to labour rights. The Confederation was greatly disappointed at the World Trade Organization's failure to commit to beginning a process to address the relationship between trade and core labour standards, and at its failure to meet the trade unions demand for a guarantee that public services and socially beneficial service sector activities would be exempted from the General Agreement on Trade in Services. This was a negative outcome of the GATS negotiations. The WTO needed to reflect deeply on the crisis of legitimacy faced by the international system at large at a time of accelerating globalization. There were glaring contradictions in the multilateral system. It was hoped that the newly launched ILO World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization would lead to a new way of thinking on these difficult issues, and that it would be able to indicate the way for changing the process of globalization to allow reduction of poverty and unemployment and to foster growth and sustainable development.
RAMON COLAS, of Liberal International, said he had had to leave Cuba 30 years ago to escape repression. The Cuban educational system was designed to make students absorb official opinion. The educational system was guided by the official ideology, which did not allow free thought. There were some people who were languishing at present in Cuban prisons because of their activities in promoting free thought. With regard to health care, in principle, there was free access to medical treatment in Cuba, but foreigners had priority for health care before Cubans.
LAZARO PARY, of the Indian Movement "Tupaj Amaru", said the ultra liberal policies pursued by the financial institutions of Bretton Woods, both in the development area and with regard to the promotion of economic rights, including environmental protection, were leading the societies of the North and South into a situation of chaos and disorder in which basic national resources were offered up to the voracity of transnational corporations. The International Monetary Fund was not an institution whose objective was to promote sustainable development. Social justice based on the fair distribution of wealth was not among its priorities and human rights did not interest it. The situation created by structural adjustment programmes was bleak. The number of poor living on less than $ 2 a day had increased by 50 per cent. According to the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, millions of children were dying of hunger and disease because they were denied their right to food by the Washington Consensus. At the beginning of the third Millennium, more than 180 million Latin Americans lived in abject poverty.
ULRICH DELIUS, of the Society for Threatened Peoples, said southeast Anatolia, the Kurdish area in Turkey, was a devastated region. Around 2.5 million Kurds had been displaced during the armed conflict between the Turkish State and the radical Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) since 1984. Over 3,000 villages had been partially or totally destroyed by the Turkish Army. Agricultural use of the highlands was banned, which meant the loss of animal husbandry, a major means of livelihood. Thousands of acres of forests had been set afire and fields and possessions in the evacuated villages seized by village guards or destroyed. Most refugees would prefer to go back to their villages, but many had been refused permission because a state of emergency remained in force. The Commission must urge the Turkish Government to immediately lift the state of emergency in Kurdish areas and allow the return of refugees and the reconstruction of destroyed villages. The Commission must express its deep concern about ongoing human rights abuses against Kurds in Turkey.
MICHELE MURPHY, of the Women's International Democratic Federation, said there were approximately 20 million Kurds living in Turkey. There also were dense Kurdish populations in Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The existence of these people was threatened, let alone their social and cultural rights. When Kurds struggled for recognition of their rights, they were confronted with violence. While Turkey debated democracy, Kurdish university students petitioned for the use of Kurdish as an educational option and Kurdish mothers demanded that their children be educated in their mother tongue. Students and mothers demanding these rights were met with threats and expulsions from universities. Students were tried in State Security Courts. The non-recognition of the social and cultural rights of the Kurds also created uncertainty related to their basic everyday needs.
TSEWANG LHADON, of International Fellowship of Reconciliation, said that according to UN Development Programme data, Tibet remained one of the poorest regions in the world. Beijing implemented economic policies in Tibet designed to enrich the Chinese Government and encourage population transfers of Chinese settlers into towns and cities in Tibet, while the plight of the vast majority of Tibetans, who struggled to eke out their existence in rural areas, was ignored. High fees and the increasing use of the Chinese language as a medium for education meant that most Tibetan children did not receive education past primary school. There were unacceptable levels of malnutrition, tuberculosis and other poverty-related diseases in Tibet. Many Tibetans were denied the right to adequate housing and unemployment was high, since Tibetans were discriminated against in employment in some urban occupations.
JAIRO SANCHEZ, of the American Association of Jurists, said the World Social Forum had brought up interesting facts on foreign debt. Foreign debt was the main obstacle to the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. Even more worrying, not all debts were real, some debts were the result of fraudulent accounting agreements. These agreements organized it so that debts would be recalled even though they related to non-existent loans. These agreements also included the misuse of funds for private purposes. It amounted to an offense of usury through excessive interest claims and fraud, since countries were forced to continue to pay debts that no longer existed. It was a conspiracy of the elite of both developed and developing countries to prevent people from realizing their economic, social and cultural rights. This ransacking of the people of the Third World could be described as a crime against humanity. Countries could now legitimately oppose paying debts, and the organization called for the extinction of these types of debts and for declaring them illegal.
JULEN MENDOZA, of the International League for the Rights and Liberations of People, said the Panama Plan, signed by Mexico, el Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Belize, and Nicaragua, would be implemented on indigenous land, thus violating international law by depriving indigenous peoples of their own resources. The Plan would entail the expulsion of peasants and the confiscation of their lands. The Plan was a source of concern for indigenous populations, since it did not allow them control over their resources and territories. In some countries, the implementation of social, economic and cultural rights was impossible because of embargos and sanctions. The most flagrant case in point was that of Cuba, which since 1960 had been faced with an embargo the objective of which was to subject it to the dollar policy.
LEILANI FARHA, of Habitat International Coalition, said specialists in the field of economic, social and cultural rights had observed that the art and science of governing within a human rights framework was an exercise in reconciling a series of "dilemmas", balancing powers and responsibilities so as to raise the general level of civilization. For many people, the struggle consisted of defending civil liberties from erosion, indigenous peoples from extinction, minorities from discrimination, health conditions from decline, intellectual freedom from suppression, public security from the misuse of force and the poor from further confrontation with State authority. Many Governments with a traditional aversion to many human rights obligations had perceived human rights as a burden that would complicate the exercise of State power and generate a flurry of impossible demands from all sides.
JEAN JACQUES KIRKYACHARIAN, of the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship among Peoples, said true education of the child -- the future adult -- provided the tools that would be needed for getting along with other human beings. Of particular importance was the language used when educating a child. The significance of the mother tongue was vital. There were many people in the world who were denied the use of their mother tongues, such as the Kurdish people in Turkey. If they demanded to speak their own language accusations of separatism followed. University officials had asked the Government allow teaching in the Kurdish language and as a result had faced torture. The authorities of Turkey must revise their conception of a homogeneous country and allow the wealth and diversity of their nation to flourish.
TATIANA SHAUMIAN, of the International Institute for Peace, said that he would not read his statement. He asked the Commission to circulate it.
RONALD BARNES, of the Indigenous Peoples and Nations Coalition, congratulated the Government of Cuba. Its fortified revolution had allowed it to sustain itself through the decades of blockade by the United States. The puppet machinery sought by the United States had not been allowed into Cuba. Cuba had maintained its absolute sovereignty over its land and resources. In Alaska, institutionally discriminating legislation was allowing systematic destruction of indigenous peoples and their cultures. The United States was exploiting and expropriating the majority of the land and resources of its indigenous peoples through colonial and puppet machinery. Such systematic political domination and economic exploitation were based on the "principle" of the superiority of the white race.
ADITYA BONDYOPADHYAY, of the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations, said India had a reputation for relatively good human rights standards. This good reputation allowed the State to get away with abridging the human rights of sexual minorities. India's National AIDS Control Policy targeted HIV prevention among men who had sex with men (MSM), and the Government of India had invited the participation of NGOs in this work. NGOs that had responded to this invitation faced harassment from the police every day. Outreach workers, often MSM themselves, were regularly beaten, blackmailed, extorted, threatened and sometimes even sexually assaulted or raped by policemen on duty. The Indian State did this because ultimately it did not recognize homosexuals as human beings with human rights. The Commission should hold India responsible both for its actions and its inaction. The Indian Government must ensure that the human rights of all in India were respected, protected, and promoted and that the criminalization of all sexual minorities ended.
MASOODA JALAL, of the International Human Rights Law Group, said there was a need to ensure the inheritance and property rights of millions of women in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone who were struggling to get back to normal life after decades of armed conflict. The Commission was urged to pay special attention and to send special missions to Afghanistan and Sierra Leone to examine the obstacles that millions of women faced in their efforts to repossess homes, land and private property they had lost control of during the armed conflict. Under Sierra Leone's Constitution, a woman could not own property in her own name in most parts of the country. In Afghanistan, over 20 years of armed conflict and natural disasters had severely effected the rights of Afghan women to own property and land.

Rights of Reply
A Representative of Turkey, in a right of reply in reference to a statement by Cyprus yesterday, said the statement had contained outrageous misrepresentations. The Cyprus question started with a Greek Cypriot all-out attack in 1963 on Turkish Cypriots. That was why the UN peacekeeping force had been deployed on the island ever since. In addition, the Greek Cypriots had staged a coup in 1974, aimed at ethnically cleansing Turkish Cypriots from the island. That was why Turkey had intervened in keeping with its obligations as a guarantor power.
A Representative of Cuba, speaking in right of reply in response to a statement made by the United States, said that the latter's statement had highlighted the core of double standards that prevailed in the field of human rights. The United States had refused to acknowledge the harm created by its genocidal blockade of Cuba. US documents clearly set out measures to impose hunger and despair upon the Cuban people. The US embargo had dramatically harmed the health of Cuban people. In the year 2000, $ 28 million extra had been spent by the Cuban Government as a result of the embargo. US action was not limited to the blockade -- the United States had used biological weapons to harm agricultural plans. In 1962, the CIA had introduced a disease into Cuba to undermine Cuban agriculture. Such actions had been taken several times by the United States. The United States delegation was advised to read it own archives.
A Representative of Algeria, speaking in right of reply in response to a statement by the International Human Rights Federation, said that once again the IHRF felt it should give Algeria an economic management lesson. Algeria could do without such lessons. In fact, if there was an NGO that had no right to be in the Commission, it was the IHRF. That organization, which had existed since 1922, had protected colonial policies and massacres from 1922 to 1974, had never demanded that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights be applied to colonial people, and had never condemned apartheid. It had no right to take part in the Commission's discussions.
A Representative of Cyprus, referring to the right of reply of Turkey, said Turkey was attempting to politicize the work of the Commission. It should refrain from such attempts and should stop its propaganda.
A Representative of Sierra Leone, speaking in right of reply in response to the statement of the International Human Rights Law Group, said the organization had misrepresented the situation of women in Sierra Leone. Women occupied public positions in Sierra Leone and owned their own businesses and companies. The presidential candidacy list included 5 women. The allegations of the organization were baseless and useless. Before the organization spoke on issues pertaining to Sierra Leone again, it was invited to actually visit the country.
A Representative of the United States, speaking in a right of reply to a statement of Cuba, said the responsibility for lack of food in Cuba lay only with the Cuban Government.

Debate on Civil and Political Rights
MUNIR AKRAM (Pakistan) said promotion and protection of human rights constituted the central pillar of the Pakistani Government's policies to erect a new edifice of responsible and accountable governance in the country. The Government had devoted serious attention to ridding society of extremism and lawlessness. Strict action was being taken against those religious schools and madrassas, which had veered from their basic objective of imparting education. The curriculum was being modernized. The judiciary in the country remained completely free and independent. The press and media were recognized to be completely free. The Government had also devoted special attention to police and prison reform.
For many years, however, Pakistan had been the target of a coordinated, well-organized and vicious campaign of terrorism directed at the very fabric of its society. That campaign was inspired and sponsored by forces from abroad. Pakistan had had to experience a multitude of bombings in bus and railway stations, crowded bazaars and courts. Even places of worship had not been spared. With regard to Jammu and Kashmir, India was seeking to de-legitimize the Kashmiri freedom struggle by depicting it as terrorism. India accused Pakistan of sponsoring so-called "cross-border terrorism". But in fact the Kashmiri struggle was indigenous. There was no border -- it was a Line of Control, a cease-fire line, dividing two parts of Jammu and Kashmir. There was no terrorism. The struggle in Kashmir was a legitimate one for self-determination.
JOAQUIN PEREZ-VILLANUEVA Y TOVAR (Spain), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said despite guarantees for the protection of human rights contained in international law, violation of civil and political rights remained widespread worldwide. The reports of the Special Rapporteurs were clear in this regard: they showed that in all parts of the world there were persons who were victims of summary executions, torture, arbitrary arrests, and disappearances. Likewise there were many Governments that continued systematically to violate the principle of the independence of judges and lawyers and the rights to freedom of expression, religion and belief. Very often, these violations were targeted at members of particular groups, such as human rights defenders, political activists and journalists, migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers, national or ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities.
The European Union stressed that even during states of emergency, there were certain rights from which no derogation could be made, such as the right to life, the right not to be subjected to torture, the right not to be subjected to arbitrary or extra-judicial execution, and the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Derogations must not be inconsistent with State Parties' other obligations under international law, including humanitarian law, and must not be discriminatory. The right to life allowed no derogation, even in times of public emergency which threatened the right of the nation. The European Union stressed that States must not promote security at the expense of human rights, but rather must ensure that all people enjoyed the full range of human rights.


CORRIGENDUM

In press release HR/CN/02/34 of 11 April, 2002, the statement of the International League for the Rights and Liberations of Peoples on page 8 should read as follows:

JULEN MENDOZA, of the International League for the Rights and Liberations of Peoples, said the Panama Plan, signed by Mexico, el Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Belize, and Nicaragua, would be implemented on indigenous land, thus violating international law by depriving indigenous peoples of their own resources. The Plan would entail the expulsion of peasants and the confiscation of their lands. The Plan was a source of concern for indigenous populations, since it did not allow them control over their resources and territories. In some countries, the implementation of social, economic and cultural rights was impossible because of embargos and sanctions. The most flagrant case in point was that of Cuba, which since 1960 had been faced with an embargo the objective of which was to subject it to the dollar policy.




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