COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS CONTINUES DEBATE ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF SPECIFIC GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS

Commission on Human Rights
57th session
12 April 2001
Afternoon






The Commission on Human Rights this afternoon heard from national delegations, an international organization and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) addressing issues concerning ways to promote and protect the human rights of migrant workers, members of minorities, refugees and internally displaced persons.

As the Commission continued its debate on the human rights of specific groups and individuals, it heard, among others, the Russian Federation say that if minority problems were resolved, peace would prevail everywhere. Norway underlined that all national, ethnic, linguistic and religious groups contributed to the cultural diversity of their countries, and that such a variety enriched societies. And Ecuador said migrants contributed to the formation of many States that were members of the international community, but that many migrants and their families faced obstacles in those countries.

Several country delegations spoke about achievements concerning specific groups and individuals in their States. Representatives of Argentina, the Russian Federation, Ecuador, India, Norway, the United Nations Children’s Fund, Bulgaria, Belarus, and Nicaragua took the floor.

NGOs alleged various violations of the human rights of specific groups and individuals in a number of countries and regions. Various other issues were also raised. The Association for World Education said that the role of the Commission and NGOs was to help Governments which often found themselves unable to deal justly with violent outbreaks of communal, ethnic or religious conflict. Tolerance and respect for pluralism were often in short supply, and Governments often hesitated to accept advice in a timely manner. And the International Catholic Migration Commission expressed concern that a large number of countries which received migrants were constantly refusing adherence to the one human rights standard that would prominently protect the rights of large groups of people on their territories who were often treated as second-class citizens.


Speaking were Representatives of the following non-governmental organizations: China Disabled Persons’ Federation, World Young Women’s Christian Association, World Union for Progressive Judaism, Association for World Education, Association of World Citizens, American Association of Jurists, Minority Rights Group International, International Catholic Migration Commission, Moviemento Cubano por la Paz y la Soberania de los Pueblos, International Movement Against all Forms of Discrimination and Racism, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, International Association for Religious Freedom, International Association for Religious Freedom, Rural Reconstruction Nepal, Federacion de Association de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos, Human Rights Advocates, Movement against Racism and Friendship Among Peoples, Transnational Radical Party, and Norwegian Refugee Council.

The United States, the United Kingdom, Latvia and Iraq spoke in exercise of their right of reply.

The Commission was scheduled to hold extended evening and night meetings from 6 p.m. to midnight to conclude its debate on specific groups and individuals and to start its discussion on indigenous issues.


Statements

HORACIO EMILIO SOLARI (Argentina) said that his country was to a great extent a country of immigrants. Argentina was committed to working with its peers in the international community on this issue. Last year, it had hosted the first South American conference on migration. It was agreed that the nations of the region would combine their efforts to promote and protect migrants rights. Argentina had partaken in a number of regional and international instruments in the field of migrants and minorities. Solidarity and understanding should be the main aspects in this field. There was an interest in the reappearance in the so-called brain drain, which caused various young professionals to leave their country to go to a more developed country. Argentina was doing what it could to make the brain drain unnecessary. It aimed to give these young professionals the choice to go where they wanted to, without them feeling that they had to go to another country.

The Government recognized the unchallengeable ability to arrive, transit through, and leave Argentinean territory. Each of those options should be a free and unconditioned choice. There were many challenges on the Commission's agenda this year. Argentina had shown its commitment to ensure progress on each of these issues.

VLADIMIR ZHEGLOV (the Russian Federation) said that if minority problems were resolved, peace would prevail everywhere. The problem of ethnic and linguistic minorities had been a concern to the international community. In the Russian Federation, strong legislative measures had been taken in order to guarantee the rights of minorities. On the territory of the Russian Federation, there were 177 ethnic groups living together. In addition, the structure of power had been constituted with the consideration of ethnic rights in mind. Ethnic languages were taught in higher schools, including State universities. Newspapers were published in minority languages in addition to television and radio broadcasts.


The situation of Russian-speaking persons in Latvia was one which should be taken into consideration. They were not enjoying citizenship and the process they had to pursue to obtain citizenship was extremely complicated and long. In the meantime, the Russian-speakers in that country were not fully enjoying their rights as minorities in Latvia. Their right to participate in national elections had been obstructed by the authorities.

ROBERTO BETANCOURT-RUALES (Ecuador) said his country agreed with the ideas of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants about the legal work of her mandate. Ecuador hoped that in the near future, the International Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Their Families would have the necessary ratifications to enter into force. Migrants rights were clearly an international issue. Yesterday, Ecuador had invited the Special Rapporteur to visit the country, and it was hoped that a date could be agreed upon soon. Ecuador had hosted migrant flows from all over the world. Migration was a historical fact. It contributed to the formation of many States that were members of the international community. It generally began with people and their families seeking new horizons. Sometimes, these people and their families faced obstacles. Ecuador had a number of programmes aimed at regularizing migrants.

Ecuador supported all efforts on behalf of migrants that had been undertaken by the United Nations. It had always supported negotiation and adoption of resolutions on this subject. States parties to the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights committed themselves to adopt measures to ensure full effectiveness of the rights in that instrument. The international community should assist source countries of migrants who struggled in their new homes. This was true in developing countries like Ecuador, which did not always have the resources necessary. It was hoped that the Special Rapporteur would seek ways to deal with this problem.

A. GOPINATHAN (India) said his country took great pride in its mosaic diversity of multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and pluralistic society. India was firmly of the view that to give a sound foundation to democracy, to make a nation cohesive and to ensure harmony, stability and full enjoyment of all human rights, integration of all groups in a society was essential. Special attention should be given to minorities. There was no single universally applicable definition of minorities. Given India's immense diversities, the majority and minority equations had become even more difficult to define. Linguistic groups encompassed all segments of society in a particular region, cutting across ethnicities and religions. The Indian Constitution provided special safeguards for minority rights. It prohibited all forms of discrimination on grounds of religion and guaranteed equality of opportunity to all.

Despite a long history of tolerance in India and the constitutional provisions and safeguards, regrettably, incidents involving violence against members of minority communities did sometimes occur. The Government of India had always condemned those incidents in the strongest terms. Those had been isolated incidents and, in an overwhelming majority of the cases, they had been the handiwork of criminal and fringe elements. India at the highest levels had repeatedly made it clear that there was no place for bigotry in India's open and pluralistic society and it would not condone or tolerate such incidents.

YLVA BIE (Norway) said it was sometimes claimed that the presence of national or ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities was the source of tensions and conflicts. Norway underlined that all national, ethnic, linguistic and religious groups contributed to the cultural diversity in their countries. Such a variety enriched societies. In reality, effective exercise of the rights of persons belonging to minorities contributed to stability. The insurance of equal enjoyment of human rights for all alleviated tension in a society. A genuine democracy would contain safeguards to ensure the respect of minorities. It should be a common goal to create political systems in which minorities could enjoy their fundamental human rights. Norway hoped that the World Conference against Racism would contribute to highlighting and seeking solutions to situations where minorities were victims of racism and discrimination. The effective exercise of the fundamental rights of minorities often required more than formal equality between individuals. The effective protection of persons belonging to minority groups required decisive, positive actions to be taken by governments, allowing minorities to develop their characteristics. Action should be addressed at various levels and through various efforts.

Minorities in Norway had historically been subjected to an assimilation policy -- which today was considered unacceptable. Last December, the Government had submitted a white paper on national minorities to Parliament. It aimed to establish a coherent policy in this area. This included a thorough review and assessment of Norwegian legislation and Norway's international obligations towards national minorities, as well as a historical review of national minorities' relationship to Norway and the development of Norwegian minority policy. The principle of non-discrimination was at the very core of human rights. In practice, however, the equal enjoyment of human rights faced many obstacles. Legislation was a crucial part of the efforts of Norway to eradicate intolerance and discrimination. In addition, everybody must change attitudes and combat ignorance and fear. In these effects, governments should take the lead.

DAVID BASSIOUNI, of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said that through its field presence, UNICEF was working in more than forty countries in partnership with children and women displaced due to armed conflict and natural disasters. In Colombia it registered and provided psycho-social counselling to displaced children; in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan it focused on displaced children by providing for the right to education through informal education, advocacy and assistance; in southern Sudan it was working with displaced communities to start addressing the root causes of the conflict and was also supporting demobilization of child combatants, most of whom had lived in displacement their entire lives. Through such activities, UNICEF was involved in virtually all situations of internal displacement worldwide, and looked to protect the rights of displaced children and women, and to have a catalytic effect on the underlying causes of displacement and conflict.

PETKO DRAGANOV (Bulgaria) said it attached great importance to ethnic tolerance and the respect of the rights of persons belonging to minorities which could be regarded as a significant factor in the democratic development of any country. As a party to the relevant international conventions, including the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe for the Protection of National Minorities, Bulgaria was consistently pursuing a policy of dialogue and respect for the rights of all persons belonging to minority groups. Bulgaria was widely acknowledged as a model of a tolerant multi-ethnic society in southeast Europe, where the problems of persons belonging to minorities were successfully being addressed. However, it did not claim that all problems related to the situation of the Roma community in Bulgaria were resolved. Seeking the best solutions was a long process, and Bulgaria was firmly engaged in it. Regionally and internationally, best practices and successful national solutions needed to be shared. It was hoped that the international standards in the field of human rights, especially those related to specific groups and individuals such as the national, linguistic and religious minorities, would be adequately applied in the elaboration of new legislation. Overcoming the negative inheritance from the past should be based upon shared human values and common respect for the universal human rights standards.

VLADIMIR MALEVICH (Belarus) said that as his country was a multi-national, multi-ethnic State, it was undertaking relevant measures aimed at promoting and exercising the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. The unique particularity of the Belarusian society concerned not only its multi-national composition but also the lack of any ethnic or religiously motivated conflicts or clashes. That fact attested to a wise policy of the leadership of the country towards the minorities that lived in Belarus, and proved an open, amicable and kind character of the Belarusian people. At present, all necessary conditions had been created to preserve and promote the development of the culture and language of national minorities, and to ensure the operation of their organizations, cultural and educational institutions. The rights of persons belonging to minority groups were guaranteed through normative and legal acts and by the country's Constitution.

LESTER MEJIA SOLIS (Nicaragua) said that in international fora, it had been acknowledged that the fundamental rights of every human being, excluding no one, had to be respected. Nicaragua had adopted new commitments to guarantee full rights to everybody. Unfortunately, guaranteeing these rights was not an easy task. Throughout its history, Nicaragua had suffered through many wars, which caused suffering and pain of its people. It also suffered from natural disasters which resulted in massive losses of human life and a diminished economic situation. The people were forced to emigrate to other countries seeking better job opportunities and better standards of living. However, the Government had initiated several programmes and strategies aimed at raising the level of livelihood for everybody to stem the flow of people out of the country. These problems could not be solved without true democracy, to which Nicaragua was committed. The Government insisted on multi-ethnic and multi-national values. It was important for the complete removal of anti-personnel mines, which had left many victims. In welcoming the World Conference against Racism in Durban, Nicaragua was gradually making progress in honouring its commitments.

SUN ZHONGHUA, of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, in a joint statement with the United Nations Association of China and All China Women's Federation, said that his Federation had always advocated the integration of poverty alleviation for persons with disabilities into the master plan for national poverty alleviations efforts. In collaboration with the Agricultural Bank of China, it had formulated and carried out the Special Programme of Poverty Alleviation for Persons with Disabilities. Within the framework of that programme, 13.3 million poverty-stricken disabled persons in rural areas were able to participate in productive activities, among whom 8.2 million obtained adequate food and clothing. On another issue, the Chinese Government should have banned the so-called Falun Gong at a much earlier time. For those few countries, which threw away their conscience and supported that cult, they did that simply out of their anti-China purpose.

CHILEMWA NKOWANE, of the World Young Women's Christian Association, said in a joint statement that migrant women were in a precarious position, especially those who were undocumented or who could lose their legal status as a result of government systems that had subjected them to dependence on their husbands for permits. These women were often provided with little or no support when they lost legal status. They became vulnerable to exploitation and were unable to obtain protection from police abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence, for fear of detention and deportation. Migrant women's experience of discrimination could be extreme because of gender inequality in society. International laws should be used to provide stronger legal protection from violence and illegal sex trafficking of migrant women. The number of migrant women was also increasing. The ILO estimated that there were now between 70 and 85 million international migrants, and that women constituted nearly half of this population. The Commission's attention was directed to the recommendations from the World Conference against Racism expert seminar on Migrants and Trafficking with Particular Reference to Women and Children, and requested that special focus be put on gender and gender issues with regard to migration.

ALAIN RENE ARBEZ, of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, asked why the western world was indifferent to hundreds of thousands of victims of the Sudanese Islamist regime. Children and women in southern Sudan had been subjected to hunger, disease and slavery. In Nigeria, over 1,000 Christians had been barbarically massacred by Shari'a fanatics. In Indonesia, since many years, the situation of Christians had worsened. Islamic commandos had been killing Christians and had demolished Churches and forced thousands of Christians to convert to Islam. About half a million people had been displaced. The political authorities in the west did not respond to such atrocities.

DAVID LITTMAN, of the Association for World Education, said promoting a culture of tolerance through human rights education was an objective that should be advanced in all States, and that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN had an important role to play. It should be added that human rights should especially be manifested at the Commission. But many members of the NGO community were feeling more and more vulnerable - as targets for attacks by State delegates. A question was posed about how NGOs could contribute to improvements in human rights and conflict resolutions. Just as government delegates represented their governments and not their views, NGOs represented their organizations, and not themselves.

There were growing ethnic tensions in Indonesia. After the bitter experience of East Timor, the importance of early warnings was being heeded and the importance of timely mediation was known. The tensions and violence in Aceh had already been raised, as well as the very positive role of the Geneva-based Institute Henry Dunant in mediating a humanitarian pause. The role of the Commission and NGOs was to help Governments which often found themselves unable to deal justly with violent outbreaks of communal, ethnic or religious conflict. Tolerance and a respect for pluralism were often in short supply. Governments often hesitated to accept advice in a timely manner. One of the tasks of the Commission was to find appropriate ways of dealing with minority issues at the first signs of tension -- before there was a downward spiral into indiscriminate violence and savagery.

PIERRE PORRET, of the Association of World Citizens, said that displacement was often the most visible sign of a larger problem and was usually linked to refugee flows. In Africa, one often found the double phenomenon of internal displacement and refugee flows. Efforts should be redoubled to establish peace-making bridges between today's opponents. No opportunity should be neglected; and no path should go unexplored. Great displacements of peoples had already happened in history in all the continents. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, people were moving across East Europe and Central Asia with great consequence for the Roman Empire and China. But the increase of populations, in particular in coast areas, made the present situation more fearful.

JAIRO SANCHEZ, of the American Association of Jurists, said it was urging the United States to withdraw its complaint against Brazil and the World Trade Organization about generic drugs. Those drugs would be made available to the poorer sectors of the population. Furthermore, 39 transnational corporations had filed suit against a law in South Africa, invoking intellectual property rights. It was questionable if the intellectual property right belonged exclusively to those who invested capital in the patent. In January 2000, the Security Council had passed a resolution saying that AIDS represented a threat to peace and security in Africa. If the Security Council was consistent, it would declare that all drugs that combatted AIDS were in the public domain. The Commission should make an unambiguous statement on this issue at this session.

MARK LATTIMER, of the Minority Rights Group International, said that ethnicity in Burundi had certainly proved to be a strong mobilizing force, with the numerical minority -- the Tutsis -- currently controlling much of the State, including the army. Meanwhile, the numerical majority -- the Hutus -- were politically marginalized. Both Hutus and Tutsis now regarded each other with fear and were convinced that the other was intent on genocide. But there was a further rift in Burundian society between rural and urban. While over 90 per cent of the population lived in the countryside, where one found the majority of the victims of violence, Government policies and budgetary allocations had shown strong urban bias. The situation of the third ethnic group that occupied Burundi -- the Twa -- had so far been largely ignored. The Twa had been caught up in a war in which they had suffered disproportionately.

WILLIAM CANNY, of the International Catholic Migration Commission, said 16 States were now party to the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of the Families. This had been a painstaking exercise, but the 20 ratifications needed for entry into force of the Convention was no longer a dream. The Global Campaign for Ratification of the Convention, of which ICMC was a member, could take some credit for these achievements. It was concerned that receiving countries were not willing to join in this recent ratification drive. There was concern at their constant refusal to adhere to the one human rights standard that would prominently protect the rights of large groups of people on their own territories often treated as second-class citizens. A large number of migrants were in bitter need of protection. Migrants were getting desperate, and desperate people did desperate things. For an increasing number of migrants, the quest for a dignified life ended in horrible death. In the absence of the integrated protection afforded by the Convention, an increasing number of migrants and asylum seekers fell into the hands of traffickers.

BRAULIO BORIS CASTILLO BARROSO, of the Moviemento Cubano por la Paz y la Soberania de los Pueblos, said that those who were dealing with illegal activities of mafia trafficking in persons had been making a commercial benefit of more 30 billion dollars annually. With regard to Cuba, the illegal trafficking of persons to the United States and to Europe had been incited by the "Adjustment Cuban Act" of the United States. The illegal migration was orchestrated by the United States and the terrorist organization of the Foundation of Cuba-America. Through such incitements, many Cubans had been uprooted from their families, schools and work to go to the United States. Illegal Cuban migrants were accepted with open hands while migrants from other countries were considered to be criminals and were detained. Haitians who had been landing in the "promised land" had been deported and were subjected to discrimination.

LAIA LUTHI, of the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, said the last year had seen real progress in international recognition of the human rights of migrants. The Movement welcomed the fact that four States had recently ratified the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and seven more had signed it. This brought the total number of States which had ratified it to 16 -- only four more ratifications were now needed for the Convention to come into force. Unfortunately, the good news on progress was matched by the tragic tales of violence, abuse and exploitation against migrants. Stories of brutal treatment had come from every region in the world, including killings of migrant workers by mobs, deaths of migrants at the hands of traffickers and anti-foreign gangs, wide-scale executions of migrants, attacks on migrant camps, deaths of migrants along borders, arbitrary detention and mass expulsions, and widespread discrimination and abuse, particularly in employment. States needed to consider measures to regularize long-term irregular migrants in their territories, as a way of extending a degree of protection of basic rights to these persons who were living in the shadows.

KIMBERLY STANTON, of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, said actions by the Government of Sudan violated the prohibition on arbitrary displacement. In Sudan, some four million people had been internally displaced during the last 17 years of internal armed conflict -- the largest displaced population in the world. As many as 150,000 persons might have been newly displaced during 2000. Much of the displacement was occurring because the Government of Sudan had been systematically bombing civilian and humanitarian targets at least 152 times in southern and central Sudan. Targets reportedly included civilians as they gathered for food distribution. In addition, the Government and allied militias had been launching periodic offensives to gain control of strategic oil-producing areas, leading to mass population displacement.

GIANFRANCO ROSSI, of International Association for Religious Freedom, said that in Pakistan, citizens belonging to religious minorities felt that they were being discriminated against and marginalized. In Iran, since the Islamic Revolutionary regime took power, the Baha'i minority had been persecuted. Since 1979, 2,000 Baha'is had been killed. They were still discriminated against legally, socially and economically. In France, religious minorities faced a very negative situation. The French National Assembly in 1996 had published 172 sects considered to be dangerous. Many of those sects in the report said they felt marginalized. Even the President of the Parliamentary Inquiry into the sects delved into this. Members of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious minority were discriminated against in France. Last year, the National Assembly had adopted an anti-sect bill which set off a wave of protests, both inside and outside the country. It was hoped that France would fully apply its three great principals of equality, liberty and fraternity for all. The Commission should protect minorities, particularly persecuted religious minorities.

S. K. PRADHAN, of Rural Reconstruction Nepal, said his organization was particularly concerned about the plight of over 100,000 refugees from Bhutan who had been languishing in UNHCR-administered camps in eastern Nepal for almost a decade now. The majority of the refugees, about 70 per cent, were women and children. Another 15,000 to 20,000 of them were scattered in many parts of the bordering Indian states. The right to return of the Bhutanese refugees had been denied. The Bhutanese refugee problem was the creation of the State of Bhutan. And it was the result of the ethnic cleansing policies by the Government of Bhutan against its Nepali-speaking southern Bhutanese.

GLADYS AVILA FONSECA, of Federacion de Association de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos, said that Colombia had seen the largest number of human rights violations. This was a growing phenomenon. Communities, groups and individuals had had to leave their homes in Colombia. Almost all the exoduses had occurred in semi urban areas. Most of the displaced persons had not been resettled yet and had no means of survival. The situation was made worse by massacres and forced disappearances. In 2000, there were 664 disappearances, not counting those which were not reported. Most cases had not been investigated. There was total impunity. Children were left without education. There was uncertainty concerning the fate of the disappeared persons. Furthermore, many families had received threats and were subjected to harassment.
FARSCHAD FARZAN, of Human Rights Advocates, said that in Europe, the border policies had become stricter with the adoption of the Schengen Agreement in 1995. The agreement was designed to open internal borders of signatory countries, but in order for that to work, those countries severely tightened their external borders. The tightening had led many individuals to human traffickers and smugglers, which had led to many deaths. Many migrants had died trying to get into Europe by boats which capsized, because of shootings or asphyxiation. Rich European nations were in desperate need of labour to maintain their economic standards, but they were severely shutting the door on those who wanted to come to work. In Saudi Arabia, migrant workers continued to face violations of their human rights. And Thailand remained the hub of human trafficking within its region.

GIANFRANCO FATTORINI, of the Movement Against Racism and Friendship among Peoples, said that problems concerning migrant workers were myriad and important. The fate of non-documented migrants was particularly shocking. The problem which needed to be addressed was that of migration in a globalized world. The attention of the Commission was also drawn to the massacres, assassinations and forced displacements of members of the African descendent communities in Colombia. These communities had been subjected to exclusion and social, economic and cultural discrimination for centuries. Over the past 6 months, 30 per cent of cases of internal displacements in Colombia concerned African descendants. The Commission was also urged to send a clear message to the military regime of Myanmar.

WEI JINGSHENG, of the Transnational Radical Party, said that about 100 million Chinese peasants had already left the countryside in search of jobs in China's cities. Around 70 per cent of them could not find stable employment. Their living conditions were so miserable that the situation threatened social stability. There were two major factors that had forced the peasants to leave their homes in the countryside. The first major factor causing peasant migration to the cities was the arbitrary system of bureaucracy and corruption that was promoted by the central controlled administration in rural areas. Because administrative power in China was not supervised, the personal consumption of officials had been multiplying exponentially. The second factor was the current Chinese system of governance, which was underlying a corrupt, one-party totalitarian regime.

BJORN PETTERSON, of the Norwegian Refugee Council, drew the attention of the Commission to the multiple important achievements of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on internal displacement, Francis Deng. Since the beginning of his mandate, the Special Representative had carried out 19 strategic visits. His most important contribution had been his relentless efforts to strengthen the protection of the internally displaced, identifying particularly critical country situations and addressing them together with relevant authorities and international agencies. Clearly, filling the protection gaps for internally displaced persons was the international community's greatest challenge. In this respect, Mr. Deng had played a crucial role. The Norwegian Refugee Council therefore considered it of utmost importance that the mandate of the Special Representative be renewed by the Commission and that it receive additional financial and political support.



Rights of reply

A Representative of the United States, speaking in right of reply in reference to the statement made by the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs, said that the Minister had made several false statements in his address. Perhaps the only truth in his statement was that Iraq was the beneficiary of a great heritage of law and civilization. The current regime in Baghdad was a traitor, not an heir to that history. The Government of Iraq had placed its priority on warfare, invading its neighbours and depriving its own citizens of the most elementary human rights.

A Representative of the United Kingdom, speaking in right of reply, said that grave human rights violations were committed in Iraq by the Iraqi regime, including arbitrary arrests, torture and extra judicial executions. The United Kingdom rejected Iraq's attempt to blame UN sanctions for the situation in the country. Four billion dollars for the Iraqi people lay unclaimed in United Nations accounts and Iraq had not ordered any medicines under the oil-for-food agreement.

A Representative of Latvia, speaking in a right of reply in reference to the statement of the Russian Federation, said that the citizenship law had already been praised by international human rights experts. With regard to education in minority languages, there were several hundred schools teaching different minority languages in Latvia.

A Representative of Iraq, speaking in right of reply, said that the Governments of the United Kingdom and the United States had been responsible for human rights violations in Iraq for over 11 years. The Representatives of those countries used their right of reply while knowing that they were the only ones who insisted on continuing the embargo against Iraq. These countries were committing the crime of genocide against the Iraqi people. American and British planes continued to violate the air space of Iraq, shelling civilian and non-civilian targets and terrorizing and killing innocent civilians. The crimes committed by the United States and the United Kingdom were shameful and unacceptable in a civilized world.



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