COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS HEARS STATEMENTS BY REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONS, NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

Commission on Human Rights
58th session
18 April 2002
Afternoon




Independent Expert on Human Rights
in Somalia Presents Report



The Commission on Human Rights this afternoon heard statements by regional human rights commissions under its agenda item on effective functioning of human rights mechanisms, and then concluded its debate on the integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective and the rights of the child by hearing a series of statements by non-governmental organizations.

Ghanim Alnajjar, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, introducing his report which was presented under the agenda item on advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights, said that it was ironic that Somalia had been neglected for years and suddenly, the country had been "rediscovered" as a suspect within the framework of a new concept of an "international war against terrorism". It seemed the only way to handle the trouble of Somalia was to include human rights as a major component of any peace-building endeavour. Economy, human rights and political dialogue were the three pillars of any future settlement.

Mr. Alnajjar said that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had done a great deal to help Somalia. It was disturbing to know that the Office had decided to terminate the existence of its field presence in Somalia and he appealed to the Office to reconsider this decision. Everyone needed to work together to help the Somali people build a better future. The international community also needed to invest more in the Somali infrastructure to rebuild the country.

Before giving the floor to the regional human rights commissions, Krzysztof Jakubowski, Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, emphasized the important role and contribution which national institutions played with regard to the promotion and protection of human rights. Since the adoption of the Paris Principles, whose tenth anniversary would be commemorated next year, the number of such institutions had grown significantly. They had progressively become invaluable partners in the translation of international human rights norms and standards into deeds at the national level. The dialogue with the Commission, which was initiated just few years ago, had now evolved into a real partnership. He hoped that the emergency measures, which the Commission had adopted with regards to speaking time limitations, would not disrupt that privileged relationship.

Among speakers from national human rights institutions, the Togolese Human Rights Commission, speaking on behalf of the African Group of National Human Rights Institutions, said that the many voices heard about victims of human rights violations in the Commission would enable the true human rights situation to be seen by the world.

Speaking before the Commission were Driss Dahak, Chairman of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights; Komi Gnondoli, Chairperson of the Togo Human Rights Commission, speaking on behalf of the African Group of National Human Rights Institutions; Francisco Olguin, Executive Secretary of the Mexican Human Rights Commission, speaking on behalf of the Network of National Institutions of the Americas; Shaista Shameen, Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission; Morten Kjaerum, Director of the Danish Centre for Human Rights, speaking on behalf of the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions; and Jenny Olausson, of the Swedish Disability Ombudsman.

A number of non-governmental organizations deplored the human rights situation of women and child in many parts of the world and urged Governments and international organizations to make more efforts to alleviate the suffering of those vulnerable groups.

The following non-governmental organizations also took the floor to deliver statements: Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; Liberation; Anti-Slavery International; Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation; Interfaith International; European Union of Public Relations; International Association of Democratic Lawyers; Federal Union of European Nationalities; International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies; International Institute for Peace; Association for World Education; International Alliance of Women; Medecins du Monde; Korea Women's Association United; International Human Rights Association of American Minorities; International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations; Union Nationale de la Femme Tunisienne; and Latin American Federation of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees.

The following countries exercised their right of reply: Malaysia, Uganda, Honduras, Nigeria and China.

When the Commission reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Friday, 19 April, it will devote the whole day to taking action on resolutions and decisions.


Advisory Services and Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights

Under this agenda item, there is before the Commission the report of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, Ghanim Alnajjar (E/CN.4/2002/119). The report was not available in English.


Presentation of Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Somalia

GHANIM ALNAJJAR, Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, said that Somalia remained a clear example of the failure of the international protection system of human rights. Somalia would continue to be a reminder of all that failure, and the continuation of conflicting regional and political differences. It was ironic that after years of neglect of Somalia, suddenly the country had been "re-discovered" again. Within the new concept of an "international war against terrorism", with all what that meant about allocating resources and mobilizing an international coalition, Somalia had been rediscovered again, this time as a suspect. Somalia as a neglected country had had some major influence on the international scene twice, the first time in 1977 when the previous regime of Siad Barre attacked Ogaden, ending in effect a period of detent between the two superpowers at the time.

Mr. Alnajjar said that it was Somalia, yet again, with the zeal of some well-wishers of the creation of a new world order who wanted to move to the next stage by creating the concept of the "benign intervention". The scene was Somalia in December 1992 within an operation reflecting the good will "Operation Restore Hope". However, against a background of a fractured political system, tribal and clan-based fighting, regional disagreements, and ill-advised international intervention, what was hoped to be a new world order was buried in the streets of Mogadishu by a downing of a black hawk.

It seemed the only way to handle the trouble of Somalia was to include human rights as a major component of any peace-building endeavour. Economy, human rights and political dialogue were the three pillars of any future settlement. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had done a great deal to help Somalia. It was disturbing to know that the Office had decided to terminate the existence of its field presence in Somalia and he appealed to the Office to reconsider this decision. Everyone needed to work together to help the Somali people build a better future. The international community also needed to invest more in the Somali infrastructure to rebuild the country.


Statements by National Human Rights Institutions

DRISS DAHAK, Chairman of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, said that this year had seen important events relating to the promotion and protection of human rights, especially the World Conference against Racism and the preparatory meetings that had preceded that conference. The debate on the issue was far from exhausted. It was hoped that States and organizations would have the necessary vision and appropriate means to overcome the difficulties relating to the implementation of the recommendations of the Conference.

National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights were the instrument whereby the international corpus juris of human rights was made into an everyday reality for individuals and communities. National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights endeavoured to make effective human rights principles. To this end, they facilitated dialogue at the national level between all parties concerned with the promotion and protection of human rights. The number of national institutions had almost tripled in recent years.

KOMI B. GNONDOLI, Chairperson of the Togo Human Rights Commission, on behalf of the African Group of National Human Rights Institutions, said the many voices heard talking about victims of human rights violations here at the Commission on Human Rights would enable the true human rights situation to be seen by the world. In the context of human rights, there was concern about the serious human rights violations in Palestine. In Africa, human rights were violated due the prevalence of armed conflict and poverty. However, the respect for human rights was at the very heart of the national human rights institutions in Africa. Unfortunately it was difficult to meet the human rights needs of Africa due to the severe lack of resources. All human rights were indivisible and played a significant part in society.

Given that problems faced included the HIV/AIDS pandemic, trafficking and economic dependency, African national institutions had several challenges ahead. It was hoped that the implementation of the African Union and the New Partnership for African Development would contribute to a genuine sense of cooperation in the continent that could eventually lead to full respect for human rights. In March 2001 there had been an African meeting on the protection and promotion of human rights, where African representatives had met and recognized the challenges to step up cooperation in the strengthening of capability. Concerning the World Conference against Racism, all national human rights institutions would participate in the follow-up of the recommendations within the final document. In Togo, there could be no sustainable development without human rights. In this context, an appeal was made to donor countries to continue their assistance to the African continent which was continuing to make progress in awareness-raising on human rights.

FRANCISCO OLGUIN, Executive Secretary of the Mexican Human Rights Commission, on behalf of the Network of National Institutions of the Americas, said that the coordination of national institutions at the regional level had been found to be effective. However, the American continent had fallen behind in developing a regional network of national institutions in comparison with other parts of the world. The reason was the earlier creation of a federation of American Ombudsmen, which had constituted a regional network and had also established an international coordinating committee. Within the coordinating committee, European institutions had been included, such as the Spanish, Portuguese and Andorran Ombudsmen; and also included had been the Canadian Commission for Human Rights and institutions from the Caribbean countries.

Mr. Olguin recalled that the first meeting of American national institutions was held in 1999 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. They decided to establish a network of national institutions in conformity with the Paris Principles. After a series of meetings, finally, the first general assembly of the network of the national institutions for human rights for the American continent had been held in March 2002 in Kingston, Jamaica. The Colombian and Costa Rican national institutions were also incorporated in the network while a number of Caribbean and Latin American national institutions participated as observers. The assembly adopted and elected members of the coordinating committee of the network and integrated the Canadian Commission on Human Rights, the Mexican National Human Rights Commission and the Colombian and Costa Rican institutions. The assembly also adopted a consensus document in which it affirmed it would promote and respect the culture of human rights and would implement the Paris Principles, among other things.

SHAISTA SHAMEEN, Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission, said that her Commission was the first and only national human rights institution in the Pacific Island States. The Commission was an constitutional body with the duty to protect and promote human rights, first by educating the public about national and international human rights law; second by advising the Government about its necessary compliance with international human rights norms and principles; and third by receiving, investigating and resolving complaints of human rights violations. The Bill of Rights Chapter of the Constitution of Fiji contained a comprehensive set of human rights provisions: indeed, in some respects, an improvement even on many international human rights laws. For example, the rights of individuals were balanced with the rights of communities, without compromising one or the other.

The Commission had adopted a particular tactic in defining human rights. It explained human rights as justice. Justice was explained as fairness in decision-making. The Commission had adopted a determined position with respect to indigenous rights. It had steadfastly refused to accept the idea of supremacy of any ethnic or racial group. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the benchmark for the Commission's standpoint on equality. The Commission had formed partnerships with civil society organizations and other actors such as the army, police, and prisons. The Commission had thus been able to draw upon its broad support from institutions other than the government. The Commission was committed to formulating a national plan of action for human rights education.

MORTEN KJAERUM, Director of the Danish Centre for Human Rights, on behalf of the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions, said there were four particular issues that had preoccupied the European national institutions during the last year. These were the impact on human rights protection of the fight against terrorism; the increase in racially motivated attacks; the obligation of States to fulfill the rights of people with disabilities; and threats to the independence of national institutions. Terrorism violated human rights but it would not be eliminated by other human rights violations and some of the laws introduced recently in European countries with the aim of combatting terrorism gave rise to concern and criticism in that they failed to meet international human rights standards. National human rights institutions had raised these concerns in relation to new intrusive methods of investigation, wider access to surveillance and exchange of sensitive personal data between States, extensions of detention without formal charge and arbitrary limitations on the freedom of speech.

Concern about the persistence of racism and discrimination focused on the evident discriminatory treatment of persons with Roma background, the difficulties in accessing education for children of asylum seekers, people without residence permits, women and minorities. There was also concern about the rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic assaults. On the independence of national institutions, it was stressed that any action against existing institutions that restricted or removed their independence was contrary to the increased international focus on the implementation of human rights in all societies.

JENNY OLAUSSON, of the Swedish Disability Ombudsman, said the future development towards improved living conditions for persons with disabilities must build on strong international promotion of human rights and democratic values. The Commission was urged to introduce a tangible way that could strengthen the protection of the human rights of persons with disabilities.


Statements on the Rights of Women and Children

KRISHNA AHOOJA PATEL, of the Women's League, said violence against women in Colombia included sex slavery, rape, torture, mutilation and murder. These violations had increased in the situation of internal breakdown of law and order. The important point was that those responsible for these heinous crimes belonged to all parties involved in the internal conflict - guerrillas, paramilitaries and other criminals. These criminals were not punished and escaped justice with impunity. The Women's League believed that the only way to achieve peace in Colombia was through dialogue among the different parties and urged that women's organizations be included. In that connection, it was important to note that UN resolution 1325 needed to be implemented to enable women to participate at all levels of the peace process.

SONG HE SUK, of Liberation, said the Special Rapporteur on violence against women had in March 2000 expressed grave concern about the situation in Sri Lanka over the lack of serious investigation into allegations of gang rape and murder of women and girls. Under the past Government, violence against Tamil women had been horrendous, women had been systematically gang-raped and murdered by the Sri Lankan security forces. Liberation emphasized the necessity of prosecution for violence against women. Repeatedly in history, States had ignored the crimes committed against women in armed conflict. The failure of States to prosecute the unprecedented violence denied the victimized women equal access to the law and justice system. The courageous survivors of victims of sexual slavery, known as Comfort Women, by the Japanese Army during the Second World War, had spoken out about their horrendous experiences. Their yearning for justice and their solidarity had inspired a worldwide movement to ensure that such crimes never again be overlooked not allowed to occur. In this regard, the Japanese Government was asked to take the appropriate measures to meet the demands of the victims based on recommendations. Japan's continuing negligence and denial of its war crimes constituted a gross violation of human rights.

CHRISTIANE DEHOY, of Anti-Slavery International, reminded the Commission that the current military regime of Burma, known as the State Peace and Development Council, had acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in July 1991. However, many children were deprived of their fundamental human rights including their right to education, to health and to life. Particularly in the ethnic areas where armed conflicts were taking place, children's right to life was severely undermined. And when life was constantly under threat, children could not possibly enjoy other rights enshrined in the Convention. Students in Papun District, Karen State, had pointed out that children did not attend school due to inter-related factors such as food scarcity, malaria, other health problems and other instability caused by the armed conflict. UNAIDS had reported that one in three children would be moderately to severely malnourished by the time they were five.

SHARAD K. SONI, of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, said that there was no let up in the violence against women, particularly gender specific violence such as rape, sexual abuse, beatings, torture and killings. It was a relief that in Afghanistan after years of conflict and suffering, fresh hope had come to Afghan women and girls. It was a matter of satisfaction to learn that Afghan girls had now started going to schools and that female teachers were back in classes. Another case where violence against women had been systematic and persistent during the past twelve years was the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Terrorists and Islamist extremists had resorted to rape, abduction, forced marriage, and physical violence, including killings, as a means to demoralize and subjugate the society into submission.

GENEVA ARIF, of Interfaith International, noted the alarming increase in the number of women being trafficked as sex slaves to all parts of the globe. The money involved in the trafficking of women now competed with drug smuggling as the crime of choice. Numerous issues concerning the comfort women of North and South Korea had not been resolved with Japan. No area in the world was free from the virus of violence against women; South Asia was no exception. In Kashmir, the gang rape of very young girls and elderly women was a systematic and directed policy of the occupying military forces. In March of this year, 15 girls between the ages of 13 and 17 had been trampled and burned to death when a blaze swept through their school in Saudi Arabia. The morality police had forced the girls to stay inside the burning building because they were not wearing their head scarves and black cloaks.

The greatest woman of all - mother earth - was being poisoned by increasing tons of depleted uranium from United States weapons of mass destruction. These weapons had been used in the Gulf War, in Kosovo, in Yugoslavia and now in Afghanistan. Women of Iraq had had a tenfold increase in breast cancer and cancers of the reproductive organs. Grossly deformed fetuses, unseen before the Gulf War, were now seen all too often, and were examples of genetic mutation due to the effects of the bombs. The killing of innocent civilians was deplored, whether by the bombs of suicide bombers or the military might of an Apache helicopter.

SHAUKAT ALI KASHMIRI, of the European Union of Public Relations, said that the Government of Pakistan has not demonstrated any genuine commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights. Although children's rights were theoretically protected by numerous laws that incorporated elements of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in practice, the Government had singularly failed to enforce those laws. In Pakistan, there were no federal laws on compulsory education, and neither the federal nor provincial governments provided sufficient resources or universal education. It had been estimated that not more than 27.5 per cent of school age children attended school in the country. More than 10,000 schools had been closed down in recent years across the country due to lack of teachers. Child labour was common practice in Pakistan. Observers estimated that there were as many as 20 million child labourers in Pakistan. In addition, children were kidnapped to be used as forced labour.

YOICHI YOSHIDA, of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, said that thanks to severe protests both at home and from abroad, a textbook with distorted descriptions of the war of aggression waged by Japan in China and in the rest of Asia was widely rejected in Japan. On the other hand, a new problem had arisen with the publication of textbooks without any reference at all to military comfort women. These textbooks were among the school history books recently adopted by the board of education. The Government of Japan had not only approved the revisionist textbook through its textbook censorship system, but had also failed to restore the reference to military sexual slavery in other textbooks. The Commission was urged to recommend to the Government of Japan that it undertake all necessary measures to ensure that no textbooks for high schools were issued which glorified Japan's wartime aggression from a revisionist perspective.

JOSEPH V. KOMLOSSY, of the Federal Union of European Nationalities, said Bacau County in Romania was inhabited by the Csangos. Who were these Csangos? They were an archaic ethnic group of Hungarian origin. Their estimated number was around 50,000 to 60,000. They were, however, systematically abused by the local county authorities, from the political and administrative pressures to declare themselves Romanians, to the denial of the right to education in the mother tongue of the few who had refused to declare themselves ethnic Romanians. The principle of non-discrimination was clearly elaborated with special regard to education in the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education. The local authorities in Bacau County were continuously ignoring the Romanian law of education. The local authorities not only disregarded provisions of the law, but also recommendations of international organizations when they continuously harassing the parents of Csango children and those who wanted to teach their children their Csango tongue. The United Nations was urged to convince the Romanian authorities to respect the country's international obligations, and to make them realize that the preservation of Europe's greatest treasure, its linguistic, ethnic, national and cultural diversity, was not only a duty but the responsibility of all.

REENA MARWAH, of the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, said that violence against women, because they were women, represented serious violations of their human rights. The prevalence of such gender-based violence was impossible to estimate, but it was a universal problem that represented a serious impediment to development all over the world. Research indicated that the abusers and survivors of gender-based violence came from all classes, nationalities and economic states. Examples of gender-based violence were domestic violence, genital mutilation, trafficking in women and rape in time of peace and as a weapon of war. While entire communities suffered the consequences of armed conflict and terrorism, women and girls were particularly vulnerable and worst affected. With globalization and increased migrant labour, women were prone to violence and were abused due to their double marginalization as women and as migrants.

S.K LAROIYA, of the International Institute for Peace, said that the ideology that allowed the oppression of women often flew from religious tenants that denied women's equality. A prime example was the existence of the Hudood Ordinances in Pakistan that decreed that a woman was less than equal before the law. Such discriminatory State-enacted provisions provided men in certain societies with the sanction to indulge in barbaric practices like honour killings. In Pakistan, media reports indicated that over 1,000 women were murdered in 2001. Societal and state structures, rather than mitigating the effects of negative cultural practices, often accentuated them, resulting in violence against women being accepted as a norm rather than being treated as a condemnable outrage. Codes governing dress, practices like female circumcision, sanctioning of domestic violence, and the excessive emphasis on female virginity were all male fashioned instruments to keep women in their place.

DAVID LITTMAN, of the Association for World Education, said education must be a tool for tolerance not propaganda. Last year the Commission had been called to begin inquiries into the grave abuses of the Palestinian Authority's educational system, including the UNWRA schools and Palestinian television. The Commission had been called upon to act on the elimination of hate teaching in Palestinian schools and the criminal use of children in conflicts. Nothing had been done. Articles in several newspapers including the New Yorker, New York Post, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal had covered the practice of suicide-attacks, and how they did not happen spontaneously. The system worked well as hordes of young men clamoured to be sent to their own obliteration. The articles made it clear that the process began with the Palestinian Authority inculcating two things into its population, starting with the children - a hatred of Jews and a love of death.

The conclusion was borrowed from the Washington Post editorial which stated "the Palestinian national cause will never recover - nor should it - unite its leadership unless it was willing to break definitely with the [homicide] bombers. And Muslim States that supported such sickening carnage will risk not just stigma but also their own eventual destruction."

SAMIRA YASSNI, of the International Alliance for Women, said she wished to speak about the inhumane, degrading and cruel conditions to which the men, women and children were facing in the camps of the Polisario in the Western Sahara, where they were held against their will. Those who had the chance to escape from the camps had provided an account of the terrible situation in which they lived. A number of cases of violence against women and children had been reported; arbitrary detention and torture had been committed against people; and physical elimination had also take place. Mothers who escaped the camps were suffering from the fact that they were not able to recuperate their children left behind. The Polisario, which claimed to be a liberation movement, was violating all international conventions and universal human rights. It was the worst example of a violation of human rights in the world. The act of holding people against their will was a direct violation of article 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

GRACIELA ROBERT, of Medecins du Monde, said that every year more than 11 million children throughout the world died of disease or malnutrition. According to the World Health Organization figures for 2000, 65 per cent of deaths of children under five were linked to infectious diseases that could have been diagnosed and treated. Medecins du Monde drew the attention of the Commission to the situation of children in Argentina. At present, almost half of Argentineans lived below the poverty line. The impact of poverty was stronger on families with children. In greater Buenos Aires, 43 per cent of children under 15 lived below the poverty line. The crisis had had a negative impact on access to health care. Health policies and programmes implemented by the Government were inadequate and covered only a quarter of the targeted population. No measures had been taken with regard to children, who should benefit from greater attention given their high vulnerability.

CHAN YAN, of the Korea Women's Associations United, said as invaluable as the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women was, if the recommendations were not implemented, the work was incomplete. Punishment, reparation and rehabilitation were the essential part of tackling the issue of violence against women. The Association drew the attention of the Commission to the issue of comfort women, the long-overdue issue of Japanese military sexual slavery. Although the Special Rapporteur made it clear in her report on Japan's military sexual slavery that Japan was legally responsible and must pay reparations, the Government of Japan still denied its legal responsibility.

The Government of Japan must provide for the following measures: acknowledge its responsibility and liability for the establishment of the comfort system; issue a full and frank apology and give guarantees of non-repetition; compensate the victims and survivors in amounts adequate to redress the harm; establish a mechanism for the thorough investigation into the system of military sexual slavery; consider the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission; create memorials recognizing the victims suffering; sponsor formal and informal educational initiatives; identify and punish the principal perpetrators; and locate and return the remains of the deceased.

MIR TAHIR MASOOD, of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities, said that Gujarat was only one instance of barbarity against women by the Indian State, where a massacre was committed by anti-Muslim Hindu extremist organizations. In Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir where people were struggling for the realization of their inalienable right to self-determination as promised to them by the Security Council, women and girls had been a persistent target of lust by Indian occupation forces. In the past ten years, more than 5,000 women and girls had been subjected to the most inhuman crime of rape by the personnel of Indian occupation forces. Amnesty International in its report had observed that in Jammu and Kashmir, rape was practised as part of a systematic attempt to humiliate and intimidate the local population. Rape had been systematically used as a means of punishing women suspected or related to alleged militants and as a weapon in security forces efforts to intimidate and humiliate the local population.

TAHIR AZIZ, of the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, said that over the years, trafficking in women and children had become a lucrative trade. It was one of the most serious violations of human rights of women and children. This inhuman trade had a turnover of more than $ 7 billion per annum, surpassed only by illegal trade in narcotics and arms. The situation of women and children became more stark in situations of armed conflict. The plight of women and children in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir was a case in point. Women and girls had been a particular target of Indian soldiers in occupied Kashmir. Kashmiri human rights groups estimated that so far more than 5,000 women and girls had become victims of rape and other indignities at the hands of Indian occupation forces. The perpetrators of such heinous crimes and their supporters must be brought to exemplary justice by the international community as a deterrence for others.

AZIZA HTIRA, of the Union nationale de la femme tunisienne, said one needed to devote more energy to the situation of women and children in the world since so many of them suffered from armed conflict, poverty and diseases. Millions of women throughout the world were victims of acts of violence, including female genital mutilation which scarred women physically and psychologically for the rest of their lives. What was being done to eliminate all these inequalities? Where were all the NGOs that were so vocal on other issues? Children were the future of the world and Tunisia had focused much attention on their needs, and was in fact being seen as a model country in the region. Women and children had their human rights in Tunisia and measures had been undertaken to ensure funds guaranteeing the payment of alimony and equal pay for labour. There was of course still a lot to do. One could pass laws, but attitudes also needed to be changed. It was essential to teach children from an early age that women were fully fledged members of society - equal citizens. Women must also participate in this dialogue which would allow them to take more responsibility for their own human rights.

MARTA VASQUEZ, of the Latin American Federation of Associations of Families of Disappeared Detainees, said that the heaviest debt that governments and communities in general had to pay was the debt to disappeared children. Some disappeared children had been considered as booty of war which could be taken or confiscated in, among other countries, Uruguay and Argentina. Today, the most destitute children were left out on the street, children died of hunger, children were exploited and were forced into prostitution. The speaker wished to inform the Commission of the hard reality so many children and young people lived in.


Rights of Reply

A Representative of Malaysia, speaking in right of reply, said that his country was concerned with what it viewed as an attempt by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women to broaden the definition of the term female genital mutilation. Malaysia was concerned by her allegation that female genital mutilation had been reported in some Asian countries including Malaysia. This was a gross misinterpretation of the situation in Malaysia. To date, there had not been a single case reported in Malaysia with regard to violence against women caused by this practice. Malaysia was equally concerned by the Special Rapporteur's statement that it was considered immoral and indecent for women to appear in public without a head covering or without a prescribed dress in Malaysia. The idea of a prescribed dress was repugnant to Malaysia, whose society was multi religious and multi-cultural.

A Representative of Uganda, speaking in right of reply in response to a statement made in an earlier meeting by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, said that the Special Representative had made recommendations on how to deal with the problem of abducted children in Uganda. These recommendation had come as a surprise as they were purported to be made within the mandate of resolution 2000/60 of this Commission, which requested the Office of the High Commissioner to conduct a field trip in order to assess the situation on the ground with regard to abducted children. The recommendations that had been separately made by the Special Representative were therefore out of place and not made in accordance with the resolution which authorized the field mission. The Commission was therefore requested to ignore his recommendations. The Special Representative said last year that he had visited 56 countries since he assumed office and yet he chose to focus on Uganda, a country he had not visited at the time and which he had not visited to date. One was therefore led to question the motive behind these slanderous assertions about Uganda. The Special Representative was called upon not to repeat these slanders as they might lead to the discrediting of his office.

A Representative of Honduras, speaking in right of reply in reference to the statement made by the International Association for the Defence of Religious Liberty, said that children in the country benefited from the measures put in place by the Government. Judicial and administrative mechanisms had been modernized to further the promotion and protection of child rights. The NGO had based its allegation of mistreatment of children on unverifiable sources. The present Government of Honduras had also given priority in the implementation of development programmes with regard to the rights of children.

A Representative of Nigeria, speaking in right of reply in response to a statement made by the World Organization Against Torture, said that the NGO had made the erroneous claim that there had recently been in Nigeria cases of women being arbitrarily sentenced to corporal and capital punishment including whipping and stoning to death. The case of Safiya Husseini had been conclusively determined. On 25 March 2002 she was acquitted of the charge of adultery. While awaiting trial and her subsequent appeal, Safiya had suffered no deprivation whatsoever as she was, in accordance with the rule of law, presumed innocent. Although other cases were not in court, the same due process accorded to Safiya's case would be also accorded them - right to council, appeal and all fundamental freedoms. There was no arbitrary sentencing in Nigeria and there was no gender discrimination in the administration of justice.

A Representative of China, speaking in right of reply in response to a statement made earlier the Secretary of State of the United Kingdom, said that Mr. Straw had said that China had experienced remarkable economic progress that had transformed the lives of Chinese people, yet they had no political freedom. This was in clear contradiction to the following page of the speech where Mr. Straw had said that without good governance there could be no economic growth. Clearly then, there was political freedom in China. Economic progress and good governance went hand in hand. Mr. Straw had talked about minority rights in China. The speaker informed the Commission that minority rights were better in China than in the United Kingdom and the rights of those who had lost their lives in race riots in the United Kingdom. With regard to Tibet and Xinjian, remarkable progress had been made and the situation was certainly better than when the British had conquered China with opium. Mr. Straw had mentioned Chinese self-interest, and it was in fact fortunate that China cared most about its own interests and hence did not need any preachings. If Mr. Straw had touched upon violations of human rights in his own country, such as racial violence, his statement would have had a bit more credibility.



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