COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS STARTS DEBATE ON THE RIGHT OF PEOPLES TO SELF-DETERMINATION

Commission on Human Rights
58th session
20 March 2002
Evening




Hears Introduction to Report by
the Special Rapporteur on Mercenaries



The Commission on Human Rights this evening started its debate on the right of peoples to self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation.
The introduction to the report of the Special Rapporteur on mercenaries, Enrique Bernales Ballesteros, which was read out by a member of the Secretariat, said that the link between mercenaries and terrorism could not be denied. Crimes against mankind such as those of 11 September must not occur again. Resolution 1373 of the Security Council was not unrelated to mercenaries since they were involved in international crime, money laundering, and the illegal smuggling of weapons. One must fight not only individual mercenaries but also their support network organizations.
Delegates who took the floor referred mainly to the issues of self-determination for the Palestinian and Kashmiri peoples. Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Conference, said that it was a pity that although the international community had recognized the rights of the Palestinians and Kashmiris to self-determination 50 years ago, they continued to suffer the consequences of illegal occupation.
Other situations raised in the debate concerned Iraq, the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Western Sahara.
The following countries addressed the meeting: Pakistan (on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Conference and then on its own behalf), China, Kuwait, the Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Israel, and Mauritania. Representatives of Palestine and the League of Arab States also took the floor.
Representatives of the following non-governmental organizations also spoke: the World Union for Progressive Judaism, the International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the American Association of Jurists, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Federacion de Asociaciones de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos, Al-Haq, the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, the Federal Union of European Nationalities, and the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities.

Israel and Iraq exercised their right of reply.
The Commission will meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 21 March, to conclude its debate on the rights of peoples to self-determination and to take up the issue of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and all forms of discrimination.

The Right of Peoples to Self-Determination
Under this agenda item, there is a report by the Secretary-General on the situation in occupied Palestine (E/CN.4/2002/19). The report contains, inter alia, information on the activities undertaken by the Department of Public Information to implement Commission resolution 2001/2 entitled situation in occupied Palestine which requested the Secretary- General to transmit the resolution to the Government of Israel and all other Governments and to disseminate all information pertaining to the implementation of the resolution by the Government of Israel.
There is also a report on the question of the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination (E/CN.4/2002/20) submitted by Enrique Bernales Ballesteros, Special Rapporteur on mercenaries. The report addresses, among others, the issues of mercenary activities in Africa, the current status of mercenary activities, terrorism and mercenary activities, problems raised by a legal definition of mercenaries and the use, financing and training of mercenaries. The report concludes, inter alia, that the situation of the peoples of Africa continues to deteriorate as a result of armed conflicts. Possession of natural resources is one of the causes of these conflicts, in which mercenaries are generally involved. This is true of diamonds and oil, which have excited the greed of unscrupulous politicians, traders operating in the global markets, adventurers and criminal gangs that enrich themselves by plundering and smuggling gems and precious stones. Mercenaries take part in the plundering and carry out many of the criminal operations.
The report continues that one of the most egregious attempt to exploit the riches of Africa involves UNITA in Angola. This rebel force is the biggest employer of mercenaries. In the territories under its control it extracts and sells unlimited quantities of diamonds, despite the UN embargo, and it uses mercenaries to smuggle diamonds to European markets. Diamonds are also a key factor in the armed conflict in Sierra Leone. The report points out that the recruitment and hiring of mercenaries are facilitated by deficiencies in legal definition. The report recommends, among others, that special attention be paid to combatting the involvement of mercenaries in illicit arms trafficking, which serves to fuel and prolong armed conflicts.

Statements
A member of the Secretariat, reading a statement on behalf of ENRIQUE BERNALES BALLESTEROS, Special Rapporteur on mercenaries, said the past year had been one of the more traumatic years since the outbreak of the Second World War. More than six months had passed since the attacks of 11 September. Human rights instruments had to be united in the fight against the murderous violence of terrorism. Mercenaries depended on the demand of the global market and therefore it was necessary to end the environment which demanded such criminal acts. The entry into force of the Convention against the recruitment of mercenaries was incredibly important in this context. There was a need for such an international instrument to rid the world from the scourge of mercenaries. A second meeting of experts would take place in Geneva to take stock of the definitions and use of mercenaries.
The international definition of mercenaries in legal terms, military activities, and participation of mercenaries in illicit trafficking would prompt a number of visits this year. The introduction by the Special Rapporteur said he was concerned by this matter, and more concerned by the amount of conflicts in Africa. The burden of the colonial heritage had created great impatience, frustration and corruption which needed to be dealt with. In Western Africa, mercenaries were particularly involved in the trafficking of diamonds, which continued to fuel conflict and allowed the purchase of weapons. There was a need to reach a global agreement on the respect of sovereignty of African States.
The link between mercenaries and terrorism could not be denied. Crimes against mankind such as those of 11 September must not occur again. Resolution 1373 of the Security Council was not unrelated to mercenaries. They were involved in international crime, money laundering, and the illegal smuggling of weapons. One must fight not only individual mercenaries but their support network organizations. The Commission must note the reprehensible actions of trafficking, smuggling and money laundering.
TEHMINA JANJUA Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, said that the right to self-determination was a sacrosanct principle of international law, recognized in the United Nations Charter and several other important and significant treaties. The Commission on Human Rights over the last 30 years had affirmed the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and it was the essential basis for the recognition and observance of all human rights. The international community recognized the Palestinian and Kashmiri peoples right to self-determination over 50 years ago, but unfortunately they continued to suffer the consequences of illegal occupation. The repression of the Palestinian and other Muslim peoples under foreign occupation had intensified significantly since September 11. The struggle for freedom in these occupied territories had been denigrated as terrorism as a means to justify the disproportionate use of force, hostilities and atrocities against the civilians. It was important for the international community to draw a clear distinction between terrorism and the legitimate struggle for the right to self-determination.
Over the past 18 months, there had been a sharp deterioration in the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Palestinian leadership had been put under virtual house arrest, and over the past few weeks the Israeli incursions into the occupied Palestinian territories had escalated to an unprecedented level. The military invasion of hundreds of Israeli tanks in Gaza and Ramallah and other territories on 12 March marked a dangerous escalation in this conflict. Israel was using invasion and occupation of the Palestinian territories as a bargaining tool for the resumption of the peace process and negotiations. Peace in the occupied Palestinian territories hinged on the faithful implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338. The failure of Israel to comply with the UN resolutions and the various peace agreements was a primary source of the continuity of the conflict and bloodshed in Middle East. It was a legal and moral obligation of the Commission on Human Rights to facilitate the realization of the occupied Palestinian and Kashmiri people's right to self-determination which was a basic condition for realizing all other rights and for achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East and South Asia.
IMTIAZ HUSSAIN (Pakistan) said that the right to self-determination enjoyed centrality in human rights law and the United Nations Charter. The Kashmiri people's right to self-determination had been recognized by the international community 50 years ago in United Nations Security Council resolution 5 of 1949. The right of peoples to self-determination necessarily implied the right of peoples to struggle by every means available to them when the possibilities of obtaining recognition of the right of self-determination by peaceful means had been exhausted against colonial powers who suppressed their aspiration to freedom and independence. History had shown that occupation inevitably led to human rights violations, oppression and cycles of violence and counter violence. In the Kashmiri struggle, 80,000 people had been killed over the last 12 years and thousands were languishing in Indian detention centres. Extra-judicial killings, rape, custodial deaths and torture against Kashmiris were a daily occurrence in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
India's refusal to allow a plebiscite and its brutal repression were among the fundamental causes of the popular Kashmiri revolt against India. To justify the State terrorism perpetrated by the 700,000 Indian troops in occupied Kashmir, India had exploited the aftermath of 11 September to intensify its repression in Kashmir and had launched a vicious campaign of slander against Pakistan. The Commission was urged to express its full support to Pakistan's many constructive proposals and initiatives and to seek a positive Indian response to facilitate the resolution of the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
XIE BOHUA (China) said that the right to self-determination was a basic and essential right to the realization of many other rights. All citizens should have the right to choose their own political regime, and the international community should firmly condemn when that was not the case in a country. Realization of self-determination should have nothing to do with the integrity of a territory and security of the people. In the name of self-determination racial discord could occur. The Commission on Human Rights should stand firmly against such practices. The key to lasting peace in the Middle East was to recognize the right to self-determination, and the international community should pay more attention and coordinate its efforts.
SADIQ MARAFI (Kuwait) said the right to self-determination was a legitimate right and formed the very essence of human rights. It was important to further the issues of rights and justice and to overcome the obstacles so that peoples under occupation could enjoy the right to self-determination. Israel's disobedience of UN resolutions had denied the Palestinian people the right to self-determination, a basic human right, thus increasing the plight of the Palestinian people. Kuwait supported all international resolutions with regard to the rights of the Palestinian people. Many resolutions had highlighted the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. He would like to see the day when the Palestinian people would actually be able to establish a truly independent State.
JUSTIN BIABAROH-IBORO (Republic of the Congo) said that he was very concerned about the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. A political and diplomatic solution should be found rapidly, the use of the force should not be supported. Experience showed that it was the must vulnerable who suffered from this conflict, particularly the women and children. The last initiatives had given hope to see an end to this conflict. Congo asked the International community to give effect to resolution 1397 of the United Nations Security Council and to establish a mechanism of international observers.
SAAD HUSSAIN (Iraq) said people's right to self-determination had been historically linked to hegemony of Western States on the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The United States and Britain had, since 1991, continued their attempts to interfere in Iraq's internal affairs with a view to destabilizing its security and dividing it on ethnic and sectarian bases. These two States had been using various means, including supporting terrorists, and sending mercenaries to conduct subversive operations in violation of international covenants which affirmed sovereignty of States, their rights to self-determination and to choice of their own national regimes. Amidst calls for fighting terrorism of all forms, Iraq was still a target of State terrorism which was represented by the daily bombing by the United States and British warplanes of the north and south of Iraq and its consequences of suffering and victims. Added to that were the daily voiced statements by United States officials about the announcing of war against Iraq under the slogan of fighting terrorism after 11 September.
International reports and resolutions had confirmed the ugliness of the serious violations and crimes being perpetuated by the Zionist entity against the Palestinian people. This situation must end. The Zionist entity's occupation of the Golan Heights of Syria must also be put to an end. The Commission was called upon to adopt a clear stance by demanding that the international community respect the peoples' right to self-determination, and condemn the aggression, occupation and the use of force to terrify peoples and confiscate their freedoms and rights.
NABIL RAMLAWI (Palestine) said that the issue of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination was no longer in need of any discussions or debates insomuch as it was in need of work to end the obstacles and hindrances which stood in the way of implementing international legitimacy, so that the Palestinian people could exercise their right to self-determination, which constituted a legitimate right. UN resolutions had reaffirmed that if the Palestinian people were arbitrarily denied the right to self-determination, it was because of the continued Israeli aggression against this people, the military occupation to their territory and also because they had been exposed to all forms of aggression, killing, and destruction in violation of their rights. This affirmed that the right of peoples to self-determination was closely related to international peace and security, and any attempts to minimize the importance of this right and deny it to any people of the world would only serve to ignite wars, bloodshed and endanger international peace and security.
The whole issue in occupied Palestine and the Middle East region was about the right of the Palestinian people to freely exercise their right to self-determination on their territory and homeland, free from Israeli military occupation and aggression in all forms. It was also about the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland and property according to international legitimacy, and United Nations and Commission on Human Rights resolutions in this respect.
MURAD NAJAFOV(Azerbaijan) said regrettably, the principle of self-determination was used as a basis for so-called rights of ethnic groups to justify their territorial expansionism. The international community was not always able to counter effectively those who fuelled the hatred and xenophobia and prevented the threats to sovereignty, the inviolability of multiethnic unity and the territorial integrity of States. It was necessary to emphasize that such situations were the result of long and careful preparation in inciting separatism and aggression by means of a flawed interpretation of the right of self-determination. Due to the large-scale expansion of false propaganda campaigns, the international community often remained clueless. Since the first territorial claim of Armenia against Azerbaijan concerning Nagorno-Karabakh, there had been two versions of the realization of the right to self-determination. The most preposterous one was the use of the right as an umbrella for open- armed aggression against the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Azerbaijan.
A free interpretation of self-determination and attempts of ethnic minorities, sometimes already part of a State, were not often duly condemned by the international society.
YAAKOV LEVY (Israel) said that Israel respected the right of her neighbours, the Arab States and the Palestinians, to self-determination. Israel expected equal and mutual recognition, not only of the de facto existence of the State of Israel but of her right to self-determination, hoping to attain this recognition through peaceful means. Israel recognized more that 20 years ago, in the framework of the Camp David Accords, "the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and their just requirements". As it happened during the Camp David of 2000, it was the Palestinian Authority's choice not to consummate these negotiations, neither at Camp David, nor later at Taba in January 2001, but instead to resort to a course of continuous violence in order to force Israel's hand to make further concessions, contrary to every agreement negotiated and signed between Israelis and Palestinians. This choice was not only flawed and practically unattainable, but it was also morally repugnant. Israel, like any other country, would not give in to violence and would not change its political position as a result of violence, thrust upon her.
Early this morning there had been another suicide attack in Israel, the kind of indiscriminate violence Israel abhorred. This kind of violence must stop. It had no legitimacy. The Commission was called upon to explicitly condemn this kind of violence which was encouraged and supported by the Palestinian Authority. No root causes, no grievances could ever justify these kinds of actions.
SAAD ALFARARGI (the League of Arab States) said that one year had passed since the adoption of the Commission's resolution recognizing the right of self-determination to the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, the resolution had not been implemented but, instead, military forces remained in the occupied Palestinian territories. The international community supported the Palestinian people in their fight to recover their right to self-determination and should continue until the Palestinians completely recovered all their rights. The Commission should also continue to condemn this conflict and give all support to the Palestinian people.
MOHAMED OULD MOHAMED LEMINE (Mauritania) said the right to self-determination was recognized universally. This right was a legitimate right and at the same time an ideal. Its enshrinement in the Charter reflected its importance. It was therefore inadmissible that certain peoples were still deprived of this rights. For more than fifty years Israel had prevented this right to be realized for Palestinians, in fact conditions for Palestinians had worsened. The reports received testified to the increasingly serious situation in the Middle East and the need to put a hold to it. The plight of the Palestinian people was intolerable in today's society. The international community must face up to its responsibilities. Mauritania was convinced that peace could not be achieved if the Palestinian people were deprived of the basic right of self-determination.
DAVID LITTMAN, of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, said that the recent Security Council reference to a future Palestinian State, and the concept of self-determination, prompted the organization to recall 10 essential geographical, historical and diplomatic points. After the Second World War, Britain had accepted the 1922 League of Nations mandate for Palestine but used it to create two distinct areas in "Greater Palestine". The territories lying between the Jordan river and the eastern boundary of Palestine - known as Trans-Jordan, and comprising 77 % of the whole Palestinian area - were then renamed the "Emirates of Trans-Jordan". Britain decided that no Jews would be authorized either to reside or buy land there. Only the region west of the Jordan River, comprising 23 % of the whole was now redesignated "Palestine" by the British Mandatory Power. Jews could come and live only here, and were authorised to establish the "Jewish National Home", which was the primary purpose of the mandate, as expressed in its preamble and its articles. Security Council resolution 242 had suddenly became the panacea for the Arab world, but the interpretation of its operative paragraphs was totally flawed. The Saudi plan may well be approved next week in Beirut but if, behind it, lay the former 1981 Fahd Plan, with a face-lift, it would only leave Israel with "Auschwitz borders".
H. SHARFELDDIN, of the International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, said the humiliation the Afghans had to undergo, and the humiliation of the Palestinians was taking place under a world media full of falsification and distortion of historical facts and a deafening silence from world leaders. What had happened? Where were the actions of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council? The distortion of truth was often more successful than ignoring facts. The world media relied on the misrepresentation of truth, using misleading information in a very subliminal manner. Special interest groups had become an undisputable reality.
The media was one of the main reasons for what was happening in the world today and what would be seen tomorrow. The people of the United Nations and non-governmental organizations had a duty to confront the strong and powerful. The Secretary-General was called upon to stop massacres and to stop military force outside the context of the Security Council. Furthermore, something had to be done about the right to veto. She suggested the establishment of a global satellite channel, operated and directed under the mandate of the Secretariat.
JOSE NAZARIO, of the American Association of Jurists, said that the actions of the United States navy in Vieqes, Puerto Rico were against human rights and were discriminatory. The living conditions of the people were like those in concentration camps. The military training manoeuvres and the experimental use of depleted uranium had caused illness and despair in the region. In a vote, 70 per cent of the population had voted to halt the military manoeuvres. This vote was only followed by the cancellation of a planned referendum on military presence in Puerto Rico. There was an incredible increase in the arrest of civilians protesting these conditions. They were tried and imprisoned by disproportionate sentences. Civilians were essentially human shields in the shooting range. This political repression represented a discriminatory policy to Puerto Ricans in comparison to sentences given to Americans in the same situation. The United States democracy was a farce.
The Association condemned the attack of 11 September against civilians in New York, however, at the same time it energetically condemned the decades of terrorism practised by United States armed forces against the defenceless peoples around the world, as portrayed in Vieqes.
VICTORIA METCALFE, of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, said that it condemned Israel's denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination through its ongoing 35 year-old illegal and belligerent military occupation of the Gaza strip and West Bank, including Jerusalem. Not only had Israel consistently and systematically violated its legal obligations as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention to protect Palestinian civilians, including the perpetration of war crimes, but the occupation itself was a violation of international law, as most recently reiterated by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 12 March 2002. The longstanding nature of this occupation did not affect its illegality. On the contrary, as the occupation had continued, its colonial nature had become clearer. This colonial nature was particularly evident in the settlements and settlement expansion policy of the Israeli Government which sought to ensure the ultimate and total annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories. The Centre called upon the Commission to reconfirm the illegality of the occupation, and to demand a full, immediate and unconditional withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories.
DIANNE LUPING, of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, said that Israel could not claim sovereignty over the occupied territories because of the ius cogens principle of "inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by force". However, UN resolutions had reaffirmed Palestinians right to self-determination and to their own independent, viable state within secure recognized borders. Israel had sought to use various annexationist, colonial policies to illegally obtain territorial sovereignty flouting UN resolutions, the UN Charter and binding customary international law. Nobody could deny the nature of the Israeli occupation.
The Institute called upon the Commission to reaffirm the illegality of the occupation and to call for an end to Israeli policies and colonialism.
ROSA ANA ALIJA, of Federation de Asociaciones de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos, said that the Sahraoui people should not be deprived of their right to property concerning the mines in the western Sahara. A general referendum should be organized by the United Nations concerning the right to self-determination so that the Sahraoui people could choose their future. Too many families had a dead or missing relative, and an end had to be put to that.
RAFEEF MOUJAHED, of Al-Haq, said that for more than 35 years the Palestinian people had suffered at the hands of Israel. In order to maintain Israel's control, both force and violence had been used. Over the last few months the repressive use of force had increased. The Palestinian people's denial of the right to self-determination was a clear violation of human rights. Only when this right had been guaranteed could there be a semblance of peace in the region.
The Commission was called upon to take action and bring about an end to the violations of human rights in the Middle East. The Israeli occupation was at fault, and the organization requested the General Assembly to take steps to implement the recommendations of the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The Palestinian people also needed to be protected from the disproportionate ongoing violence and the collective punishment. The General Assembly must also take all necessary steps to ensure peace and security in the region.
SYED FIAZ NAQSHBANDI, of the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir were among the first to have been conferred with the right to self-determination in the Security Council in its resolution of 5 January 1949. Over half a century later the Kashmiri people still awaited the implementation of this resolution. The current movement in Indian-occupied Kashmir was rooted in the struggle of the exercise of the right to self-determination. Peaceful processions chanting demands for freedom were fired upon by Indian army and paramilitary forces. Thousands of Kashmiri men, women and children had been tortured, wounded and killed. The struggle for the right to self-determination as a sacred trust had been passed from one generation of Kashmiris to another. Some 80,000 Kashmiris had been martyred opposing Indian oppression. Over 700,000 Indian military and para-military forces were applying tools of extra-judicial killings, rape, torture and destruction of economic infrastructure to force the people of Kashmir to abdicate their internationally acclaimed right to self-determination.
J.V. KOMLOSSY, of the Federal Union of European Nationalities, said that it was necessary to point out, no matter in what context, that when tackling the question of self-determination it was vital to differentiate between internal and external self-determination. Internal self-determination did not affect the integrity of a State and did not aim at changing the internationally recognized border of a State. The accomplishment of internal self-determination meant that a sufficiently numerous ethnic group or national minority, in order to safeguard its ethnic or national identity and to preserve its own national resources within a clearly defined border of its settlement, decided to take its own affairs in its own hands.
Accordingly, it established its own bodies and institutions in all fields from local legislation through the issues of education to the management of the local finances. This was within the legal framework provided by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of the United Nations and the No. VIII of the Final Act of Helsinki. It must be emphasized that this was in full conformity with the principle of subsidiarity.
BARRISTER MAJID TRAMBOO, of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities, said that many of the current threats to international peace and security stemmed from the struggle of various minorities, indigenous populations, unrepresented peoples and nations to claim their right to self-determination. Therefore, the notion of a continuing process and a popular participation was especially significant to the human right of self-determination. The international community and this Commission had to intensify moral persuasion to obtain India's acquiescence to a referendum under a dispensation negotiated with all the three parties namely India, Pakistan and the Kashmiris. The UN should play its role as there was a dire need for a new mechanism on this crucial issue of the human right to self-determination. The UN should heed to call of NGOs and the resolutions of the First International Conference on the right to self-determination.

Rights of Reply
A Representative of Israel, exercising his right of reply, said to the Organization of Islamic Conference that Israel too supported the United Nations Security Council resolutions which Israel had accepted and believed served as the only basis of peace. However, these resolutions also contained conditions concerning the Palestinians. It could not be that Israel was the only party expected to adhere to the resolutions. The comments made by the delegate from Iraq were not worth responding to given Iraq's dismal human rights reputation. To the Palestinian observer: what hindered progress was the decision to pursue violence as opposed to opt for negotiations.
A Representative of Iraq, exercising his right of reply and responding to the Representative of Israel, said that there were two realities concerning the name of Israel. An historical one and one based on the reality of the borders. Iraq chose not to call Israel by its name because it occupied the Palestinian territory to create Israel. Besides, Israel was the only State without borders recognized by the international community.



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