COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS HEARS FROM NGOS ON CONDITIONS IN ISRAEL AND BRAZIL

CESCR
30th session
5 May 2003
Afternoon





The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon heard statements from a number of non-governmental organizations which focused on the situation of economic, social and cultural rights in Israel and Brazil.
The two countries, which are among the States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, are scheduled to present their periodic reports to the Committee at this session.
Several non-governmental organizations said that economic and social conditions in Brazil had been deteriorating, with more people becoming marginalized and socially excluded. Many speakers were of the view that the current Government should made structural changes to bring the situation back to normal, adding that hunger and poverty were increasing among women, citizens of African descent and indigenous peoples.
Many Committee Experts also expressed their views concerning the high number of street children in Brazil, gender inequality, abortions, and the situation of indigenous peoples, among other things.
Concerning Israel, several speakers decried Israel's violation of Palestinian rights to housing through the demolition of houses and restrictions on the construction of new ones. Israel's restriction of the right of Palestinians to water was also addressed by many speakers.
A Committee Expert said that the situation of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians should also be highlighted while talking about the violations of Palestinian rights in the occupied territories.
The representatives of the following non-governmental organizations delivered statements: Federation of Associations for Social and Educational Assistance; Commission Justice and Peace; FIAN-Brazil; Brazilian Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Platform; International Women's Rights Action Watch; World Organization Against Torture; Latin American Committee for the Rights of Women; Centre on Housing Rights and Eviction (COHRE); Statistics Centre of the Catholic Bishops Conference; Center for Economic and Social Rights; and the Regional Council for Unrecognised Villages in the Negev.
The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the right to adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, also spoke.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m., it will take up substantive issues arising in the implementation of the International Covenant.

Statements on the Situation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Brazil
MARCIO ALEXANDRE M. GUALBERTO, of the Federation of Associations for Social and Educational Assistance (FASSE), said that in 1999, Brazilian human rights organizations had started their first alternative report and they had continued to do so. The Federation was considering issues of human rights at the regional level in addition to its participation in the Brazilian forum on economic, social and cultural rights. It was also considering how the Brazilian Government was making efforts to get the population to participate in the building of the country.
FLAVIA PIOVESAN, of the Commission Justice and Peace, said that inequality among citizens had increased systematically in Brazil, and it was currently significantly greater than in the first half of the 1980s. Racial and gender aspects had cut across the various levels of inequality and social exclusion. Inequality affected women, indigenous and people of African descent disproportionately; and black and rural women were the very poorest. The proportion of illiterate women remained higher than that of men. The Brazilian economic system was not benefiting the poor people. Among other things, the rate of maternal mortality was higher in the country. It was fundamental to incorporate gender, racial, ethnic and regional perspectives across the formulation, implementation and evaluation of social inclusion policies.
LUIZ PEIXOTO, of FIAN Brazil, said that the issue of hunger in Brazil was a scandal. The country was one of the major exporters of food. Lack of access to food and the agricultural system had made it impossible for many people to survive. Although the country was fertile and rich in natural resources, the lack of land reform was one of the most serious obstacles that had resulted in hunger among many people. The Government's unjust distribution of resources was the main cause of the social exclusion and hunger. People who wished to work in agriculture did not have access to land, and they therefore remained unemployed and socially excluded. The issue of hunger should be dealt with from the root causes, which were landlessness of farmers and lack of food security. The most suitable policies should be chosen in order to resolve the problem faced by the Brazilian people.
PAULO CARBONARI, of the Brazilian Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Platform, said that the past Governments of Brazil had made efforts to deal with the promotion and protection of human rights. The first aspect dealt with the implementation of the national policy on human rights; for the past few years, a series of mechanisms had been set up for the protection of human rights, and eight annual conferences had been held on the issue. It was vital that the Committee give attention to the situation of inequality in Brazil. It was also important to give priority to meet the social needs of the society. There was also concern about the situation of people of African descent, who were experiencing difficulties in realizing their fundamental rights.
KASIA POLANSKA, of the International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW), said that her organization was concerned about Brazil's liberalization plan. While it increased economic efficiency, it worsened the conditions of the poor in Brazil, especially women. The dramatic increase of women entering the informal economy as a result of the economic restructuring plan was a cause of special concern as it increased the likelihood of the exploitation of women's labour. In particular, the organization was concerned about Afro-Brazilian black women, who were more likely to enter the informal labour force than other groups and suffered racial and sexual discrimination in addition to employment exploitation.
AUGUSTA TORRES, of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), said that Brazil had introduced several initiatives aimed at the promotion and protection of the human rights of women. For example, the new Civil Code of 2003 embodied the Constitutional principle of equality between women and men. However, women faced inequality in many aspects of their lives such as high levels of unemployment, unequal representation in government, unequal educational opportunity as well as discrimination in the family. OMCT was deeply concerned by the lack of opportunity for Brazilian women to make decisions in the political, economic and cultural contexts. This had serious implications for the advancement of women and the full enjoyment of their fundamental rights. The unequal gender power relations rendered women vulnerable to violence both in the domestic and the community spheres.
SILVIA PIMENTEL, of the Latin American Committee for the Rights of Women - Brazil, presented a series of recommendations to improve gender equality in Brazil. Among other things, she recommended that economic reforms should be developed in order to increase women's access to financial services, assets and resources, including land ownership, and to property, information and technology; legislation should be designed to allow the regulation and monitoring of global capital flows and of the employment practices of global corporations to make them more sensitive to environmental and gender issues; the contribution of women to the economy should be recognized in national statistics; the right to access essential services such as health, education, clean water and electricity should be ensured for women; and the Government should integrate the prevention of violence with social and educational policies with the aim of promoting gender and social equality.
LETICIA OSORIO, of the Americas Programme for the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), referring to the report compiled by COHRE on housing rights in Brazil, said that the Government was recommended, among other things, to exercise its Constitutional powers to ensure that the right to adequate housing was respected, protected and fulfilled without discrimination for everyone; to ensure that the benefits of its federalism system were fully realized and that the detriment and dangers of such a system were controlled and ameliorated to the fullest extent possible; to ensure that economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to adequate housing, were incorporated into national domestic legislation and made justiciable; and that the Government should fully implement a national policy on housing in all areas under its jurisdiction.
DANIEL RECH, of the Statistics Centre of the Catholic Bishops Conference, said that all mechanisms that had led to exclusion had been noted in the Brazilian society. A minimum mechanism for children to have access to education had been put in place; but the reality was different. Children were not receiving the education that was essential to allow them to pursue higher education. There was a lack of vocational training so that children, after concluding their training, would be able to find descent work. The country was also suffering from lack of health services, with more patients dying from preventable and curable diseases. Because of the lack of clean drinking water, many people died from infectious diseases related to unclean water. Any restructuring that could be undertaken by the authorities should favour better social services to the population.

Statements on the Situation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Israel
MILOON KOTHARI, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the right to adequate housing, said that his report contained detailed information on the situation of the right to adequate housing in the occupied Palestinian territories. The report had also enumerated facts about how the Israeli forces were violating the rights of Palestinians to adequate housing through their denial of the construction of buildings, their destruction of houses belonging to Palestinians and their destruction of schools and hospitals. The report had also made reference to the escalation of violence since the beginning of the crisis in Iraq as the State of Israel had mounted its violence against Palestinians. His report had demonstrated how the Israeli forces had used the crisis to escalate their violence against people in the occupied territories. In conclusion, he said that it was striking that the "road map to peace" presented to Israel and Palestinian authorities did not contain the words "human rights", and the Committee should consider the situation.
MALCOLM LANGFORD, of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), said that it was vital to recall that when Israel was created in 1948, the majority Palestinian population had owned more than 90 per cent of the land, houses and properties in historic Palestine while Jews possessed less than 10 per cent. Today, that figure was almost reversed, thanks to the massive housing, land and property rights violations and other crimes carried out by Israel against Palestinian refugees. Successive Israeli governments had introduced laws that had sought to give some form of formal legitimacy to the massive property grab by Israel. The law on acquisition of property should be repealed to allow Palestinians to have access to their lands. Land and property belonging to Palestinian refugees should be restituted.
LUCY MAIR, of the Centre for Economic and Social Rights, said that the right of Palestinians to water had been violated by the Israeli authorities through a series of military orders which had allowed Israel to control all joint Israeli-Palestinian ground and surface water sources since 1967. Israel had increased the amount of water it pumped from the occupied Palestinian territories for its population inside Israel and for the illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Access to water sources had been greatly impacted by attacks from the Israeli military during the current intifida. The Israeli army had damaged the water network in 255 communities. Recently, the Israeli army had destroyed two wells in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, that provided nearly half of the city's drinking water. Drivers of water tankers and water maintenance personnel had been physically attacked and threatened by the Israeli army and illegal settlers.
LUCY MAIR, of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights, said that Palestinians had been subjected to Israel's restrictions of their right to freedom of movement, their right to education and their right to housing, among other things. The external closure of the territories had deterred Palestinians from entering the territory from the neighbouring countries. Internally, villages and towns had been isolated with Palestinians unable to move from one place to another. Some places were physically blocked with the use of roadblocks. The Israel army had continued to violate Palestinians' right to housing by destroying their houses and restricting the building of new ones. The military forces were shooting at people, including newborn babies. Patients seeking medical assistance were dying at Israeli checkpoints because they were not given access to hospitals. The Palestinians were also denied access to their agricultural lands.
MAHA QUPTY, of the Regional Council of the Palestinian Bedouin Unrecognised Villages and the Arab Association for Human Rights, updated the Committee on five new developments concerning Israeli practices towards the residents of the unrecognised villages in the Negev, which demonstrated Israel's violation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Government was planning the segregation and concentration of the Palestinian Bedouins through laws restricting their movement. Those laws aimed at rendering the Palestinian Bedouin community in Israel internal refugees in their own homeland. Such discriminatory and inhumane policies had continued to guide all planners, decision-makers and institutions in Israel during the last five decades.



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