COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ADOPTS CONCLUSIONS AND DECISION ON CYPRUS

CERD
59th session
10 August 2001
Morning



Hears Response of Ukraine to Queries on its Report

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon adopted its concluding observations and recommendations on the fifteenth and sixteenth periodic reports of Cyprus by noting that the Government of Cyprus was still prevented from implementing the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination throughout its national territory because of the Turkish occupation of 37 per cent of the island.

In that connection, the Committee adopted a decision reaffirming the importance of putting an end to the foreign occupation of Cyprus so that all human rights and freedoms were enjoyed by all Cypriots irrespective of their ethnic origin.

Also this morning, the Committee concluded its consideration of the fifteenth and sixteenth periodic reports of Ukraine. In their response to questions raised by Committee Experts, the members of the delegation said there was no State anti-Semitism policy or xenophobia as alluded to by one of the Committee members; cases of anti-Semitism were taken to court and punished; and one of the biggest universities in Ukraine was the "Solomon University", where Yiddish language was emphasized. The delegation also said that on 29 September each year, Ukraine observed a day of mourning in remembrance of the Holocaust.

Gay McDougall, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Ukraine, said in preliminary remarks that the last ten years had been a challenge to the Government in building the country; and new legislation had been enacted during this period as
well as measures in order to comply with the country's international obligations. She said that the Government had to develop specific legislation in application of articles 4 and 5 of the Convention, with regard to racial discrimination based on propaganda.

The following Committee Experts also took part in the debate: Luis Velencia Rodriguez, Yuri A. Reshetov, Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr, Patrick Thornberry, Marc Boussuyt, Agah Shahi, Ion Diaconu, Michael E. Sherifis, Gabriele Britz, Francois Lonseny Fall, Regis de Gouttes, Patricia Nosipho January-Bardill and Raghavan Vasudevan Pillai.

The Committee will release its concluding observations and recommendations on the fifteenth and sixteenth periodic reports of Ukraine next week before ending its three-week session on 17 August.

Ukraine is among the 157 States parties to the Convention and as such it must submit summaries of its performance designed to give effect to the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will take up the report of Egypt.

Concluding Observations and Recommendations on Report of Cyprus

In its conclusions, the Committee said that the Government of Cyprus was still prevented from implementing the provisions of the Convention throughout its national territory. The occupation since 1974 by Turkish forces of 37 per cent of the territory had caused the de facto separation of the various ethnic and religious communities. That artificial division was not only an obstacle to peace and the enjoyment of human rights in the region, but impeded the construction of a progressive anti-discrimination strategy for the island as a whole.

Among positive aspects, the Committee welcomed the setting up in September 1998 of the National Institution for the Protection of Human Rights; and the extension of the powers of the Attorney General to appoint criminal investigators concerning police behaviour without requiring a written complaint of racial discrimination. The Committee noted that a new draft marriage law, allowing marriage between a Greek Orthodox and a Muslim of Turkish origin, had been approved by the Council of Ministers; and noted with satisfaction the establishment of a Complaints Office within the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance in charge of dealing with complaints made by foreign workers.

Concerning information on cases of violence by police against aliens entering Cyprus illegally, the Committee recommended that the authorities continue to monitor such incidents closely and take appropriate steps to deal with them. The Committee expressed its concern at the lack of law provisions expressly outlawing racial discrimination in education and employment, and recommended that the State party give attention to the development of such legislation.

While commending the State party for the enactment of the 2000 Refugee Act, the Committee recommended the prompt adoption of the necessary mechanisms for its full implementation, especially with respect to Refugee Status Determination.

The Committee expressed concern at the absence of a comprehensive immigration policy aimed at regulating the entry and stay of immigrants as well as their employment rights.

The Committee said it shared the State party's concern that despite efforts undertaken by the Government of Cyprus to organize bi-communal activities, there were continuous difficulties for the Turkish and Greek communities to meet together and restore mutual confidence; it recommended that the State party continue to adopt confidence-building measures in order to promote a climate of respect for the human rights of all its citizens.


Decision on Cyprus

The Committee, having considered the fifteenth and sixteenth periodic reports of Cyprus, reaffirmed the importance of putting an end to the foreign occupation of Cyprus so that all human rights and freedoms were enjoyed by all Cypriots irrespective of their ethnic origin as envisaged in the Convention, in particular the rights to freedom of movement and residence, and to own property.

The Committee requested the Secretary-General of the United Nations to call the attention of the Security Council, the General Assembly and other appropriate bodies of the United Nations to that decision, in the earnest hope that they would take the measures required for the implementation of their relevant resolutions and decisions.

Response of Ukraine

In response to a number of questions raised by Committee Experts during the previous meeting, the members of the delegation said that the statement of the President of Ukraine on anti-discrimination had been addressed to all citizens. Since he was the guarantor of the constitutional rights of all citizens, he had intended to reassure the population of the policy of non-discrimination of the Government.

There were no barriers affecting the work of the Ombudsman's office which continued to receive increased number of complaints each year, the delegation said. All cases presented to the Ombudsman were thoroughly investigated and court procedures were engaged for cases admitted by the Office.

Ukraine was ready to accept any international assistance towards the resettlement of displaced and repatriated compatriots, the delegation said. A donor conference had already been held to that end. The Government was endeavouring to satisfy the needs of those persons.

With regard to the right to assembly and association, the delegation said that as a democratic State, such acts were permissible as long as they were held in accordance with the law.

On intra-ethnic conflict, the delegation said that there was no notion of deliberate cause of such conflict on the part of any party. Such crimes of deliberate acts of conflict were punishable by the law. Ukraine paid particular attention to the development of cooperation between ethnic groups.

With regard to the Roma population, there were 30 elementary and secondary schools in the Transcarpathian region where many of them lived, the delegation said. In addition, the Government had been assisting their children to pursue higher education. There were at least 50,000 Roma in the country living in the same conditions as other Ukrainian citizens. Since they were sedentary, they mainly lived in cities.

The Crimean Tartars were not considered as a minority but as normal citizens, the delegation said. There was, however, legislation before the parliament regarding the status of the Crimean Tartars.

The Crimean people had their own consultative legislative body -- the Mejlis -- and they had their own administration, the delegation said. In addition, newspapers and educational textbooks were available in all ethnic languages. The Ministry of Culture had a department to pursue cultural activities of ethnic groups. In order to protect and develop the cultural identity of ethnic minorities, the State was taking additional measures to satisfy their educational and cultural requirements through special programmes.

There was no State anti-Semitism or xenophobia as alluded to by one of the Committee members, the delegation said. Cases of anti-Semitism were taken to court and punished. Recently, a newspaper was prosecuted for being prejudiced towards the Jewish community and a heavy fine was handed down by the court. One of the biggest universities in Ukraine was the "Solomon University", where Yiddish language was emphasized.

On 29 September each year, Ukraine observed a day of mourning in remembrance of the Holocaust, the delegation said. In addition, anti-fascist groups were active and there were a number of activities against anti-Semitism.

The overall economic situation of Ukraine was characterized by an overall increase of production and improvement of individual revenues, the delegation said. No separate studies were carried out on the economic and social situation of the ethnic groups.

The number of Ukrainians immigrating to other countries was increasing each year, the delegation said, adding that the Government had signed agreements with ten countries which would facilitate immigration and working conditions. In addition to legal immigration, there were cases of citizens immigrating illegally in search work.

More Tartars were expected to return to Ukraine, the delegation said, adding that there were at least 90,000 Tartars still living in their places of deportation.

The country was faced, for the first time, with a mass exodus of refugees to many parts of the world, the delegation said. Some of them, such as Nigerians, were involved in drug trafficking. Ukraine was being used as a transitional centre for people and drugs. In all of these cases, the militias had to maintain good relations with the foreigners. Cases of ill-treatment by the militia were dealt with promptly.

GAY MCDOUGALL, the Committee Expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Ukraine, said in preliminary remarks that the last ten years had been a challenge to the Government. It had been engaged in establishing new institutions and renewing the old ones. New legislation had been enacted during this period as well as measures in order to comply with the country's international obligations. The Government had to develop specific legislation in application of articles 4 and 5 of the Convention, with regard to racial discrimination based on propaganda. The legislative framework was the minimum required by the Committee.

Ms. McDougall said the socio-economic situation of each minority should be indicated in order to give the Committee a clearer picture of their living conditions. With regard to law enforcing agents who misbehaved in the performance of their duties, proper disciplinary provisions should be put in place. She said that the delegation's reference to Nigerians attributing to 90 per cent of drug trafficking amounted to "racial profiling". Further, public education should be emphasized so that citizens could know the mechanisms available to reinforce their rights.

An Expert also said that the delegation's reference to Nigerians as drug-traffickers was inappropriate; they might be at the service of the local mafia-like group that exploited those persons. The authorities should better focus their attention on the national problems instead of the Nigerians.



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