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02 August 2000
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Sub-Commission on the Promotion
and Protection of Human Rights
52nd Session
2 August 2000
Afternoon
The Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights continued this afternoon to hear from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the question of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including policies of racial discrimination and segregation, in all countries.
Subcommission Experts David Weissbrodt and Francoise Jane Hampson assessed progress or lack of it made by countries concerning human rights violations. They spoke of the situation in Belarus, Nepal, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Peru, Turkey, India, France, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, the United States, Burma, Afghanistan, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Colombia, Chechnya, Angola, Sierra Leone, the Great Lakes area of Africa, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region of China, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
NGOs alleged violations in or by Chechnya, Egypt, the United States, Tibet, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Colombia, France, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Argentina, Mexico and India.
Providing substantive statements this afternoon were the following NGOs: Medecin du Monde International, the Baha'i International Community, the Indian Law Resource Center, the International Institute for Non-Aligned States, Worldview International Foundation, Interfaith International, Pax Romana, International Educational Development, the World Federation of Trade Unions, World Evangelical Fellowship, Association pour la Promotion de l'Emploi et du Logement, the World Muslim Congress, the Lutheran World Federation, the Afro Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organization, the International Commission of Jurists, Franciscans International, the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, the International Institute for Peace, World Democratic Youth, Survival International and the Muslim World League.
Representatives of the following countries spoke on this item: Armenia, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Belarus. Malaysia and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea spoke in right of reply.
The Subcommission will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 3 August, to continue its discussion on human-rights violations anywhere in the world.
Statements
ALEXANDRE KAMAROTOS, of Medecins du Monde, said there were serious violations of human rights still being committed in Chechnya; not only had there been no progress, but there had been new and massive offenses since the resolution on the matter passed this spring by the Commission on Human Rights. Medecins du Monde had worked in several camps for displaced persons and had seen the consequences of these violations. Many displaced persons were suffering severe psychological consequences. The care offered in the camps did not make it possible to meet existing needs. Recent information obtained by the organization indicated that serious violations within Chechnya continued and that Russian forces had not ceased targeting the civilian population.
Shelling of the health infrastructure had not ended, including several facilities where the organization's doctors had been working. There had been waves of mass arrests; maltreatment of detainees was frequent; procedural guarantees were lacking; and detainees' families often were not notified. There should be immediate measures to implement the Commission on Human Rights' resolution on Chechnya, including immediate access to the area for human-rights organizations and investigation, trial, and punishment for perpetrators of human-rights violations.
TECHESTE AHDEROM, of the Baha'i International Community, expressed concern over the discrimination of the Bahai community in Egypt. Several years had failed to change the situation which had been on-going since 1960 when practise of the religion had been abolished by President Nasser. All property had been confiscated and practice of the religion was banned. Religious conviction had led to biased imprisonment and unconstitutional discriminatory policies. There was a clear failure by the Government to protect the Baha'i minority, even though the community had been present in Egypt since 1868. The State had a responsibility to protect the religious freedom of all its people. Seven years had passed since the Human Right Commission had expressed concern over the treatment of the Baha'i community by the Egyptian Government and no change had occurred. The religious freedom of the Baha'i community had to be a concern of the Subcommission.
KEVIN BRADY, of the Indian Law Resource Centre, said the United States was slowly trying to squeeze the Western Shoshone people into smaller and smaller areas of their ancestral lands; it forbade them from fishing and hunting in traditional ways; cattle grazing was no longer allowed; access to traditional gathering and spiritual sites was being impeded and in some cases eliminated; cyanide leach gold mining was being authorized, causing severe damage to the lands and contamination of the water supply; and now the U.S. was preparing to grant approval for the storage of massive amounts of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, a site sacred to the Western Shoshone.
Now, 137 years after signing a treaty promising to respect Shoshone lands, the U.S. was determined to extinguish Western Shoshone ties to the land. State, local and federal agencies had gained millions of dollars from sale of Western Shoshone lands, while the Western Shoshone had received nothing. The Subcommission must call upon the U.S. to halt actions against the Western Shoshone in relation to their use of their ancestral lands.
REENA MARWAH , of the International Institute for Non-Aligned States, said human rights could best be secured in democratic societies. Factors that shaped society were a legal framework and social infrastructure. The ambivalence shown by nations toward the elimination of racial discrimination was a concern. Education was a means to eradicate racist notions. Differences in race did not make some people superior to others. With increasing interdependence it was inevitable that all countries would see a mix of people from different nations, yet countries that were seen as champions of human rights were now attempting to restrict a free flow of people, based on racist policies. The opportunities available to some were denied to others based on race and religion. The organization pledged its support for the World Conference on Racism, and as an active part of civil society, it would work to reaffirm that pluralism and diversity were an added value to society.
VEN YESHI PHUNTSOK, of the Worldview International Foundation, said the Subcommission was the only UN forum to adopt a resolution on Tibet, yet since that resolution in 1991, the human-rights situation had deteriorated. Chinese authorities had banned public display of the Dalai Lama's photograph and had jailed the Panchen Lama at an undisclosed location. Since China ratified the Convention against Torture in 1998, some 69 known Tibetan political prisoners had died of torture; there were some 615 known Tibetan political prisoners now in Chinese prisons. On 22 June, China had issued a White Paper claiming great cultural, religious and educational development in Tibet when it in fact was widely believed that in Tibet today, those who studied the Tibetan language had no future prospects.
China continued to adopt polices to implant Chinese settlers into Tibet, and was now using international funding agencies to implement these policies, which if successful would change the demographics of the Tibetan plateau. The world must help preserve the religious, cultural and national identity of the Tibetan people from annihilation.
CHARLES GRAVES, of Interfaith International, was appalled at the situation in Indonesia, particularly the Moluccas Islands where people were fleeing to escape the conflict and the military was unable to keep order or guarantee security. Muslims and Christians were now massacring each other. This was a concern to the international community at large. Certain mercenaries affiliated to the armies were promoting a Jihad against Christians and non-cooperative Muslims. This was a political misuse of religion. Reports of rape and extrajudicial executions were widespread. For many years there had been a spirit of co-existence between the religious groups. The military had now gained the upper hand and had been infiltrated by unscrupulous groups inciting religious hatred and animosity. The Subcommission was called upon to focus its attention on the current situation in the Moluccas islands and to make a serious attempt to resolve it.
ANTONIO PRAJASTO, of Pax Romana, said that despite investigations, those responsible for human-rights violations in Aceh had not been brought to justice. There were deteriorating security situations in other parts of Indonesia such as Maluku and Sulawesi, resulting in hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of them women and children who had suffered enormously. The Indonesian Government should be urged to ratify relevant human-rights instruments and to implement its commitments under the Convention against Torture, which it had ratified.
Various atrocities had been committed with impunity during the run-up to recent elections in Zimbabwe, including rape, severe beatings, torture and intimidation, and the burning of homes of known and suspected opposition members. Farm invasions and unrest continued, and many perpetrators of pre-election violence were still at large. In Malaysia the right to freedom of assembly had been systematically denied for years. The Subcommission must continue to monitor human-rights violations around the world, and must follow up on the situations it acted on.
PARTHIBAN PARAMANANTHAN, of International Education Development, said there were several situations of armed conflict where allegations of grave breaches of the rules of war justified the attention of the international community; Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Chechnya, and Kosovo to name a few. However other incidents of grave breaches, such as the war in Sri Lanka, had not been met with the same attention and concern due to political or economic self-interests.
Neither the Commission nor the Subcommission had responded to the repeated denunciations of the grave situation in Sri Lanka. The Subcommission was asked to address the situation in Sri Lanka as an issue of highest priority and to express its concern about the civilian Tamil population, the oppressive legislation and the sweeping media ban. The Subcommission was urged to call upon States to end the armament supplies or monies for military use and to condemn the Government of Sri Lanka for its failure to include the Tamil political and military forces in a meaningful dialogue regarding resolution of this conflict.
DAVID WEISSBRODT, Subcommission Expert, said Belarus had established a mixed record since a consensus Chairman's statement was adopted by the Subcommission last year; the Government had made progress to meet the terms of the statement and had invited the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers to visit in June; many of the concerns cited by him had a common foundation -- that disproportionate power was held by the executive branch of the Government and compromised the integrity of the judiciary and legislature. Yet other measures mentioned in the Chairman's statement had not materialized, including presentation of a progress report which the Government had agreed to submit to the Subcommission.
While Bhutan and Nepal had met to discuss the problem of 80,000 to 100,000 refugees from Bhutan living in refugee camps in Nepal, a constructive agreement had not been achieved and no real progress had been made with regard to their return. There had been dramatic improvements in relations between the two Koreas recently, but there was no indication of any significant improvement in the human rights situation within the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Famine had caused thousands to flee the country, and forcible repatriation of some from China was a cause of concern; as was the stabbing death of a Korean human-rights activist in Japan. The human-rights situation in Indonesia remained fragile and perpetrators of violations continued to go unpunished. Peru continued to maintain that it had withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. And although there had been some Governmental efforts to curb endemic torture in Turkey, torture persisted there, along with reports of deaths in custody and "disappearances".
AIDA AVELLA, of the World Federation of Trade Unions, spoke with concern about the current situation in Colombia. Being a trade unionist in Colombia today was a high-risk profession. Teachers and trade unionists were threatened on a daily basis and 15 teachers had been killed during the past year. Threats, intimidation and disappearances were commonplace. The Government's attempts to protect teachers and trade unionists had little or no impact. The organization called upon regional, municipal and national protection for trade unions in Colombia and expressed concern that steps toward an investigating committee had not been undertaken by the International Labour Organization. Para-military groups were creating terror throughout the country. In order to improve the situation, international aid was required. Realistic solutions to the problems of drug trafficking and the establishment of democratic institutions were pivotal.
ELISABETH BATHA, of World Evangelical Fellowship, said the French National Assembly recently had passed a bill giving the State power to dissolve religious groups; it prohibited "creating a state of mental or physical dependence", a term that was vague enough to threaten infringement upon religious freedom. The freedom to speak and to share convictions and to hear ideas was vital to true freedom of belief, as protected under international law. This measure threatened to undermine religious freedom and to set a precedent. It was one of a series of measures recently enacted to fight cults and sects. A list of groups had been published that amounted to a "black list", and it included many mainline religious groups, such as the Baptists. There appeared to be no way to negotiate in response to this list, or to win removal from it.
These measures amounted to a violation of French anti-discrimination laws. World Evangelical Fellowship did not advocate shielding groups that truly caused harm, but disagreed with the recent campaign which was not based on tolerance, equality and respect for human rights, and was not based on time-tested standards of the rule of law. Minority religious groups must not be unnecessarily discriminated against.
SAMINA KABIR, of the Association pour la Promotion de l'Emploi et du Logement, hoped that one day all citizens could freely express their opinions and articulate their wishes, free from intimidation and repression. True freedom could only exist with democratic institutions, a free media and an independent judiciary. Age-old prejudices could be tackled through education to avoid tensions which blocked development. The situation in Afghanistan was of particular concern. Women were living in atrocious conditions, virtual hostages in their own countries. The Taliban had created training camps and incited religious hatred by singling out people based on religion. The ordinary citizens were hampered from contributing in a healthy way to society. Democracy was the best guarantor of human rights. The spread of intolerance and regression through prejudiced attitudes could lead nowhere. A new era had begun, an era which challenged democracies everywhere, and the Subcommission was called upon to stand up and take notice.
AHMAD MAQBOOL, of the World Muslim Congress, said the Commission on Human Rights' resolution on Chechnya had demanded an independent tribunal to investigate charges of human-rights violations, but the tribunal had yet to be established; meanwhile cruel and humiliating torture and vicious mistreatment of Chechen detainees continued. Serbian forces retreating from Kosovo a year ago had trucked along 5,000 or so of Kosovo's Albanian elite, all of whom -- or those who remained --- still were detained in Serbian prisons; it was everyone's responsibility to make sure Slobodan Milosevic accounted for every one of them, and to make sure every one was liberated. Attention also had to be paid to the continued violations of the rights of the Rohingyas, a national minority living in northwest Myanmar and undergoing State repression.
Every day saw additions to the long list of innocent civilians killed by Indian forces in Kashmir. The issue was the right of Kashmiris to self-determination; India insisted Jammu and Kashmir was an "integral part" of India, and had amassed an army of 750,000 to keep its hold on the region. There continued to be countless cases of arbitrary arrest, torture, rape, and disappearance of Kashmiris at the hands of Indian forces. The Subcommission must pay attention to the situation in Kashmir.
PETER PROVE, of the Lutheran World Federation, expressed disappointment regarding the lack of progress in finding an agreement between Nepal and Bhutan and the failure to reach a fair and lasting resolution which took into account representation on behalf of the displaced population and the principles of international law relating to non-discrimination, the right to return, the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of one's nationality, and the reduction of statelessness. It had been hoped that this problem would have been solved. Despite intervention by, amongst others, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, and most recently, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the practical situation remained unchanged. After approximately 10 years of waiting, over 90,000 people continued to languish in the refugee camps in eastern Nepal. The organization called upon the Subcommission to re-consider this matter and to continue to press for a just solution for those who were expelled from their homes in Bhutan, who fled in fear, but who nevertheless continued to cherish the hope of homecoming.
BEITH BENNET, of the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization, said his colleague Khalid Quereshi, an eminent human-rights activist who had spoken to the Subcommission in the past on behalf of the Seraiki nation of Pakistan, was unable to do so this year because the military dictators there had stopped him from reaching Geneva. The Seraiki people were not terrorists and were not carrying out an armed struggle; they wished to continue with their unique linguistic and cultural characteristics, yet were being persecuted in a country whose streets resounded with sectarian violence. The rulers of Pakistan were not interested in pluralist democracy and continued to persecute minorities, including the Mohajirs, Sindhis, and Baloch, and even members of the majority sect of Sunni Islam.
The paranoia among the ruling elite in Pakistan was so great that the authorities had sought to manipulate census figures. The Subcommission must call upon the Pakistani authorities to stop stifling the voice of the Seraiki nation and to grant Seraikis the right to present their case to the international community.
FREDERICO ANDREW, of the International Commission of Jurists, spoke out against the death penalty for juveniles on both a moral and legal basis. Morally, the execution of juveniles stopped any possible reintegration into society, and legally, this practices was diametrically opposed to several international conventions and declarations. Only five States persisted in the execution of juveniles: Saudi Arabia, the United States, Pakistan, Iran and Nigeria. The death penalty for juveniles was against international human rights laws. The organization also called upon the Subcommission to put pressure on the Argentinean Government to release information to the relatives of persons who had disappeared. These relatives had the right to know the truth of what happened to their loved ones.
PHILIPPE LE BLANC, of Franciscans International, said that not withstanding recent electoral changes, there was ample evidence that long-standing and systemic human-rights problems continued in Mexico; High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson had visited the country and had declared that there was a deep gulf between what the Government said it was doing and what was reported on the ground; Franciscans International strongly encouraged Mexican authorities to implement fully the commitments made, and recommended that the Subcommission request the Commission on Human Rights to ensure that there was follow-up to the commitments made by the Government.
In Pakistan, religious intolerance continued, and concern remained over the blasphemy laws and the separate electoral system, which perpetuated segregation on the basis of religion. It was to be hoped that an announcement set for 14 August would reveal the abolition of the separate electoral system. In Colombia, a massacre had taken place on 8 July in the village of Union, where armed men in army uniforms killed six men in the centre of the village and told everyone to abandon the community; the killings appeared to be part of a policy of clearing lands for purchase at bargain prices by transnational companies.
ORELTA BANDE TINI DI, of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, said that once again the organization wished to draw the attention of the Subcommission to the terrible plight of the Tamil civil population in and around the conflict areas of Sri Lanka. No war was conducive to human rights. In this conflict between the Government's armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, an escalation of direct attacks against the civil population was taking place in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, specifically striking the Tamil civilian population living in the areas under LTTE control. The Subcommission was appealed to support the positive action undertaken by Norway and to welcome further action which would allow fair negotiations so as to finally reach a just and dignified peace for all.
PANKAJ BHAN, of the International Institute for Peace, said Kashmiris of all religious and cultural backgrounds had lived together in peace and tolerance for centuries, but then in 1989 a handful of boys, unhappy with the political dispensation and bad governance, were beguiled by Pakistan into picking up guns and firing the first shots; those shots had led to the deaths of thousands, the destruction of an entire economic and social infrastructure, and to refugee camps milling with Hindus and Muslims. The onus for this tragedy lay with Pakistan. Eleven years after the start of the conflict, Kashmiris wanted peace, but jihad groups nourished by Pakistan would not let them have it. Kashmiri brethren in the northern areas of Pakistan had been waiting 50 years for democratic rights, and still had nothing.
Pakistan said it was providing political, moral and diplomatic support to Kashmir. Kashmiris did not want it. Kashmiris wanted peace. Let Pakistan give its support to that cause; let Pakistan leave Kashmir alone.
IBAD U. REHMAN, of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, reminded the Subcommission of the gruesome situation of human rights violations against more than 22 million Mohajirs in urban centres of Sindh province in southern Pakistan. The Subcommission was urged to take action in accordance with resolution 8 of the Commission of Human Rights of 1967 as human rights violations against this ethnic and linguistic minority in Pakistan were widespread. The ouster of so-called elected Government in Pakistan and the take-over by a military general made no difference whatsoever to the policy of oppression and suppression of Mohajirs. The Government of Pakistan was called upon to stop all violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms committed against the various ethnic and linguistic groups in the country, particularly of the Mohajir and Sindhi nations of Sindh province.
LEONIE TANGGAHMA, of Survival International, said the Papuan Congress had taken place earlier this year and some 3,000 leaders from all regions of West Papua had reaffirmed the right to self-determination, despite pressure of various sorts from the Indonesian Government; the situation in West Papua was deteriorating rapidly. There had been an increase in the number of Indonesian troops in the region, and the buildup of pro- and anti-independence militias -- the latter often supported by the military -- was potentially explosive. The bloody sectarian conflict in the neighbouring Moluccas had had repercussions in West Papua, too, including through the arrival of some 20,000 refugees.
The Subcommission should closely monitor the situation in West Papua; should ask the Government of Indonesia to allow international humanitarian intervention there; should call for suspension from duty of members of security forces suspected of taking sides with the militias; and should call for punishment of all who provoked violence.
SYED FAIZ NAQSHBANDI, of the Muslim World League, said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir had been looking towards the Subcommission with the hope that it would raise a voice against the systematic Indian violations of human rights. A consistent pattern of violations of human rights had been brought to the attention of the Subcommission for several years. Yet, India was pursuing its repressive policy against the people of Kashmir. The Government of India was camouflaging these abuses through outright lies and fabrications. In fact, the Government of India had enacted a series of black laws on Kashmir which facilitated the Indian forces to indulge in human rights abuses. Any Indian army officer could arrest without warrant any person at any time, which practically terrorized the entire Kashmir population. The Subcommission was urged to see how laws were framed to facilitate the armed forces to indulge in human rights abuses with complete legal protection and tactful media cover to camouflage these crimes.
FRANCOISE JANE HAMPSON, Subcommission Expert, said some progress had been made; India had agreed to open talks, for example, with at least some groups in Kashmir; France had made some encouraging proposals with regard to Corsica. Some situations were simply depressing -- for example, six executions of persons who were under 18 at the time of the commission of their supposed crimes -- one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one in Iran, and four in the United States.
Some countries had long-running situations of concern -- Burma, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Saudi Arabia. In some cases, situations had been matters of concern for some time to the Subcommission -- Belarus, refugees from Bhutan in Nepal; Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, and Turkey. Another problem concerned conflicts where fighting violated applicable laws of armed conflict -- Colombia, Mexico, Indonesia (particularly Aceh), Chechnya, renewed fighting in Angola, Sierra Leone, and the fighting in the Great Lakes area of Africa. There also was serious concern about situations in which one community was persecuting or had persecuted another -- the Solomon Islands, Fiji, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region of China, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Impunity for perpetrators was a common thread running through all these situations. Yet the majority of these States cooperated with the UN human-rights machinery. UN mechanisms were not there to punish States but to help identify problems and possible solutions. Mexico and Colombia were cooperating with the UN machinery, so why were there still problems with effective accountability of police and security forces; problems with prosecutions; and weak judiciaries? If apparently co-operative States were not prepared to address problems identified, it would suggest that cooperation was a sham; if international assistance was not forthcoming, it showed that concern expressed by certain Governments was a sham. It would help, for example, if the United States gave as much assistance to Colombia in building up effective policing and an effective judiciary as it had in supporting the Colombian armed forces.
The lesson of the past decade was that unaddressed serious human-rights violations eventually led to an explosion. It was necessary to find a way of engaging States in the interest of peace and security and to prevent the need for expensive later intervention. A mixture of the stick and carrot incentives was called for.
KAREN NAZARIAN (Armenia) said the intervention was to draw attention to increasing human rights violations, some of which seemed to have a permanent character, lasting over decades. The constant attempts to deny the rights enshrined in international treaties, more particularly the ongoing violation
of people's right to self-determination, deserved the Subcommission's undivided attention and careful study. It was more than a decade that Armenia had born the consequences of the limited application in the region of the right to forge one's national destiny independently.
Azerbaijan's denial to fulfil its obligations under international human rights treaties had caused armed conflict and problems of refugees and displaced peoples in the region. In the context of its renewed mandate, the Subcommission should give particular importance to this subject, since no individual's rights could be fully guaranteed outside the framework of peoples rights to self-determination. The Subcommission's expert capacity was counted on to monitor closely the application of international law principles.
ALDOVRI MOHAMED (Iraq) said many countries faced the problem of attempts to politicize human rights; double standards often were introduced in the international sphere; the Subcommission for a long time had tried to avoid these pitfalls. Human rights could not develop or be observed in situations of deprivation, particularly when such situations were imposed from outside, as a result of United Nations measures. The embargo imposed this way against Iraq had now gone on for 10 years; it amounted to collective torture and genocide against the people of Iraq.
The deprivation included the violation of the right to health and the right to life; there was hunger, disease, and slow death; more than 2 million Iraqis had died as a result of the embargo. The Iraqi people should be one of the Subcommission's priorities; it should try to deliver the people of Iraq from the embargo and put a stop to this heinous crime. The matter should be approached positively, objectively, and seriously, and the true perpetrators of the tragedy in Iraq -- the United States and the United Kingdom, who carried out daily bombings on Iraq -- should be approached decisively. A resolution should be passed calling for an end to all forms of such embargoes imposed against countries.
ASFANDIYAR VAHABZALA (Azerbaijan) said there were human rights violations that were of serious concern to the world today, in particular the crime of aggression. Present practice demonstrated that in many cases, factors of the evolution of norms of international law were not an obstacle to them being systematically violated. Special attention was drawn to particular situations where territories were seized by conflicting parties even after the relevant resolutions of the Security Council had condemned the occupation and called for the strict respect of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the internationally recognized borders of a State.
International terrorism had become one of the most serious threats to the generally accepted concepts of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as to the security and territorial integrity of States. The Government of Azerbaijan was confident of the necessity of strengthening international cooperation in order to prevent, combat and eliminate terrorism. The Special Rapporteur on the question on terrorism was encouraged to focus more attention on 'ethnic terrorism'.
VICTOR GOLOVANOV (Belarus) said the country had taken a series of steps since last year's session of the Subcommission to enhance its human-rights situation. The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers had recently visited, and the Government had provided all necessary assistance and had granted the Rapporteur full freedom of action. On 20 July, Belarus had lifted its reservation to article 20 of the Convention against Torture. A dialogue with the Council of Europe had led to progress in the planning of elections for October; the goal was free and fair elections; the electoral code of the country had been termed highly effective for the holding of free and fair elections. More than 100 political parties were in existence, representing the whole spectrum of the life and population of the country.
The legislative pace had meant that other reforms were still under way; but much legislation had been drafted. It was hoped that a bill establishing an office of an Ombudsman would be approved. A programme was being carried out to provide effective protection for the rights and freedoms of citizens during the transition to the forming of a full civil society in Belarus.
Rights of Reply
The Representative of Malaysia, speaking in right of reply, said that the statement which alleged that the right to freedom of assembly had been systematically violated for years in the country was manifestly false. Permits for rallies had been granted and it was only when demonstrations had disrupted public order that authorities had had to step in.
The Representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, speaking in right of reply, said the reference to the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the statement of Mr. Weissbrodt had been based on unsubstantiated and fabricated allegations. In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, human beings were considered as most precious, and everything was done for their benefit. Mr. Weissbrodt's statement, in total disregard of this, would not contribute to progress or open dialogue on human rights. In the past, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had shown the utmost cooperation with Mr. Weissbrodt in helping him to carry out his work and in informing him of the situation in the country. But he had responded to this sincere cooperation by voicing unsubstantiated and fabricated allegations. He should be reminded that he should comply with the Subcommission's high standards for objectivity and accuracy.
* *** *
and Protection of Human Rights
52nd Session
2 August 2000
Afternoon
The Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights continued this afternoon to hear from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the question of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including policies of racial discrimination and segregation, in all countries.
Subcommission Experts David Weissbrodt and Francoise Jane Hampson assessed progress or lack of it made by countries concerning human rights violations. They spoke of the situation in Belarus, Nepal, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Peru, Turkey, India, France, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, the United States, Burma, Afghanistan, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Colombia, Chechnya, Angola, Sierra Leone, the Great Lakes area of Africa, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region of China, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
NGOs alleged violations in or by Chechnya, Egypt, the United States, Tibet, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Colombia, France, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Argentina, Mexico and India.
Providing substantive statements this afternoon were the following NGOs: Medecin du Monde International, the Baha'i International Community, the Indian Law Resource Center, the International Institute for Non-Aligned States, Worldview International Foundation, Interfaith International, Pax Romana, International Educational Development, the World Federation of Trade Unions, World Evangelical Fellowship, Association pour la Promotion de l'Emploi et du Logement, the World Muslim Congress, the Lutheran World Federation, the Afro Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organization, the International Commission of Jurists, Franciscans International, the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, the International Institute for Peace, World Democratic Youth, Survival International and the Muslim World League.
Representatives of the following countries spoke on this item: Armenia, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Belarus. Malaysia and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea spoke in right of reply.
The Subcommission will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 3 August, to continue its discussion on human-rights violations anywhere in the world.
Statements
ALEXANDRE KAMAROTOS, of Medecins du Monde, said there were serious violations of human rights still being committed in Chechnya; not only had there been no progress, but there had been new and massive offenses since the resolution on the matter passed this spring by the Commission on Human Rights. Medecins du Monde had worked in several camps for displaced persons and had seen the consequences of these violations. Many displaced persons were suffering severe psychological consequences. The care offered in the camps did not make it possible to meet existing needs. Recent information obtained by the organization indicated that serious violations within Chechnya continued and that Russian forces had not ceased targeting the civilian population.
Shelling of the health infrastructure had not ended, including several facilities where the organization's doctors had been working. There had been waves of mass arrests; maltreatment of detainees was frequent; procedural guarantees were lacking; and detainees' families often were not notified. There should be immediate measures to implement the Commission on Human Rights' resolution on Chechnya, including immediate access to the area for human-rights organizations and investigation, trial, and punishment for perpetrators of human-rights violations.
TECHESTE AHDEROM, of the Baha'i International Community, expressed concern over the discrimination of the Bahai community in Egypt. Several years had failed to change the situation which had been on-going since 1960 when practise of the religion had been abolished by President Nasser. All property had been confiscated and practice of the religion was banned. Religious conviction had led to biased imprisonment and unconstitutional discriminatory policies. There was a clear failure by the Government to protect the Baha'i minority, even though the community had been present in Egypt since 1868. The State had a responsibility to protect the religious freedom of all its people. Seven years had passed since the Human Right Commission had expressed concern over the treatment of the Baha'i community by the Egyptian Government and no change had occurred. The religious freedom of the Baha'i community had to be a concern of the Subcommission.
KEVIN BRADY, of the Indian Law Resource Centre, said the United States was slowly trying to squeeze the Western Shoshone people into smaller and smaller areas of their ancestral lands; it forbade them from fishing and hunting in traditional ways; cattle grazing was no longer allowed; access to traditional gathering and spiritual sites was being impeded and in some cases eliminated; cyanide leach gold mining was being authorized, causing severe damage to the lands and contamination of the water supply; and now the U.S. was preparing to grant approval for the storage of massive amounts of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, a site sacred to the Western Shoshone.
Now, 137 years after signing a treaty promising to respect Shoshone lands, the U.S. was determined to extinguish Western Shoshone ties to the land. State, local and federal agencies had gained millions of dollars from sale of Western Shoshone lands, while the Western Shoshone had received nothing. The Subcommission must call upon the U.S. to halt actions against the Western Shoshone in relation to their use of their ancestral lands.
REENA MARWAH , of the International Institute for Non-Aligned States, said human rights could best be secured in democratic societies. Factors that shaped society were a legal framework and social infrastructure. The ambivalence shown by nations toward the elimination of racial discrimination was a concern. Education was a means to eradicate racist notions. Differences in race did not make some people superior to others. With increasing interdependence it was inevitable that all countries would see a mix of people from different nations, yet countries that were seen as champions of human rights were now attempting to restrict a free flow of people, based on racist policies. The opportunities available to some were denied to others based on race and religion. The organization pledged its support for the World Conference on Racism, and as an active part of civil society, it would work to reaffirm that pluralism and diversity were an added value to society.
VEN YESHI PHUNTSOK, of the Worldview International Foundation, said the Subcommission was the only UN forum to adopt a resolution on Tibet, yet since that resolution in 1991, the human-rights situation had deteriorated. Chinese authorities had banned public display of the Dalai Lama's photograph and had jailed the Panchen Lama at an undisclosed location. Since China ratified the Convention against Torture in 1998, some 69 known Tibetan political prisoners had died of torture; there were some 615 known Tibetan political prisoners now in Chinese prisons. On 22 June, China had issued a White Paper claiming great cultural, religious and educational development in Tibet when it in fact was widely believed that in Tibet today, those who studied the Tibetan language had no future prospects.
China continued to adopt polices to implant Chinese settlers into Tibet, and was now using international funding agencies to implement these policies, which if successful would change the demographics of the Tibetan plateau. The world must help preserve the religious, cultural and national identity of the Tibetan people from annihilation.
CHARLES GRAVES, of Interfaith International, was appalled at the situation in Indonesia, particularly the Moluccas Islands where people were fleeing to escape the conflict and the military was unable to keep order or guarantee security. Muslims and Christians were now massacring each other. This was a concern to the international community at large. Certain mercenaries affiliated to the armies were promoting a Jihad against Christians and non-cooperative Muslims. This was a political misuse of religion. Reports of rape and extrajudicial executions were widespread. For many years there had been a spirit of co-existence between the religious groups. The military had now gained the upper hand and had been infiltrated by unscrupulous groups inciting religious hatred and animosity. The Subcommission was called upon to focus its attention on the current situation in the Moluccas islands and to make a serious attempt to resolve it.
ANTONIO PRAJASTO, of Pax Romana, said that despite investigations, those responsible for human-rights violations in Aceh had not been brought to justice. There were deteriorating security situations in other parts of Indonesia such as Maluku and Sulawesi, resulting in hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of them women and children who had suffered enormously. The Indonesian Government should be urged to ratify relevant human-rights instruments and to implement its commitments under the Convention against Torture, which it had ratified.
Various atrocities had been committed with impunity during the run-up to recent elections in Zimbabwe, including rape, severe beatings, torture and intimidation, and the burning of homes of known and suspected opposition members. Farm invasions and unrest continued, and many perpetrators of pre-election violence were still at large. In Malaysia the right to freedom of assembly had been systematically denied for years. The Subcommission must continue to monitor human-rights violations around the world, and must follow up on the situations it acted on.
PARTHIBAN PARAMANANTHAN, of International Education Development, said there were several situations of armed conflict where allegations of grave breaches of the rules of war justified the attention of the international community; Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Chechnya, and Kosovo to name a few. However other incidents of grave breaches, such as the war in Sri Lanka, had not been met with the same attention and concern due to political or economic self-interests.
Neither the Commission nor the Subcommission had responded to the repeated denunciations of the grave situation in Sri Lanka. The Subcommission was asked to address the situation in Sri Lanka as an issue of highest priority and to express its concern about the civilian Tamil population, the oppressive legislation and the sweeping media ban. The Subcommission was urged to call upon States to end the armament supplies or monies for military use and to condemn the Government of Sri Lanka for its failure to include the Tamil political and military forces in a meaningful dialogue regarding resolution of this conflict.
DAVID WEISSBRODT, Subcommission Expert, said Belarus had established a mixed record since a consensus Chairman's statement was adopted by the Subcommission last year; the Government had made progress to meet the terms of the statement and had invited the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers to visit in June; many of the concerns cited by him had a common foundation -- that disproportionate power was held by the executive branch of the Government and compromised the integrity of the judiciary and legislature. Yet other measures mentioned in the Chairman's statement had not materialized, including presentation of a progress report which the Government had agreed to submit to the Subcommission.
While Bhutan and Nepal had met to discuss the problem of 80,000 to 100,000 refugees from Bhutan living in refugee camps in Nepal, a constructive agreement had not been achieved and no real progress had been made with regard to their return. There had been dramatic improvements in relations between the two Koreas recently, but there was no indication of any significant improvement in the human rights situation within the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Famine had caused thousands to flee the country, and forcible repatriation of some from China was a cause of concern; as was the stabbing death of a Korean human-rights activist in Japan. The human-rights situation in Indonesia remained fragile and perpetrators of violations continued to go unpunished. Peru continued to maintain that it had withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. And although there had been some Governmental efforts to curb endemic torture in Turkey, torture persisted there, along with reports of deaths in custody and "disappearances".
AIDA AVELLA, of the World Federation of Trade Unions, spoke with concern about the current situation in Colombia. Being a trade unionist in Colombia today was a high-risk profession. Teachers and trade unionists were threatened on a daily basis and 15 teachers had been killed during the past year. Threats, intimidation and disappearances were commonplace. The Government's attempts to protect teachers and trade unionists had little or no impact. The organization called upon regional, municipal and national protection for trade unions in Colombia and expressed concern that steps toward an investigating committee had not been undertaken by the International Labour Organization. Para-military groups were creating terror throughout the country. In order to improve the situation, international aid was required. Realistic solutions to the problems of drug trafficking and the establishment of democratic institutions were pivotal.
ELISABETH BATHA, of World Evangelical Fellowship, said the French National Assembly recently had passed a bill giving the State power to dissolve religious groups; it prohibited "creating a state of mental or physical dependence", a term that was vague enough to threaten infringement upon religious freedom. The freedom to speak and to share convictions and to hear ideas was vital to true freedom of belief, as protected under international law. This measure threatened to undermine religious freedom and to set a precedent. It was one of a series of measures recently enacted to fight cults and sects. A list of groups had been published that amounted to a "black list", and it included many mainline religious groups, such as the Baptists. There appeared to be no way to negotiate in response to this list, or to win removal from it.
These measures amounted to a violation of French anti-discrimination laws. World Evangelical Fellowship did not advocate shielding groups that truly caused harm, but disagreed with the recent campaign which was not based on tolerance, equality and respect for human rights, and was not based on time-tested standards of the rule of law. Minority religious groups must not be unnecessarily discriminated against.
SAMINA KABIR, of the Association pour la Promotion de l'Emploi et du Logement, hoped that one day all citizens could freely express their opinions and articulate their wishes, free from intimidation and repression. True freedom could only exist with democratic institutions, a free media and an independent judiciary. Age-old prejudices could be tackled through education to avoid tensions which blocked development. The situation in Afghanistan was of particular concern. Women were living in atrocious conditions, virtual hostages in their own countries. The Taliban had created training camps and incited religious hatred by singling out people based on religion. The ordinary citizens were hampered from contributing in a healthy way to society. Democracy was the best guarantor of human rights. The spread of intolerance and regression through prejudiced attitudes could lead nowhere. A new era had begun, an era which challenged democracies everywhere, and the Subcommission was called upon to stand up and take notice.
AHMAD MAQBOOL, of the World Muslim Congress, said the Commission on Human Rights' resolution on Chechnya had demanded an independent tribunal to investigate charges of human-rights violations, but the tribunal had yet to be established; meanwhile cruel and humiliating torture and vicious mistreatment of Chechen detainees continued. Serbian forces retreating from Kosovo a year ago had trucked along 5,000 or so of Kosovo's Albanian elite, all of whom -- or those who remained --- still were detained in Serbian prisons; it was everyone's responsibility to make sure Slobodan Milosevic accounted for every one of them, and to make sure every one was liberated. Attention also had to be paid to the continued violations of the rights of the Rohingyas, a national minority living in northwest Myanmar and undergoing State repression.
Every day saw additions to the long list of innocent civilians killed by Indian forces in Kashmir. The issue was the right of Kashmiris to self-determination; India insisted Jammu and Kashmir was an "integral part" of India, and had amassed an army of 750,000 to keep its hold on the region. There continued to be countless cases of arbitrary arrest, torture, rape, and disappearance of Kashmiris at the hands of Indian forces. The Subcommission must pay attention to the situation in Kashmir.
PETER PROVE, of the Lutheran World Federation, expressed disappointment regarding the lack of progress in finding an agreement between Nepal and Bhutan and the failure to reach a fair and lasting resolution which took into account representation on behalf of the displaced population and the principles of international law relating to non-discrimination, the right to return, the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of one's nationality, and the reduction of statelessness. It had been hoped that this problem would have been solved. Despite intervention by, amongst others, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, and most recently, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the practical situation remained unchanged. After approximately 10 years of waiting, over 90,000 people continued to languish in the refugee camps in eastern Nepal. The organization called upon the Subcommission to re-consider this matter and to continue to press for a just solution for those who were expelled from their homes in Bhutan, who fled in fear, but who nevertheless continued to cherish the hope of homecoming.
BEITH BENNET, of the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization, said his colleague Khalid Quereshi, an eminent human-rights activist who had spoken to the Subcommission in the past on behalf of the Seraiki nation of Pakistan, was unable to do so this year because the military dictators there had stopped him from reaching Geneva. The Seraiki people were not terrorists and were not carrying out an armed struggle; they wished to continue with their unique linguistic and cultural characteristics, yet were being persecuted in a country whose streets resounded with sectarian violence. The rulers of Pakistan were not interested in pluralist democracy and continued to persecute minorities, including the Mohajirs, Sindhis, and Baloch, and even members of the majority sect of Sunni Islam.
The paranoia among the ruling elite in Pakistan was so great that the authorities had sought to manipulate census figures. The Subcommission must call upon the Pakistani authorities to stop stifling the voice of the Seraiki nation and to grant Seraikis the right to present their case to the international community.
FREDERICO ANDREW, of the International Commission of Jurists, spoke out against the death penalty for juveniles on both a moral and legal basis. Morally, the execution of juveniles stopped any possible reintegration into society, and legally, this practices was diametrically opposed to several international conventions and declarations. Only five States persisted in the execution of juveniles: Saudi Arabia, the United States, Pakistan, Iran and Nigeria. The death penalty for juveniles was against international human rights laws. The organization also called upon the Subcommission to put pressure on the Argentinean Government to release information to the relatives of persons who had disappeared. These relatives had the right to know the truth of what happened to their loved ones.
PHILIPPE LE BLANC, of Franciscans International, said that not withstanding recent electoral changes, there was ample evidence that long-standing and systemic human-rights problems continued in Mexico; High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson had visited the country and had declared that there was a deep gulf between what the Government said it was doing and what was reported on the ground; Franciscans International strongly encouraged Mexican authorities to implement fully the commitments made, and recommended that the Subcommission request the Commission on Human Rights to ensure that there was follow-up to the commitments made by the Government.
In Pakistan, religious intolerance continued, and concern remained over the blasphemy laws and the separate electoral system, which perpetuated segregation on the basis of religion. It was to be hoped that an announcement set for 14 August would reveal the abolition of the separate electoral system. In Colombia, a massacre had taken place on 8 July in the village of Union, where armed men in army uniforms killed six men in the centre of the village and told everyone to abandon the community; the killings appeared to be part of a policy of clearing lands for purchase at bargain prices by transnational companies.
ORELTA BANDE TINI DI, of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, said that once again the organization wished to draw the attention of the Subcommission to the terrible plight of the Tamil civil population in and around the conflict areas of Sri Lanka. No war was conducive to human rights. In this conflict between the Government's armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, an escalation of direct attacks against the civil population was taking place in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, specifically striking the Tamil civilian population living in the areas under LTTE control. The Subcommission was appealed to support the positive action undertaken by Norway and to welcome further action which would allow fair negotiations so as to finally reach a just and dignified peace for all.
PANKAJ BHAN, of the International Institute for Peace, said Kashmiris of all religious and cultural backgrounds had lived together in peace and tolerance for centuries, but then in 1989 a handful of boys, unhappy with the political dispensation and bad governance, were beguiled by Pakistan into picking up guns and firing the first shots; those shots had led to the deaths of thousands, the destruction of an entire economic and social infrastructure, and to refugee camps milling with Hindus and Muslims. The onus for this tragedy lay with Pakistan. Eleven years after the start of the conflict, Kashmiris wanted peace, but jihad groups nourished by Pakistan would not let them have it. Kashmiri brethren in the northern areas of Pakistan had been waiting 50 years for democratic rights, and still had nothing.
Pakistan said it was providing political, moral and diplomatic support to Kashmir. Kashmiris did not want it. Kashmiris wanted peace. Let Pakistan give its support to that cause; let Pakistan leave Kashmir alone.
IBAD U. REHMAN, of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, reminded the Subcommission of the gruesome situation of human rights violations against more than 22 million Mohajirs in urban centres of Sindh province in southern Pakistan. The Subcommission was urged to take action in accordance with resolution 8 of the Commission of Human Rights of 1967 as human rights violations against this ethnic and linguistic minority in Pakistan were widespread. The ouster of so-called elected Government in Pakistan and the take-over by a military general made no difference whatsoever to the policy of oppression and suppression of Mohajirs. The Government of Pakistan was called upon to stop all violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms committed against the various ethnic and linguistic groups in the country, particularly of the Mohajir and Sindhi nations of Sindh province.
LEONIE TANGGAHMA, of Survival International, said the Papuan Congress had taken place earlier this year and some 3,000 leaders from all regions of West Papua had reaffirmed the right to self-determination, despite pressure of various sorts from the Indonesian Government; the situation in West Papua was deteriorating rapidly. There had been an increase in the number of Indonesian troops in the region, and the buildup of pro- and anti-independence militias -- the latter often supported by the military -- was potentially explosive. The bloody sectarian conflict in the neighbouring Moluccas had had repercussions in West Papua, too, including through the arrival of some 20,000 refugees.
The Subcommission should closely monitor the situation in West Papua; should ask the Government of Indonesia to allow international humanitarian intervention there; should call for suspension from duty of members of security forces suspected of taking sides with the militias; and should call for punishment of all who provoked violence.
SYED FAIZ NAQSHBANDI, of the Muslim World League, said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir had been looking towards the Subcommission with the hope that it would raise a voice against the systematic Indian violations of human rights. A consistent pattern of violations of human rights had been brought to the attention of the Subcommission for several years. Yet, India was pursuing its repressive policy against the people of Kashmir. The Government of India was camouflaging these abuses through outright lies and fabrications. In fact, the Government of India had enacted a series of black laws on Kashmir which facilitated the Indian forces to indulge in human rights abuses. Any Indian army officer could arrest without warrant any person at any time, which practically terrorized the entire Kashmir population. The Subcommission was urged to see how laws were framed to facilitate the armed forces to indulge in human rights abuses with complete legal protection and tactful media cover to camouflage these crimes.
FRANCOISE JANE HAMPSON, Subcommission Expert, said some progress had been made; India had agreed to open talks, for example, with at least some groups in Kashmir; France had made some encouraging proposals with regard to Corsica. Some situations were simply depressing -- for example, six executions of persons who were under 18 at the time of the commission of their supposed crimes -- one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one in Iran, and four in the United States.
Some countries had long-running situations of concern -- Burma, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Saudi Arabia. In some cases, situations had been matters of concern for some time to the Subcommission -- Belarus, refugees from Bhutan in Nepal; Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, and Turkey. Another problem concerned conflicts where fighting violated applicable laws of armed conflict -- Colombia, Mexico, Indonesia (particularly Aceh), Chechnya, renewed fighting in Angola, Sierra Leone, and the fighting in the Great Lakes area of Africa. There also was serious concern about situations in which one community was persecuting or had persecuted another -- the Solomon Islands, Fiji, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region of China, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Impunity for perpetrators was a common thread running through all these situations. Yet the majority of these States cooperated with the UN human-rights machinery. UN mechanisms were not there to punish States but to help identify problems and possible solutions. Mexico and Colombia were cooperating with the UN machinery, so why were there still problems with effective accountability of police and security forces; problems with prosecutions; and weak judiciaries? If apparently co-operative States were not prepared to address problems identified, it would suggest that cooperation was a sham; if international assistance was not forthcoming, it showed that concern expressed by certain Governments was a sham. It would help, for example, if the United States gave as much assistance to Colombia in building up effective policing and an effective judiciary as it had in supporting the Colombian armed forces.
The lesson of the past decade was that unaddressed serious human-rights violations eventually led to an explosion. It was necessary to find a way of engaging States in the interest of peace and security and to prevent the need for expensive later intervention. A mixture of the stick and carrot incentives was called for.
KAREN NAZARIAN (Armenia) said the intervention was to draw attention to increasing human rights violations, some of which seemed to have a permanent character, lasting over decades. The constant attempts to deny the rights enshrined in international treaties, more particularly the ongoing violation
of people's right to self-determination, deserved the Subcommission's undivided attention and careful study. It was more than a decade that Armenia had born the consequences of the limited application in the region of the right to forge one's national destiny independently.
Azerbaijan's denial to fulfil its obligations under international human rights treaties had caused armed conflict and problems of refugees and displaced peoples in the region. In the context of its renewed mandate, the Subcommission should give particular importance to this subject, since no individual's rights could be fully guaranteed outside the framework of peoples rights to self-determination. The Subcommission's expert capacity was counted on to monitor closely the application of international law principles.
ALDOVRI MOHAMED (Iraq) said many countries faced the problem of attempts to politicize human rights; double standards often were introduced in the international sphere; the Subcommission for a long time had tried to avoid these pitfalls. Human rights could not develop or be observed in situations of deprivation, particularly when such situations were imposed from outside, as a result of United Nations measures. The embargo imposed this way against Iraq had now gone on for 10 years; it amounted to collective torture and genocide against the people of Iraq.
The deprivation included the violation of the right to health and the right to life; there was hunger, disease, and slow death; more than 2 million Iraqis had died as a result of the embargo. The Iraqi people should be one of the Subcommission's priorities; it should try to deliver the people of Iraq from the embargo and put a stop to this heinous crime. The matter should be approached positively, objectively, and seriously, and the true perpetrators of the tragedy in Iraq -- the United States and the United Kingdom, who carried out daily bombings on Iraq -- should be approached decisively. A resolution should be passed calling for an end to all forms of such embargoes imposed against countries.
ASFANDIYAR VAHABZALA (Azerbaijan) said there were human rights violations that were of serious concern to the world today, in particular the crime of aggression. Present practice demonstrated that in many cases, factors of the evolution of norms of international law were not an obstacle to them being systematically violated. Special attention was drawn to particular situations where territories were seized by conflicting parties even after the relevant resolutions of the Security Council had condemned the occupation and called for the strict respect of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the internationally recognized borders of a State.
International terrorism had become one of the most serious threats to the generally accepted concepts of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as to the security and territorial integrity of States. The Government of Azerbaijan was confident of the necessity of strengthening international cooperation in order to prevent, combat and eliminate terrorism. The Special Rapporteur on the question on terrorism was encouraged to focus more attention on 'ethnic terrorism'.
VICTOR GOLOVANOV (Belarus) said the country had taken a series of steps since last year's session of the Subcommission to enhance its human-rights situation. The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers had recently visited, and the Government had provided all necessary assistance and had granted the Rapporteur full freedom of action. On 20 July, Belarus had lifted its reservation to article 20 of the Convention against Torture. A dialogue with the Council of Europe had led to progress in the planning of elections for October; the goal was free and fair elections; the electoral code of the country had been termed highly effective for the holding of free and fair elections. More than 100 political parties were in existence, representing the whole spectrum of the life and population of the country.
The legislative pace had meant that other reforms were still under way; but much legislation had been drafted. It was hoped that a bill establishing an office of an Ombudsman would be approved. A programme was being carried out to provide effective protection for the rights and freedoms of citizens during the transition to the forming of a full civil society in Belarus.
Rights of Reply
The Representative of Malaysia, speaking in right of reply, said that the statement which alleged that the right to freedom of assembly had been systematically violated for years in the country was manifestly false. Permits for rallies had been granted and it was only when demonstrations had disrupted public order that authorities had had to step in.
The Representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, speaking in right of reply, said the reference to the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the statement of Mr. Weissbrodt had been based on unsubstantiated and fabricated allegations. In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, human beings were considered as most precious, and everything was done for their benefit. Mr. Weissbrodt's statement, in total disregard of this, would not contribute to progress or open dialogue on human rights. In the past, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had shown the utmost cooperation with Mr. Weissbrodt in helping him to carry out his work and in informing him of the situation in the country. But he had responded to this sincere cooperation by voicing unsubstantiated and fabricated allegations. He should be reminded that he should comply with the Subcommission's high standards for objectivity and accuracy.
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