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06 April 2000
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Commission on Human Rights
56th session
6 April 2000
Morning
Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Independence
of Judges and Lawyers, Religious Intolerance, and Extrajudicial,Summary or
Arbitrary Executions Introduce Reports
The Deputy Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia told the Commission on Human Rights this morning that no Muslims in his country had ever been subjected to prosecution or punishment because of their religious faith.
Prince Torki Mohammed Saud Al-Kabeer, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Director-General for International Organizations Department of Saudi Arabia, said that equal rights were granted to all citizens and foreign residents, and the exercise of freedom of expression and assembly was guaranteed through the 'open-door policy'. The Islamic Shari'a and regulations applied to both sexes without distinction or exception, and the Kingdom was endeavouring to ensure that women enjoyed all their legally recognized rights.
As the Commission continued its debate on civil and political rights, four Special Rapporteurs introduced their respective reports. The Special Rapporteurs presenting their reports were Abid Hussain on freedom of opinion and expression; Param Cumaraswamy on the independence of judges and lawyers; Abdelfattah Amor on religious intolerance; and Asma Jahangir on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The Special Rapporteurs spoke about missions they had carried out under their respective mandates to a number of countries.
Also over the course of the morning meeting, the representative of the following countries took the floor to express their views on the reports and to offer statements: Ireland, Guatemala, the United Kingdom, Sudan, Spain, the Holy See, Albania, Mexico, Rwanda, Pakistan, Peru, Botswana, the Russian Federation and the United States.
The Commission will reconvene at 3 p.m., to continue its debate on civil and political rights. It is also scheduled to hold extended meetings until midnight.
Statements
ABID HUSSAIN, Special Rapporteur on the freedom of opinion and expression, presented his report (document E/CN.4/2000.63) and said his mission had taken him to Sudan, Tunisia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. In Sudan, there were signs of positive interest in improving the realm of human rights. But it had a potential for unrest that exacerbated its human rights problems. Unless Sudan freed itself from its historical and complex contradictions, force feeding of human rights policies would remain wasted. A conceptual change, together with a series of judgements on human rights policies, had to be made; those would then feed on each other.
With regard to Tunisia, Mr. Hussain said it was a progressive State and several efforts had been mounted to modernize the country. New policies had no doubt accounted for raising the standard of living, approaching gender equality and making a progressive commitment toward more freedom of the media. The Republic of Ireland's society was experiencing a radical transformation. In the United Kingdom, the bitter religious passions of the past decade in Northern Ireland were the cause of curtailing some of the freedoms of opinion and expression; those passions were now slowly lessening.
Mr. Hussain concluded by emphasizing that the challenges ahead required the concerted efforts of the international community as a whole. A number of countries worldwide were going through a transition from authoritarian rule to democratic government and an open economy. He said he was convinced that though the journey was long. the destination was far and the way to travel not always smooth, still with concerted efforts, one could make a difference.
PARAM CUMARASWAMY, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, said he had visited Guatemala to examine the state of the administration of justice, in particular the independence and impartiality of the judiciary; allegations of threats, harassment and intimidation of judges, prosecutors and lawyers; allegations of impunity in human rights related offenses; the system of legal education and qualification for admission to practice law; the revision of outdated laws and consolidation of laws; the incidence of lynching and its impact on the law; and judicial reforms and the involvement of the international community and funding institutions.
In essence, Guatemala had a well-balanced and structured Constitution for a democratic Government based on the separation of powers and the rule of law. Institutional independence of the judiciary and individual independence of judges were well protected. Several human rights treaties had been signed and had primacy over domestic law. However, implementation and application of these treaties had been dismal. The most devastating effects could be observed after the 34-year old armed conflict in the incompetence, inefficiency, corruption and influence peddling in the administration of justice, which had led to a high incidence of impunity and an all time low in public confidence in the administration.
The general report of the Special Rapporteur contained situational reports on some 51 countries, and urgent actions where the issue of independence of judges and lawyers was of topical interest. The issue of judicial corruption was on the increase and it was gratifying to note that it was being addressed openly by concerned international organizations. The Special Rapporteur made specific recommendations to the Commission to give serious consideration to the creation of a monitoring mechanism on complaints over attacks on human rights defenders. On country situations, the Special Rapporteur focused on the situation in Belgium, Malaysia, Pakistan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom/Northern Ireland.
TORKI MOHAMMED SAUD AL-KABEER, Deputy Foreign Minister, Under-Secretary for Political Affairs and Director-General for International Organizations Department of Saudi Arabia, hoped the third millenium could begin in a new and more promising manner conducive to optimism and hope, with unanimous agreement that human rights were a non-negotiable objective, the achievement of which all countries must strive for. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia welcomed the role of human rights mechanisms but found that grave violations of human rights were still being committed in many parts of the world. Islam could play a role in the further consolidation of human rights as it had already helped to enrich the concepts of human rights through its noble moral values and principles and its comprehensive way of life in which rights and obligations were defined in a just and equitable manner. The Organization of the Islamic Conference had adopted a resolution calling for the drafting of Islamic human rights instruments to supplement and support international endeavours in the field.
On the domestic field, the Kingdom had taken several outstanding steps. In addition to cooperating with the Commission, the Kingdom had supplied information to the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and had provided financial support to a number of voluntary funds established by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the most recent being the Plan of Action for the Convention of the Rights of the Child. There was a committee consisting of various governmental bodies which was investigating allegations of torture and other individual abuses, the public was being made aware of their human rights through the educational curricula, emphasis was placed on the need to apply humanitarian principles and values, and the Kingdom had submitted its candidacy for the membership of the Commission.
The Government of the Kingdom had taken the following steps to promote human rights: the authorization of the establishment of an independent non-governmental national body to help publicize human rights and to advocate the punishment of offenders; the establishment of a national governmental body vested with authority to look into human rights issues; the establishment of human rights sections in the governmental agencies concerned; and the adoption of new regulations governing the legal profession and legal counselling. Equal rights were granted to all citizens and foreign residents. The exercise of freedom of expression and assembly was guaranteed thorough the 'open-door policy', and dozens of governmental and non-governmental bodies were engaged in charitable and social activities. No non-Muslims had ever been subjected to prosecution or punishment because of their religious faith. There were new regulations under which non-Saudis were permitted to own property and to invest in local stock market funds. The Islamic Shari'a laws and regulations applied to both sexes without distinction or exception, and the Kingdom was endeavouring to ensure that women enjoyed all their legally recognized rights. The Government was concerned about education, especially female education since it constituted the corner stone for the advancement and development of society.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia called upon the Iraqi Government to cooperate with international bodies concerned with a view to establishing the whereabouts of the prisoners or missing people of Saudi or Kuwaiti nationality. It was time the Iraqi Government resolved this human tragedy.
ABDELFATTAH AMOR, Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance, introducing his report (document E/CN.4/2000/65), said he had addressed an urgent appeal to the Government of Iran concerning the detention of Iranians of Jewish confession who were accused of espionage, while the motive of their detention, according to some sources, was their Jewish identity. Iran had responded that the arrested suspects on charges of espionage included Christians and Muslims, and that the investigation did not take into consideration their religious background but the question of national security.
The urgent appeal concerning Iraq was based on the assassination of Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeck al-Sadr and his two sons, and the demonstration of the Shiite community that followed. The appeal also concerned allegations of repression attributed to the army. Iraq had replied by saying that it would communicate the results once the investigation was terminated.
Mr. Amor said that his current report dealt with 93 communications of which two urgent appeals were addressed to 56 States. In addition, since the report was submitted, he had added 12 communications concerning 10 States.
In 1999, the Special Rapporteur said he had visited Turkey and the report of his mission would be presented to the General Assembly. A visit to Bangladesh was scheduled for this year while requests for visits were expected by Indonesia, the Russian Federation, Argentina, Israel and the Democratic Republic of Korea.
ASMA JAHANGIR, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, presenting her report (document E/CN.4/2000.3), said that on her mission to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and to Albania, she had been unable to visit Kosovo because of security reasons. However, she said her report noted that 'the enormity of the situation is daunting' and she would continue to monitor the developments in that region closely.
Ms. Jahangir said she continued to be concerned about the culture of impunity in Mexico, which gave rise to a vicious circle of violence, resulting in extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. She regretted that she was not able to visit Jakarta during her visit to East Timor. Further investigations of atrocities would be required to determine the full extent and level of Indonesia's responsibility. She also went to Nepal and her report would be presented soon. Although she was invited by the Governments of Turkey and Colombia, the limited resources made available to her mandate had delayed her mission.
ANNE ANDERSON (Ireland) said that the right to freedom of expression was a right to which Ireland attached the utmost importance. The visit of the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of opinion and expression to Ireland, during which he met a broad range of persons, was a valuable opportunity to exchange views openly and in a constructive manner. It was important to note that, in line with many of the Rapporteur's recommendations, draft legislation was at an advanced stage, including legislation which would enable Ireland to ratify the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Irish Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform was currently carrying out a major review of censorship laws. A defamation bill was also at an advanced stage of preparation and its provisions were likely to ensure greater coherence with regard to many matters coming within the framework of the defamation law than had existed before.
CARLOS LARIOS OCHAITA (Guatemala) enumerated the number of measures taken by the Government to improve the judiciary and to make it effective. Greater flexibility in handling cases had been introduced to speed up judicial proceedings. The Government had also trained professionals in the judiciary and had made resources available to that sector. In the administration of justice, additional measures were taken to strengthen the use of local languages of the indigenous peoples. In order to modernize the judiciary, the quality of judges had also been raised, including the personnel in that sector.
In the field of education, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the United Nations Mission to Guatemala had been implementing educational programmes to raise the level of instruction in schools. At present, 300,000 students were following secondary education while 1,500,000 pupils were pursuing their primary education. With regard to the rights of the child, the Court had recently signed an agreement with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to strengthen the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. On gender equality in the judiciary, 40 per cent of judges and magistrates were women.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union had been cooperating in the modernization of the administration of justice of Guatemala to strengthen the institutional capacity, to combat corruption and to improve access to justice.
AUDREY GLOVER (The United Kingdom) said the delegation supported the work of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. The representative welcomed the fact that the Special Rapporteur had last year been able to meet with a number of persons in authority regarding the cases of Patrick Finucane and Rosemary Nelson. The United Kingdom had provided a written response to the report of the Special Rapporteur.
AHMED EL MUFTI (Sudan), referring to the report of Special Rapporteur on the freedom of expression and opinion, said his Government had benefited from the experience of the Special Rapporteur. It would also continue to engage in a constructive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on all the issues contained in his report. The Government welcomed the observation of the Special Rapporteur on the need for technical assistance programmes in the field of human rights and the media.
Sudan had revised the Political Association Act of 1998 and the Government was determined to spare no effort to investigate all acts of violence related to freedom of expression. The Government supported the creation of independent newspapers and private media. It also subscribed to the Special Rapporteur's view that all policies and practices discriminating against women should be eliminated. In this connection, the Government was currently encouraging a transparent debate regarding the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. A similar approach was being adopted with regard to the Convention against Torture.
RAIMUNDO PEREZ-HERNANDEZ (Spain) welcomed the report of the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance. The promotion of values of tolerance and the defense of the right to religious freedom was a matter of utmost priority for Spain. Spain had come a long way since signing agreements with the Holy See and the Jewish and Muslim religious communities in the country. Although no agreements had been signed with minority religions, they were guaranteed protection under the 1980 basic law on religion freedom. As affirmed by the Special Rapporteur, Spain had become a land in which all religions and beliefs could flourish. Spain looked to its past in order not to make the same mistakes. Efforts had been undertaken towards promoting a constructive dialogue between different religious beliefs and movements. Spain believed that the initiative of the Special Rapporteur to accord special attention to the encouragement of religious tolerance in schools had borne fruits.
GIUSEPPE BERTELLO (the Holy See), said the visit to the Vatican by the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance took up an important part of his report. The Special Rapporteur was congratulated on his objectivity. The Catholic Church was committed to guarantee the freedom of believers, Christians and non-Christians, so that they could freely express their beliefs without fear or harassment. Belief was the most intimate right due to its private and spiritual nature. The Catholic Church did not expect privileges but wanted everyone to be guaranteed freedom of belief. Theoretical agreements of these rights were usually recognized in principle, but were rarely implemented in practice. Believers all over the world were discriminated against.
The Vatican wanted to be part of this dialogue, not through the imposition of one's beliefs on others, but through listening to the other and seeing what was holy in the other's beliefs. The understanding of the specifics of the other meant that one could work together for a common moral goal, that of ensuring peace. Religion was the enemy of exclusion, hatred, violence and conflict. During the visit to the Vatican, the Special Rapporteur saw the importance attributed by the Vatican to education and dialogue. The Church was trying to contribute to society through technical and intellectual training. The Church was convinced that a comprehensive education of the young was of crucial importance. Children were the future of society. The Vatican welcomed that the Special Rapporteur had kept to his mission and statement. The Vatican was interested in further friendly cooperation, particularly in the field of human rights.
KSENOFON KRISAFI (Albania) welcomed the report of the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions. In his report, the Special Rapporteur had described the serious crimes perpetrated by the Serb forces in Kosovo last year. He had concluded that executions in the region had been carried out by forces under the direct or indirect control of the State. The perpetrators of the crimes were members of the Serb police, the Yugoslav army or paramilitary groups who operated in cooperation with and the approval of the police or military forces.
The testimonies contained in the report were extremely valuable, especially at a time when efforts were being made to forget the crimes perpetrated in Kosovo. By evoking events which took place a year ago, the Special Rapporteur helped one to better understand the significant changes that had taken place in Kosovo in the last 10 months. Two million Kosovars had started rebuilding their lives. Today, their houses were no longer broken into by criminals, parents were no longer massacred in front of their children, women and children were no longer raped in front of their parents, mutilated people were no longer thrown into wells or burnt alive in ovens, and people were no longer expelled from their homes or lands. Albania fully supported the Special Rapporteur's recommendation urging the International Crimes Tribunal to continue investigating violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Kosovo with a view to bringing to justice the perpetrators of these violations and breaking the vicious cycle of reprisals.
ANTONIO DE ICAZA (Mexico) said that comments and observations concerning the visit of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to Mexico had been sent by his delegation and it was unfortunate that they had not been distributed in time for a conducive dialogue. The delegation of Mexico hoped that next year the comments would be distributed in sufficient time to allow an interactive dialogue. The Special Rapporteur had recognized that Mexico had made reforms in the political and judicial systems. In her meetings in Mexico, she had noted a consensus on the gradual change in the country and that the governing body showed a better willingness to improve judicial institutions. The Mexican Government was determined to eradicate impunity and reform the legal system so there were no extra-judicial incidents.
The Government was implementing these reforms through more access to justice, the promotion of the democratic process, and the strengthening of local communities. The Special Rapporteur had claimed that her scope was limited due to the mandate entrusted to her, hence she focused on key events. It was evident that the Special Rapporteur had exceeded her mandate as she had discussed the armed forces and the electoral process. Information had been omitted and many of the actions recommended had already been taken. Other recommendations exceeded her mandate. The Mexican delegation had been inviting international observers to attend elections since 1994. The Special Rapporteur was clearly not aware of this as this had been one of her recommendations which furthermore exceeded her mandate. The Government of Mexico promoted human rights, transparency and cooperation. The current debate in Mexico on this subject showed that many recommendations were already on the agenda.
RUTIJANWA MEDARD (Rwanda) said that meagre results were being obtained by the judicial system with regard to the perpetrators of the genocide of 1994 who were actually imprisoned. Additional efforts were being made to speed up the process by using traditional judicial practices. The traditional practices were carried out by persons of high reputation elected among members of the village communities. The process included a system of separating the persons involved in the genocide according to the acts they had committed; the degree of their participation would be established by those traditional judges who would ensure that every criminal was not put in the same basket. In that manner, the Government would speed up the judicial process concerning those in prison.
ATTIYA INAYATULLAH (Pakistan) said the Constitution included a special chapter described as the conscience of the Constitution on human rights, guaranteeing the promotion and protection of human rights. The present Government in Pakistan had activated a process for the promotion of human dignity though the genuine respect for pluralism and tolerance. Pakistan supplied additional information on the role of the judiciary and the freedom of press. Through the empowering of the people at the grass roots level, they were given a personal stake in decision-making on the process of development. This was to be achieved through the transfer of civil and political power to the 'district' which formed the basic building block of the future democratic structure. The district elections would be held in December 2000, and would be implemented by July 2001. The plan involved direct elections at the village union council and district level, with an equal distribution of seats for men and women. The future of Pakistan was democratic governance.
The devolution plan also included reforms of the judiciary to enable it to dispose of 90 per cent of the complaints within the district level, thus bringing justice to the doorstep of the people. The Constitution of Pakistan had remained operative after the change of Government; the judicial process in the country remained transparent, independent and free of political pressure; international observers had free access to observe court proceedings; and special courts were set up at the district level to deal with cases relating to women in order to ensure an accessible and quicker system of justice for women. The Government had taken special measures for the protection of judges and lawyers in Pakistan. A Judicial Commission of the Supreme Court had been set up to inquire into and determine the circumstances which had led to the shooting incident in which Mr. Raad (defence lawyer to the former Prime Minister of Pakistan) and two others were murdered. The press in Pakistan was free and the freedom of expression was endorsed. Pakistan aimed to put in place civil structures that would be impossible to dismantle and political institutions that would ensure the people of Pakistan that they were the owners of the future democracy in the country.
JORGE VOTO-BERNALES (Peru) said that civil and political rights were given utmost attention in the Commission in the conviction that, together with economic, social and cultural rights, they were the cornerstone of the international system for the protection of human rights. Peru had fully cooperated with the thematic mechanisms of the Commission and had undertaken every effort to implement their recommendations.
By way of example, the Government had set up a mechanism designed to improve the situation of all those who had been unjustly deprived of their freedom under the anti-terrorist legislation. A special Amnesty Commission had been set up in order to review all the cases of those who claimed to be unjustly detained. To date, 400 people had been released by the Commission. Further, a series of laws had been passed to combat human rights violations, including in the area of crimes of genocide, forced disappearances and torture. Many of the recommendations made to Peru were related to situations arising from the implementation of special legislation adopted to combat terrorist violence which had devastated the country for more than a decade. Peru had demonstrated however that it had the political will to recognize errors which might have been made in the past and correct them.
LEGWAILA LEGWAILA (Botswana) said that freedom of expression, conscience, assembly and association was a fundamental right in Botswana entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic. The Kgotla, the age-old institution of participatory democracy in Botswana, had matured and sustained an environment in which ever individual was free to propagate his views and persuade others to accept them. The enjoyment of freedom of expression and the peaceful coexistence of different religious persuasions in the country had deepened the roots of Botswana's democracy and entrenched peace and stability.
Perhaps the most important institution of State intimately associated with the promotion of human rights in a democratic society was a judiciary which was truly independent and free of the manacles of micro management by the political elite in power. Botswana, like other civilized nations, was aware of and troubled by the impunity with which human rights and international humanitarian law could and had been violated with brutal effect for million of innocent people all over the world. There were many harrowing examples of the scourge of impunity to impel Botswana to join the campaign for the establishment of international mechanisms designed to punish crimes against humanity and humanitarian law.
MUFTI A. KADYROV (the Russian Federation) said he was a Mufti in Chechnya. He had fought on the Chechnian side in the first war and had rejoiced at the elections and the leadership of Doudaiev. It was true that the first war had been supported by the whole population of Chehcnya. The flag had been raised in pride with the banner of Islam. In order to get to the truth, one had to speak the truth. He had now been condemned to death by Doudaiev. After the election of the president, it was decided that Islam was to be cleansed. The same slogans that had been used during the Bolshevik revolution had been quoted: those who were not with you were against you. This Islamist group was subordinate to no one, and had committed atrocious human rights violations. No force in Chechnya had been able to resist it. Doudaiev himself was a hostage to these people. Islam had been pushed into Dagistan where federal forces had been called in. Finally the terrorists had been driven out and the anti-terrorist stage in Chechnya had began.
Chechnyans were tired of the war. There were hopes that the accession to power by Poutine would change things for the better. War was a violation in itself. Doudaiev had not lived up to the promises to his people. No religion called for war except Wahabism. Islam did not call for violence. The speaker found the present concern with Chechnya surprising, as no one had said anything about the first war. Today things were different, each country was following its own policy. Chechnya had spent 400 years trying to fight Russian preponderance without success. A peaceful gradual process was required to solve the problems, not military moves nor the murder of the population. The Commission was called upon to ensure that the situation in Chechnya was dealt with appropriately.
DICK BATCHELOR (the United States) said that no religion taught that those who rejected its precepts deserved degradation or violence. People who did that in religion's name were either false or foolish -- or both. Inevitably, they distorted the beliefs they claimed to represent, in pursuit of their own interests. And governments that repressed people seeking to express their religious and spiritual beliefs violated internationally accepted standards for freedom of conscience. Knowing that to be true, one could not remain silent when one saw the persecution that Christians and traditional African believers suffered at the hands of the Sudanese Government. One could not remain silent when one saw Chinese authorities jail tens of thousands of practising Falun Gong members, or when they abused Tibetan Buddists or Muslim Uighurs, or when they persecuted Protestants and Catholics simply because they did not belong to State-sanctioned churches. Nor should one remain silent when Iranian authorities continued their attacks on Baha'is.
That the Iraqi regime had murdered Shi'aite clerics, desecrated mosques and holy sites, imprisoned tens of thousands of Shi'ites and persecuted hundreds of thousands of Christian Assyrians and Chaldeans should come as no surprise, giving the brutality of the regime. Nor could one be indifferent to the stifling restrictions the Taliban imposed on the women and girls of Afghanistan. That was not Islam, but oppression. The former Yugoslavia and Chechnya were also among the speaker's list of concerns.
*****
56th session
6 April 2000
Morning
Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Independence
of Judges and Lawyers, Religious Intolerance, and Extrajudicial,Summary or
Arbitrary Executions Introduce Reports
The Deputy Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia told the Commission on Human Rights this morning that no Muslims in his country had ever been subjected to prosecution or punishment because of their religious faith.
Prince Torki Mohammed Saud Al-Kabeer, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Director-General for International Organizations Department of Saudi Arabia, said that equal rights were granted to all citizens and foreign residents, and the exercise of freedom of expression and assembly was guaranteed through the 'open-door policy'. The Islamic Shari'a and regulations applied to both sexes without distinction or exception, and the Kingdom was endeavouring to ensure that women enjoyed all their legally recognized rights.
As the Commission continued its debate on civil and political rights, four Special Rapporteurs introduced their respective reports. The Special Rapporteurs presenting their reports were Abid Hussain on freedom of opinion and expression; Param Cumaraswamy on the independence of judges and lawyers; Abdelfattah Amor on religious intolerance; and Asma Jahangir on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The Special Rapporteurs spoke about missions they had carried out under their respective mandates to a number of countries.
Also over the course of the morning meeting, the representative of the following countries took the floor to express their views on the reports and to offer statements: Ireland, Guatemala, the United Kingdom, Sudan, Spain, the Holy See, Albania, Mexico, Rwanda, Pakistan, Peru, Botswana, the Russian Federation and the United States.
The Commission will reconvene at 3 p.m., to continue its debate on civil and political rights. It is also scheduled to hold extended meetings until midnight.
Statements
ABID HUSSAIN, Special Rapporteur on the freedom of opinion and expression, presented his report (document E/CN.4/2000.63) and said his mission had taken him to Sudan, Tunisia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. In Sudan, there were signs of positive interest in improving the realm of human rights. But it had a potential for unrest that exacerbated its human rights problems. Unless Sudan freed itself from its historical and complex contradictions, force feeding of human rights policies would remain wasted. A conceptual change, together with a series of judgements on human rights policies, had to be made; those would then feed on each other.
With regard to Tunisia, Mr. Hussain said it was a progressive State and several efforts had been mounted to modernize the country. New policies had no doubt accounted for raising the standard of living, approaching gender equality and making a progressive commitment toward more freedom of the media. The Republic of Ireland's society was experiencing a radical transformation. In the United Kingdom, the bitter religious passions of the past decade in Northern Ireland were the cause of curtailing some of the freedoms of opinion and expression; those passions were now slowly lessening.
Mr. Hussain concluded by emphasizing that the challenges ahead required the concerted efforts of the international community as a whole. A number of countries worldwide were going through a transition from authoritarian rule to democratic government and an open economy. He said he was convinced that though the journey was long. the destination was far and the way to travel not always smooth, still with concerted efforts, one could make a difference.
PARAM CUMARASWAMY, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, said he had visited Guatemala to examine the state of the administration of justice, in particular the independence and impartiality of the judiciary; allegations of threats, harassment and intimidation of judges, prosecutors and lawyers; allegations of impunity in human rights related offenses; the system of legal education and qualification for admission to practice law; the revision of outdated laws and consolidation of laws; the incidence of lynching and its impact on the law; and judicial reforms and the involvement of the international community and funding institutions.
In essence, Guatemala had a well-balanced and structured Constitution for a democratic Government based on the separation of powers and the rule of law. Institutional independence of the judiciary and individual independence of judges were well protected. Several human rights treaties had been signed and had primacy over domestic law. However, implementation and application of these treaties had been dismal. The most devastating effects could be observed after the 34-year old armed conflict in the incompetence, inefficiency, corruption and influence peddling in the administration of justice, which had led to a high incidence of impunity and an all time low in public confidence in the administration.
The general report of the Special Rapporteur contained situational reports on some 51 countries, and urgent actions where the issue of independence of judges and lawyers was of topical interest. The issue of judicial corruption was on the increase and it was gratifying to note that it was being addressed openly by concerned international organizations. The Special Rapporteur made specific recommendations to the Commission to give serious consideration to the creation of a monitoring mechanism on complaints over attacks on human rights defenders. On country situations, the Special Rapporteur focused on the situation in Belgium, Malaysia, Pakistan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom/Northern Ireland.
TORKI MOHAMMED SAUD AL-KABEER, Deputy Foreign Minister, Under-Secretary for Political Affairs and Director-General for International Organizations Department of Saudi Arabia, hoped the third millenium could begin in a new and more promising manner conducive to optimism and hope, with unanimous agreement that human rights were a non-negotiable objective, the achievement of which all countries must strive for. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia welcomed the role of human rights mechanisms but found that grave violations of human rights were still being committed in many parts of the world. Islam could play a role in the further consolidation of human rights as it had already helped to enrich the concepts of human rights through its noble moral values and principles and its comprehensive way of life in which rights and obligations were defined in a just and equitable manner. The Organization of the Islamic Conference had adopted a resolution calling for the drafting of Islamic human rights instruments to supplement and support international endeavours in the field.
On the domestic field, the Kingdom had taken several outstanding steps. In addition to cooperating with the Commission, the Kingdom had supplied information to the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and had provided financial support to a number of voluntary funds established by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the most recent being the Plan of Action for the Convention of the Rights of the Child. There was a committee consisting of various governmental bodies which was investigating allegations of torture and other individual abuses, the public was being made aware of their human rights through the educational curricula, emphasis was placed on the need to apply humanitarian principles and values, and the Kingdom had submitted its candidacy for the membership of the Commission.
The Government of the Kingdom had taken the following steps to promote human rights: the authorization of the establishment of an independent non-governmental national body to help publicize human rights and to advocate the punishment of offenders; the establishment of a national governmental body vested with authority to look into human rights issues; the establishment of human rights sections in the governmental agencies concerned; and the adoption of new regulations governing the legal profession and legal counselling. Equal rights were granted to all citizens and foreign residents. The exercise of freedom of expression and assembly was guaranteed thorough the 'open-door policy', and dozens of governmental and non-governmental bodies were engaged in charitable and social activities. No non-Muslims had ever been subjected to prosecution or punishment because of their religious faith. There were new regulations under which non-Saudis were permitted to own property and to invest in local stock market funds. The Islamic Shari'a laws and regulations applied to both sexes without distinction or exception, and the Kingdom was endeavouring to ensure that women enjoyed all their legally recognized rights. The Government was concerned about education, especially female education since it constituted the corner stone for the advancement and development of society.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia called upon the Iraqi Government to cooperate with international bodies concerned with a view to establishing the whereabouts of the prisoners or missing people of Saudi or Kuwaiti nationality. It was time the Iraqi Government resolved this human tragedy.
ABDELFATTAH AMOR, Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance, introducing his report (document E/CN.4/2000/65), said he had addressed an urgent appeal to the Government of Iran concerning the detention of Iranians of Jewish confession who were accused of espionage, while the motive of their detention, according to some sources, was their Jewish identity. Iran had responded that the arrested suspects on charges of espionage included Christians and Muslims, and that the investigation did not take into consideration their religious background but the question of national security.
The urgent appeal concerning Iraq was based on the assassination of Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeck al-Sadr and his two sons, and the demonstration of the Shiite community that followed. The appeal also concerned allegations of repression attributed to the army. Iraq had replied by saying that it would communicate the results once the investigation was terminated.
Mr. Amor said that his current report dealt with 93 communications of which two urgent appeals were addressed to 56 States. In addition, since the report was submitted, he had added 12 communications concerning 10 States.
In 1999, the Special Rapporteur said he had visited Turkey and the report of his mission would be presented to the General Assembly. A visit to Bangladesh was scheduled for this year while requests for visits were expected by Indonesia, the Russian Federation, Argentina, Israel and the Democratic Republic of Korea.
ASMA JAHANGIR, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, presenting her report (document E/CN.4/2000.3), said that on her mission to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and to Albania, she had been unable to visit Kosovo because of security reasons. However, she said her report noted that 'the enormity of the situation is daunting' and she would continue to monitor the developments in that region closely.
Ms. Jahangir said she continued to be concerned about the culture of impunity in Mexico, which gave rise to a vicious circle of violence, resulting in extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. She regretted that she was not able to visit Jakarta during her visit to East Timor. Further investigations of atrocities would be required to determine the full extent and level of Indonesia's responsibility. She also went to Nepal and her report would be presented soon. Although she was invited by the Governments of Turkey and Colombia, the limited resources made available to her mandate had delayed her mission.
ANNE ANDERSON (Ireland) said that the right to freedom of expression was a right to which Ireland attached the utmost importance. The visit of the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of opinion and expression to Ireland, during which he met a broad range of persons, was a valuable opportunity to exchange views openly and in a constructive manner. It was important to note that, in line with many of the Rapporteur's recommendations, draft legislation was at an advanced stage, including legislation which would enable Ireland to ratify the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Irish Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform was currently carrying out a major review of censorship laws. A defamation bill was also at an advanced stage of preparation and its provisions were likely to ensure greater coherence with regard to many matters coming within the framework of the defamation law than had existed before.
CARLOS LARIOS OCHAITA (Guatemala) enumerated the number of measures taken by the Government to improve the judiciary and to make it effective. Greater flexibility in handling cases had been introduced to speed up judicial proceedings. The Government had also trained professionals in the judiciary and had made resources available to that sector. In the administration of justice, additional measures were taken to strengthen the use of local languages of the indigenous peoples. In order to modernize the judiciary, the quality of judges had also been raised, including the personnel in that sector.
In the field of education, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the United Nations Mission to Guatemala had been implementing educational programmes to raise the level of instruction in schools. At present, 300,000 students were following secondary education while 1,500,000 pupils were pursuing their primary education. With regard to the rights of the child, the Court had recently signed an agreement with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to strengthen the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. On gender equality in the judiciary, 40 per cent of judges and magistrates were women.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union had been cooperating in the modernization of the administration of justice of Guatemala to strengthen the institutional capacity, to combat corruption and to improve access to justice.
AUDREY GLOVER (The United Kingdom) said the delegation supported the work of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. The representative welcomed the fact that the Special Rapporteur had last year been able to meet with a number of persons in authority regarding the cases of Patrick Finucane and Rosemary Nelson. The United Kingdom had provided a written response to the report of the Special Rapporteur.
AHMED EL MUFTI (Sudan), referring to the report of Special Rapporteur on the freedom of expression and opinion, said his Government had benefited from the experience of the Special Rapporteur. It would also continue to engage in a constructive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on all the issues contained in his report. The Government welcomed the observation of the Special Rapporteur on the need for technical assistance programmes in the field of human rights and the media.
Sudan had revised the Political Association Act of 1998 and the Government was determined to spare no effort to investigate all acts of violence related to freedom of expression. The Government supported the creation of independent newspapers and private media. It also subscribed to the Special Rapporteur's view that all policies and practices discriminating against women should be eliminated. In this connection, the Government was currently encouraging a transparent debate regarding the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. A similar approach was being adopted with regard to the Convention against Torture.
RAIMUNDO PEREZ-HERNANDEZ (Spain) welcomed the report of the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance. The promotion of values of tolerance and the defense of the right to religious freedom was a matter of utmost priority for Spain. Spain had come a long way since signing agreements with the Holy See and the Jewish and Muslim religious communities in the country. Although no agreements had been signed with minority religions, they were guaranteed protection under the 1980 basic law on religion freedom. As affirmed by the Special Rapporteur, Spain had become a land in which all religions and beliefs could flourish. Spain looked to its past in order not to make the same mistakes. Efforts had been undertaken towards promoting a constructive dialogue between different religious beliefs and movements. Spain believed that the initiative of the Special Rapporteur to accord special attention to the encouragement of religious tolerance in schools had borne fruits.
GIUSEPPE BERTELLO (the Holy See), said the visit to the Vatican by the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance took up an important part of his report. The Special Rapporteur was congratulated on his objectivity. The Catholic Church was committed to guarantee the freedom of believers, Christians and non-Christians, so that they could freely express their beliefs without fear or harassment. Belief was the most intimate right due to its private and spiritual nature. The Catholic Church did not expect privileges but wanted everyone to be guaranteed freedom of belief. Theoretical agreements of these rights were usually recognized in principle, but were rarely implemented in practice. Believers all over the world were discriminated against.
The Vatican wanted to be part of this dialogue, not through the imposition of one's beliefs on others, but through listening to the other and seeing what was holy in the other's beliefs. The understanding of the specifics of the other meant that one could work together for a common moral goal, that of ensuring peace. Religion was the enemy of exclusion, hatred, violence and conflict. During the visit to the Vatican, the Special Rapporteur saw the importance attributed by the Vatican to education and dialogue. The Church was trying to contribute to society through technical and intellectual training. The Church was convinced that a comprehensive education of the young was of crucial importance. Children were the future of society. The Vatican welcomed that the Special Rapporteur had kept to his mission and statement. The Vatican was interested in further friendly cooperation, particularly in the field of human rights.
KSENOFON KRISAFI (Albania) welcomed the report of the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions. In his report, the Special Rapporteur had described the serious crimes perpetrated by the Serb forces in Kosovo last year. He had concluded that executions in the region had been carried out by forces under the direct or indirect control of the State. The perpetrators of the crimes were members of the Serb police, the Yugoslav army or paramilitary groups who operated in cooperation with and the approval of the police or military forces.
The testimonies contained in the report were extremely valuable, especially at a time when efforts were being made to forget the crimes perpetrated in Kosovo. By evoking events which took place a year ago, the Special Rapporteur helped one to better understand the significant changes that had taken place in Kosovo in the last 10 months. Two million Kosovars had started rebuilding their lives. Today, their houses were no longer broken into by criminals, parents were no longer massacred in front of their children, women and children were no longer raped in front of their parents, mutilated people were no longer thrown into wells or burnt alive in ovens, and people were no longer expelled from their homes or lands. Albania fully supported the Special Rapporteur's recommendation urging the International Crimes Tribunal to continue investigating violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Kosovo with a view to bringing to justice the perpetrators of these violations and breaking the vicious cycle of reprisals.
ANTONIO DE ICAZA (Mexico) said that comments and observations concerning the visit of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to Mexico had been sent by his delegation and it was unfortunate that they had not been distributed in time for a conducive dialogue. The delegation of Mexico hoped that next year the comments would be distributed in sufficient time to allow an interactive dialogue. The Special Rapporteur had recognized that Mexico had made reforms in the political and judicial systems. In her meetings in Mexico, she had noted a consensus on the gradual change in the country and that the governing body showed a better willingness to improve judicial institutions. The Mexican Government was determined to eradicate impunity and reform the legal system so there were no extra-judicial incidents.
The Government was implementing these reforms through more access to justice, the promotion of the democratic process, and the strengthening of local communities. The Special Rapporteur had claimed that her scope was limited due to the mandate entrusted to her, hence she focused on key events. It was evident that the Special Rapporteur had exceeded her mandate as she had discussed the armed forces and the electoral process. Information had been omitted and many of the actions recommended had already been taken. Other recommendations exceeded her mandate. The Mexican delegation had been inviting international observers to attend elections since 1994. The Special Rapporteur was clearly not aware of this as this had been one of her recommendations which furthermore exceeded her mandate. The Government of Mexico promoted human rights, transparency and cooperation. The current debate in Mexico on this subject showed that many recommendations were already on the agenda.
RUTIJANWA MEDARD (Rwanda) said that meagre results were being obtained by the judicial system with regard to the perpetrators of the genocide of 1994 who were actually imprisoned. Additional efforts were being made to speed up the process by using traditional judicial practices. The traditional practices were carried out by persons of high reputation elected among members of the village communities. The process included a system of separating the persons involved in the genocide according to the acts they had committed; the degree of their participation would be established by those traditional judges who would ensure that every criminal was not put in the same basket. In that manner, the Government would speed up the judicial process concerning those in prison.
ATTIYA INAYATULLAH (Pakistan) said the Constitution included a special chapter described as the conscience of the Constitution on human rights, guaranteeing the promotion and protection of human rights. The present Government in Pakistan had activated a process for the promotion of human dignity though the genuine respect for pluralism and tolerance. Pakistan supplied additional information on the role of the judiciary and the freedom of press. Through the empowering of the people at the grass roots level, they were given a personal stake in decision-making on the process of development. This was to be achieved through the transfer of civil and political power to the 'district' which formed the basic building block of the future democratic structure. The district elections would be held in December 2000, and would be implemented by July 2001. The plan involved direct elections at the village union council and district level, with an equal distribution of seats for men and women. The future of Pakistan was democratic governance.
The devolution plan also included reforms of the judiciary to enable it to dispose of 90 per cent of the complaints within the district level, thus bringing justice to the doorstep of the people. The Constitution of Pakistan had remained operative after the change of Government; the judicial process in the country remained transparent, independent and free of political pressure; international observers had free access to observe court proceedings; and special courts were set up at the district level to deal with cases relating to women in order to ensure an accessible and quicker system of justice for women. The Government had taken special measures for the protection of judges and lawyers in Pakistan. A Judicial Commission of the Supreme Court had been set up to inquire into and determine the circumstances which had led to the shooting incident in which Mr. Raad (defence lawyer to the former Prime Minister of Pakistan) and two others were murdered. The press in Pakistan was free and the freedom of expression was endorsed. Pakistan aimed to put in place civil structures that would be impossible to dismantle and political institutions that would ensure the people of Pakistan that they were the owners of the future democracy in the country.
JORGE VOTO-BERNALES (Peru) said that civil and political rights were given utmost attention in the Commission in the conviction that, together with economic, social and cultural rights, they were the cornerstone of the international system for the protection of human rights. Peru had fully cooperated with the thematic mechanisms of the Commission and had undertaken every effort to implement their recommendations.
By way of example, the Government had set up a mechanism designed to improve the situation of all those who had been unjustly deprived of their freedom under the anti-terrorist legislation. A special Amnesty Commission had been set up in order to review all the cases of those who claimed to be unjustly detained. To date, 400 people had been released by the Commission. Further, a series of laws had been passed to combat human rights violations, including in the area of crimes of genocide, forced disappearances and torture. Many of the recommendations made to Peru were related to situations arising from the implementation of special legislation adopted to combat terrorist violence which had devastated the country for more than a decade. Peru had demonstrated however that it had the political will to recognize errors which might have been made in the past and correct them.
LEGWAILA LEGWAILA (Botswana) said that freedom of expression, conscience, assembly and association was a fundamental right in Botswana entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic. The Kgotla, the age-old institution of participatory democracy in Botswana, had matured and sustained an environment in which ever individual was free to propagate his views and persuade others to accept them. The enjoyment of freedom of expression and the peaceful coexistence of different religious persuasions in the country had deepened the roots of Botswana's democracy and entrenched peace and stability.
Perhaps the most important institution of State intimately associated with the promotion of human rights in a democratic society was a judiciary which was truly independent and free of the manacles of micro management by the political elite in power. Botswana, like other civilized nations, was aware of and troubled by the impunity with which human rights and international humanitarian law could and had been violated with brutal effect for million of innocent people all over the world. There were many harrowing examples of the scourge of impunity to impel Botswana to join the campaign for the establishment of international mechanisms designed to punish crimes against humanity and humanitarian law.
MUFTI A. KADYROV (the Russian Federation) said he was a Mufti in Chechnya. He had fought on the Chechnian side in the first war and had rejoiced at the elections and the leadership of Doudaiev. It was true that the first war had been supported by the whole population of Chehcnya. The flag had been raised in pride with the banner of Islam. In order to get to the truth, one had to speak the truth. He had now been condemned to death by Doudaiev. After the election of the president, it was decided that Islam was to be cleansed. The same slogans that had been used during the Bolshevik revolution had been quoted: those who were not with you were against you. This Islamist group was subordinate to no one, and had committed atrocious human rights violations. No force in Chechnya had been able to resist it. Doudaiev himself was a hostage to these people. Islam had been pushed into Dagistan where federal forces had been called in. Finally the terrorists had been driven out and the anti-terrorist stage in Chechnya had began.
Chechnyans were tired of the war. There were hopes that the accession to power by Poutine would change things for the better. War was a violation in itself. Doudaiev had not lived up to the promises to his people. No religion called for war except Wahabism. Islam did not call for violence. The speaker found the present concern with Chechnya surprising, as no one had said anything about the first war. Today things were different, each country was following its own policy. Chechnya had spent 400 years trying to fight Russian preponderance without success. A peaceful gradual process was required to solve the problems, not military moves nor the murder of the population. The Commission was called upon to ensure that the situation in Chechnya was dealt with appropriately.
DICK BATCHELOR (the United States) said that no religion taught that those who rejected its precepts deserved degradation or violence. People who did that in religion's name were either false or foolish -- or both. Inevitably, they distorted the beliefs they claimed to represent, in pursuit of their own interests. And governments that repressed people seeking to express their religious and spiritual beliefs violated internationally accepted standards for freedom of conscience. Knowing that to be true, one could not remain silent when one saw the persecution that Christians and traditional African believers suffered at the hands of the Sudanese Government. One could not remain silent when one saw Chinese authorities jail tens of thousands of practising Falun Gong members, or when they abused Tibetan Buddists or Muslim Uighurs, or when they persecuted Protestants and Catholics simply because they did not belong to State-sanctioned churches. Nor should one remain silent when Iranian authorities continued their attacks on Baha'is.
That the Iraqi regime had murdered Shi'aite clerics, desecrated mosques and holy sites, imprisoned tens of thousands of Shi'ites and persecuted hundreds of thousands of Christian Assyrians and Chaldeans should come as no surprise, giving the brutality of the regime. Nor could one be indifferent to the stifling restrictions the Taliban imposed on the women and girls of Afghanistan. That was not Islam, but oppression. The former Yugoslavia and Chechnya were also among the speaker's list of concerns.
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