MARY ROBINSON BRIEFS COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS ON DEVELOPMENTS OF INTEREST TO ITS WORK

CESCR
28th session
16 May 2002
Morning



High Commissioner for Human Rights Says
Her Office Is Deeply Concerned With the Issue
of Terrorism and Human Rights



United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson this morning briefed the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on recent developments that were of interest and relevance to its work.
The High Commissioner said the Commission on Human Rights had adopted a significant number of resolutions on economic, social and cultural rights under its agenda item 10. In all of its resolutions, the Commission had acknowledged the work done by the Committee to further the understanding of the normative contents of the rights recognized in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, notably through the adoption of General Comments.
Mrs. Robinson said that the draft optional protocol to the Covenant, providing for a complaints procedure, had made headway before the Commission. The Commission had adopted a resolution in which it extended the mandate of the Independent Expert for one more year in order to prepare the ground for an open-ended working group that would consider the options regarding the elaboration of a draft optional protocol.
The High Commissioner said that her Office had been deeply concerned with the issue of terrorism and human rights since the tragic attacks on 11 September.
In a brief discussion with the High Commissioner, Committee Chairperson Virginia Bonoan-Dandan recalled the cooperation between the Committee and that of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and said that it was the first time that two monitoring treaty bodies had joined their efforts. The contribution of the two Experts from CEDAW, who had participated in the Day of General Discussion on article 3 of the Covenant on equal rights of men and women in the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, had been useful to the Committee in its future drafting of a General Comment on article 3.
Other Committee Experts also participated in the discussion with one Expert regretting that a number of States parties still maintained reservations on economic, social and cultural rights and that the adoption of an optional protocol to the Covenant was still far-fetched. However, the meeting with the States parties was a step forward in that sense and it witnessed the States' will for a dialogue on the issue.
After the brief public meeting, the Committee continued its meeting in private. The next public meeting of the Committee will be at 10 a.m. on Friday, 17 May, when the Committee will adopt its concluding observations and recommendations on country reports which it has considered at this session before adjourning its three-week session.

Statement by High Commissioner for Human Rights
MARY ROBINSON, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, briefed the Committee on recent developments that were of interest and relevance to its work. She said the Commission on Human Rights had adopted a significant number of resolutions on economic, social and cultural rights under its agenda item 10. In all of its resolutions, the Commission had acknowledged the work done by the Committee to further the understanding of the normative contents of the rights recognized in the Covenant, notably through the adoption of General Comments. The draft optional protocol to the Covenant, providing for a complaints procedure, had made headway before the Commission. It had adopted a resolution in which it extended the mandate of the Independent Expert for one more year, in order to prepare the ground for an open-ended working group that would consider the options regarding the elaboration of a draft optional protocol.
The rapid deterioration of the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel had preoccupied the Commission, Mrs. Robinson went on to state. Many of the issues raised by the Commission concerned economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to housing, the right to food and the right to health. She personally expressed in strong words her own deep concern, as well as the concern of her Office, over both the suicide bombings in Israel and the military responses in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Mrs. Robinson said that since the tragic attacks on 11 September, her Office had been deeply concerned with the issue of terrorism and human rights. On several occasions, she had spoken out on the importance of adhering to international law and human rights in the fight against terrorism. In her opening statement to the Commission, she noted that : "The buildings that were destroyed on 11 September can be replaced., But if the pillars of the international system are damaged or demolished, they will not be so easy to restore." She also emphasized that "we need to respond to terrorism not by legislative and security measures but with the armoury of common values, common standards and common commitments which enable us to reach beyond our differences". International human rights law meant not only civil and political rights, but economic, social and cultural rights as well.
Mrs. Robinson further said that the 11 September events had rendered even more relevant the outcome of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Durban last September. The Conference was a difficult one but it did conclude successfully with the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. The Office was involved now in working to ensure effective action on the final documents. The work was spearheaded by an Anti-Discrimination Unit established in the Office, one of several follow up initiatives that the General Assembly had endorsed.

Discussion
VIRGINIA BONOAN-DANDAN, Committee Chairperson, thanked Mrs. Robinson for her warm encouragements and welcomed the prospect for future collaboration. She recalled the cooperation between the Committee and that of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and said that it was the first time that two monitoring bodies had joined their efforts. The contribution of the two Experts from CEDAW, who had participated in the Day of General Discussion on article 3 of the Covenant on equal rights of men and women in the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, had been useful to the Committee in its future drafting of a General Comment on article 3. She welcomed the CEDAW's invitation of the Committee to participate in its work in January. CEDAW's General Comment on "temporary special measures" with regard to women's discrimination would be useful to the work of the Committee.
Concerning the meeting the Committee held with States parties, Ms. Bonoan-Dandan said that the meeting had been beyond the Committee's expectations and that it was filled with a spirit of dialogue and cooperation. She regretted that some of the States maintained different points of view with regard to General Comments, although more and more States recognized their utility in the interpretation of the Covenant. Concerning the implementation of the provisions of the Covenant, she said that the Committee would continue to deploy more efforts to convince States parties to ensure the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights at it was set forth in the Covenant.
With regard to the Committee's cooperation with ECOSOC's new institution, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which was holding its session in New York, Ms. Bonoan-Dandan said that the Committee had always underlined the importance of the right to self-determination and the principle of non-discrimination over the course of its consideration of country reports; and it would establish a good collaboration with the Forum. The Committee was already entertaining close cooperation with the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, and the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler.
Another Expert also welcomed the support of the High Commissioner provided to the Committee during the last five years and the importance she had accorded to economic, social and cultural rights. With regard to the justiciability of the rights, he regretted the stands adopted by the United Kingdom and Ireland on the issue; both States continued to consider that their juridical systems would not allow them to incorporate the rights under the Covenant making them justiciable. The United Kingdom, despite the Committee's recommendations, continued to affirm that economic, social and cultural rights could have no recourse and that they could only be implemented through specific plans of action and not by constitutional provisions.
Also speaking was another Expert who said that he did not share Mrs. Robinson's optimism with regard to the achievements of the last session of the Commission on Human Rights, however, he welcomed the limits underlined by Mrs. Robinson with regard to the fight against terrorism, which should be done within the strict respect for human rights. The Expert thanked Mrs. Robinson for her support provided to the Committee and for her continued interest in economic, social and cultural rights as an integral and indivisible part of human rights. The Expert regretted that a number of States parties still maintained reservations on economic, social and cultural rights and that the adoption of an optional protocol to the Covenant was still far-fetched. However, the meeting with the States parties was a step forward in that sense and it witnessed the States' will for dialogue on the issue.
An Expert regretted the departure of Mrs. Robinson in September. It would not be a happy moment for human rights, he said, referring to the numerous crises that affected the world, particularly the impoverishment of resources allocated to development, education and human rights causes. He said he was concerned about the place left for economic, social and cultural rights; and the Committee needed supplementary intellectual, human and financial resources in order to better discharge its mandate. The draft General Comment on article 3 of the Covenant would be ready by next year. The Committee had also envisaged to draft a General Comment on the right to water.
Committee Chairperson hoped that the Committee would also elaborate a General Comment on terrorism before the end of the year.
In her concluding remarks, Mrs. Robinson welcomed the Committee's spirit of innovation in its cooperation with other monitoring treaty bodies and the special rapporteurs. Within the current situation, it was necessary to elucidate the order of the day of human rights at the international level and to put more stress on economic, social and cultural rights. She observed that such a situation would respond to the expectations and concerns of the developing countries that had often the tendency to consider human rights as Western values.
Mrs. Robinson also expressed her concerns in the face of the difficulties and pressures that were exerted against human rights, particularly after the 11 September attacks. In that situation, there was a need for solidarity with the human rights mechanisms. She hoped that the human rights community would be able to deal with the situation on a rights-based approach. Recalling the difficult political situation in which the Special Session of the Summit on Children had been conducted, she hoped that the next Summit on Sustainable Development, which would be held in Johannesburg, would be a better one. The international community should also take conscience of the necessity to increase the funds allocated to education to ensure the promotion of human rights and to ensure the state of law.



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