NGOS URGE GREATER EFFORTS TO ADVANCE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

Commission on Human Rights
57th session
3 April 2001
Evening




Commission on Human Rights Hears Pleas for Debt Relief,
Action to End Extreme Poverty




Non-governmental organizations speaking before the Commission on Human Rights this evening pressed such issues as debt relief for poor nations, rural land reform, and greater efforts to reduce extreme poverty as they commented on the status of economic, social and cultural rights around the world.

The International Movement ATD Fourth World said extreme poverty amounted to a violation of all human rights and contended that there was a need for a new definition of poverty, as existing standards did not refer directly to extreme poverty and were too general in nature to take extreme conditions into account.

The World Federation of United Nations Associations said 50 per cent of the 600 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa survived on 65 cents a day and had sub-standard educational, sanitary and health services.

And Pax Christi International urged the Commission to call for the cancellation of the foreign debt of the world’s most-indebted countries and for consideration of a new approach aimed at modifying completely the framework of “structural adjustment” programmes and at including genuine consultations with civil societies when such cost-cutting measures were undertaken.

Also speaking at the meeting, which concluded at 9 p.m., were Representatives of the following NGOs: American Association of Jurists; Earth Justice; International Federation of Rural Adult Catholic Movements; World Organization against Torture; International Federation Terre des Hommes; Save the Children; International Baccalaureate Organization; Asian Legal Resource Centre; International Alliance of Women; Center for Economic and Social Rights; International Federation of Human Rights; International Educational Development; Federation of Cuban Women; Rural Reconstruction Nepal; International Union of Socialist Youth, Transnational Radical Party; Women’s International Democratic Federation; Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation; International Commission of Jurists; Indian Council of Education; International Institute of Peace; Andean Commission of Jurists; European Union of Public Relations; International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies; and Organization for Defending Victims of Violence.

The Commission will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 4 April, to continue its debate on economic, social and cultural rights.

Statements

JAIRO SANCHEZ, of American Association of Jurists, said a few weeks back the United States had entered a complaint in the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Brazil because Brazil was manufacturing generic anti-AIDS drugs. The chance that Brazil would succeed was minimal, even though it was trying to help the lives of poor people. The Commission should urge the United States to withdraw its complaint against Brazil.

NGOs also had submitted a document showing what transnational corporations did to human rights. Unfortunately, the High Commissioner for Human Rights had a completely erroneous view of the problem when she stated that the enterprise community had adapted to the promotion and protection of human rights in the new century.

FRANCISCO DE PAULA OLIVA ALONSO, of Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, said that in November 1998 the community of Rincon-i located 120 kilometres away from Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, was attacked in a way that destroyed forever its way of life. The Delta and Pine Company dumped in a field some 600 tons of waste, 170 meters from a school with 262 students.

Two and half years had elapsed and despite numerous appeals, nothing had been done. The basic rights of the inhabitants to a healthy environment and their right to live off their land continued to be violated. The inhabitants were still feeling the effects of the pollution. The community had not received any medical aid from the Government. The dumping of toxic waste with no respect for human rights produced serious violations of human rights that lasted indefinitely. Paragauy did not wish to continue to be the dustbin of the industrialized world.

PIERRE MIOT, of International Federation of Rural Adult Catholic Movements, said World Food Day on 16 October 2000 had highlighted again the debate between those who were in favour and those against genetically modified organisms. There were economic obstacles that made it difficult to implement the right to food, and the agro-chemical multi-nationals had invented plants in an effort to increase crop yields. All that remained for these giants to do was to market these GMOs throughout the world, despite farmers’ protests and the reluctance of the consumers. The possible risks still needed to be investigated. GMOs were a major trade challenge. The giant multi-nationals were trying to conquer the world market, especially in the countries that had already accepted GMOs.

Members of farmers’ organizations had protested these actions. In many countries, farmers needed real agricultural reform. They needed a trade system that would ensure fair prices -- not major producers who would eliminate small producers. The multi-nationals were simply looking to increase their profits.

NATHALIE MIVELAZ, of World Organization Against Torture, said that in the ongoing rural conflict in Brazil, rural poverty, underdevelopment and a high concentration of land with a limited number of owners went hand-in-hand with serious and repeated violations of economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights. The process of land reform, apart from being very slow, had so far fallen short of giving an adequate answer to the peasants' land claims. Landless peasants' assertion of their rights was generally met by violent repression.

The situation of tribal peoples in India was also a matter of concern, particularly the violent response of the Indian Government to tribal peoples' land claims and assertion of their rights. Of utmost concern remained the building of a hydroelectric project in Jharkhand State which would lead to the displacement of 16,350 families from 250 villages. Finally, attention needed to be paid to the negative effects of liberalization, privatization and deregulation polices on labour conditions in the Philippines.

JULIA STUCKEY, of Pax Christi International, said the organization appreciated the progress made towards the drafting of an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which would enable the examination of individual complaints of violations of the Covenant. It also deeply appreciated the work done by the Special Rapporteurs on different issues under this agenda item. Nevertheless, Pax Christi considered that access to a decent job was equally a priority for helping millions of people to overcome poverty and precariousness and to live decently. A recent ILO study referred to a need for 500 million jobs in the world, and to the precarious working conditions of millions of people who were employed. Decent jobs should be urgently created and defended. The international community, in particular the Commission, should reflect on this serious problem.

The negative consequences of external debt on human rights had been largely denounced. Pax Christi urged the Commission and the Special Rapporteur on this subject to insist more actively on the urgent need for cancellation of the debt of the most indebted countries, and for consideration of a new approach aimed at modifying completely the framework of structural adjustment and at including genuine consultations with the civil societies concerned. The privatization of basic social services in the name of efficiency and competitiveness should also be condemned. The effects of such measures were clearly noticeable in the fields of education, health, pension, food, support to rural populations, and other matters. In this context, citizens were considered as clients whose access depended on their purchasing power.

MARIBEL WOLF, of International Federation Terre des Hommes, said that at a time when globalization was presented as a way to eradicate poverty, Governments failed to introduce social policies that enhanced economic, social and cultural rights. In Brazil, for example, 20 per cent of the richest inhabitants controlled 60 per cent of the national wealth, whereas 20 per cent survived on 2.2 per cent of that income. Thus, 20 million Brazilians were deprived of basic necessities. Some 7 per cent of children suffered from malnutrition when national production of cerasus could nourish the entire population. About 5 per cent of the GDP would be needed to eradicate poverty in Brazil.

The Afro-Brazilian population was the poorest in the country, had the lowest level of education and the worst-paid jobs. Sex discrimination was also common with regard to women's place in the economy and their political role. Other matters of serious concern were the concentration of lands and the reaction of landless peasants, violations of workers' rights, social disintegration, violence and killings.

L. H. HORACE-PERERA, of World Federation of United Nations Associations, said there was a tragic situation involving economic, social and cultural rights in sub-Saharan Africa, and the international community had an obligation to involve itself more meaningfully in cooperating with the region's leaders to ensure these rights for some 600 million people, 50 per cent of whom were living on 65 cents a day and whose educational and sanitary and health services were sub-standard. Western countries should reflect on the way Africa had been carved out and exploited and how, after independence, the parties to the Cold War and their allies had carried out their ideological rivalries through African proxies, selling weapons to corrupt rulers and thus contributing to a gun culture and to continued political instability. With the end of the Cold War, sub-Saharan Africa had come to be marginalized to the extent that major Western powers had ignored the genocide in Rwanda and had even preventing the United Nations from intervening to stop the massacres.

There were signs that help was coming. Debt relief had been extended to 18 sub-Saharan countries, and the European Union had agreed to phase out trade barriers. This should be speeded up, particularly for textiles and agricultural products, as free access for these to Western markets could result in growth for Africa worth billions of dollars a year. The heads of the World Bank and the IMF were willing to join a campaign to convince industrial nations to advance, over 10 years, from their current level of 0.24 per cent of GNP in official development assistance to the long-standing UN target of 0.7 per cent. The difference between these figures could be worth one hundred million dollars per year.

KENNETH MELIN, of Save the Children, said fiscal policies had a direct impact on children. National, provincial and local budgets showed how State parties translated their policies, political commitments and priorities -- in relation to children's rights -- into actual resource allocation.

During the course of last year, Save the Children had supported analyses of the State budgets of seven countries: El Salvador, Ethiopia, Palestine, Peru, South Africa, Sweden and Vietnam. In general, it could be said that all these countries had adopted extensive policies and plans for the implementation of the rights of the child. However, none of the countries fully translated these commitments into their budgets. In general, all seven studies concluded that the situation on the ground was far from the ideal situation described initially

RUHT BONNER, of International Baccalaureate Organization, said that from the very beginning, when it had been closely linked with UNESCO, IB's multi-cultural and multi-lingual curriculum, based on human rights and responsibilities, healthy life-styles and basic life skills, had been introduced into schools in many countries. When the IB was accepted as equivalent to national diplomas in most countries, it began to develop programmes geared to capacity building, to human values, to mutual understanding and respect and personal responsibility. Critical thinking and decision-making from an early age were the essential skills taught. That was why the programmes for the Middle Years and for the Primary Years were developed and introduced in schools in many countries in the 1990s.

Probably the most important aspect of this development was the spread to state schools, now approaching 40 per cent. This meant that this kind of education, based on mutual understanding, conflict-solving and human values would help the next generation to face current problems and to contribute considerably to building a better world, free from wars and violence. IB students gave much time to global concerns, to the environment, to poverty and other human problems.

A. REDEGELT, of International Movement ATD Fourth World, said severe poverty was now considered a denial of human rights, an intolerable infringement on human dignity, as were slavery, apartheid, torture or racism. As stressed by High Commissioner Mary Robinson at the opening of this session, there was still an enormous divide between, on the one hand, the aspirations proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in instruments and covenants on human rights and, on the other hand, the unbearable reality experienced by millions of people. Across the world, millions lived in extreme poverty.

The international community must unambiguously proclaim that this condition amounted to a violation of all human rights. There was a need for a new declaration on and definition of poverty. The existing instruments did not refer directly to extreme poverty. The texts were too general and did not highlight the most critical situations. Extreme poverty was a persistent accumulation of mutually reinforced vulnerabilities

SANJEEWA LIYANAGE, of Asian Legal Resource Centre, said ample evidence suggested that the Government of Myanmar was systematically denying food to its civilian population. The ALRC had brought these concerns to the attention of the Commission last year in light of a finding made by the People's Tribunal on Food Scarcity and Militarization in Burma. The ALRC appreciated the efforts of the former Special Rapporteur to highlight food security concerns in Myanmar and hoped that the new Special Rapporteur would pursue the issue with equal vigor. Myanmar continued to violate the right to food by denying people the right to work, as well as through harmful taxation and the confiscation of land. Also, there was the repeated demand for unpaid civilian labour which prevented people from working freely to achieve food security. In areas of armed conflict, civilians were subjected to unstable, life-threatening conditions.

The right to food was universal and fundamental. The international community and particularly UN agencies must recognize the emerging human-made food-security crisis in Myanmar.

JESSIKA KEHL-LAUFF, of International Alliance of Women, said that although the importance of housing construction and of improvement of credits was already highlighted in the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women in 1985, the Alliance felt that some Governments were not aware of the importance of this issue. Together with the problem of violence against women and children, the lack of right to land and home ownership was one of the origins of the feminization of poverty, especially in rural areas.

The Alliance encouraged a close dialogue between the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and the Special Rapporteur on human rights and extreme poverty. Both should give technical advice not only to Governments working on legislation concerning women's ownership of land and housing, but also to organizations at the international and national levels working on social and economic development.

JUANA KWEITEL, of Center for Economic and Social Rights, said Center considered an optional protocol to the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to be a matter of priority. Many people suffering abuses did not have the machinery for resolving them, and this protocol would give them the machinery. Twenty-two years after the first optional protocol to an international treaty, there was still no optional protocol to this treaty.


At a conference earlier this year, participants had insisted on the need for such machinery at the regional level. A number of local courts had recognized their competence in the field of economic, social and cultural rights -- in South Africa, for instance. It was essential for these initiatives at the regional and local levels to be enhanced at the international level. That would make these rights concrete. The Center recommended that the Commission call for the establishment of an open-ended working group to establish a draft optional protocol, and for the matter to be on the agenda of the Commission's next session.

BEATRICE LAROCHE, of International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), said almost all the States that would take part in the WTO ministerial conference in Doha, Dakar, had ratified international human rights instruments. Furthermore, during the World Conference on human rights held in Vienna in 1993, 170 States had reaffirmed that human rights were the primary responsibility of States. Yet within the WTO, human rights were always seen as obstacles to trade liberalization or as disguised protectionism. Human rights were seen as a way of facilitating or blocking trade liberalization.

The Federation denounced States which on the one hand ratified international human-rights treaties and on the other hand undertook commitments within the WTO that undermined the enjoyment of fundamental rights.

KAREN PARKER, of International Educational Development, said the organization condemned the destruction by the Taliban in Afghanistan of statues that were part of the world's cultural heritage. It also urged the international community to address the economic rights of the Afghan people, who, because of the enormous damage inflicted on their country, faced their and their country's complete destruction. Pakistan had taken in far more than its fair share of Afghan refugees, and while it should be thanked for its acts, all Governments should be urged to address the economic rights of these besieged people. At the same time, the Commission should be reminded that Sri Lankan military forces had destroyed over 1,800 Hindu, Christian and Muslim religious and historic sites with far less international condemnation.

The most pressing international issue regarding economic rights today was the continuing sanctions regime against Iraq and the health catastrophe brought about by the use of weapons containing depleted uranium during the Gulf War. The sanctions were not only in direct violation of applicable humanitarian law but also in direct contravention of the Charter of the United Nations. They were also politically motivated. They persisted because of the irresistible pressure of one Government. One Government that insisted that its own international economic and political interests superceded all human rights and humanitarian laws. One Government held the United Nations and the people of Iraq hostage. The rest of the international community was accordingly complicit in these wrongs. The Commission should call for an immediate lifting of the sanctions against Iraq.

M. A. S. CALDERIN, of Federation of Cuban Women, said that according to the World Health Organization, 500 million women died each year as a result of complications from pregnancy. States could not ignore the right of men and women to education and health for all.

Despite the blockade and the diplomatic, political, subversive and terrorist measures used by the United States against the people of Cuba, Cuba boasted health indicators comparable to those of developed countries, with life expectancy of 72.94 years for men and 76.90 for women. In 2000, 99.9 per cent of births took place in health clinics, another indicator that reflected the high quality of life in Cuba, there was a high level of education for women and the right to health for all.

S. K. PRADHAN, of Rural Construction Nepal, said the organization was deeply concerned at the situation of economic, social and cultural rights in Bhutan, particularly in southern Bhutan, as the state of affairs there affected the lives and future of a large segment of Bhutanese society, particularly the Nepali-speaking southern Bhutanese or Lhotshampas. Bhutan was a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-lingual society. Until 1988, the Lhotshampas had enjoyed their social and cultural rights due to the liberal ethnic policies of the late King, who never discriminated against any ethnic group

However, after 1988, the liberal policies were changed, giving way to the racist policy of one-nation, one people. Under this policy, Bhutan adopted strong and systematic measures to force upon its non-Buddhist communities a Buddhist cultural code. A Royal Order prescribed one dress, one language and one culture for all citizens irrespective of ethnic or cultural background. Economic, social and cultural rights were the fundamental rights of any community. The Commission was urged to take all necessary steps to remove the ban on southern Bhutanese culture, dress and language.

MUHAMMAD SHOAIB, of International Human Rights Association of American Minorities, said the Commission should address violations which occurred as a result of foreign occupation, armed conflicts or actions by an oppressor. The most pertinent example of this could be found in the occupied territories of Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir. Such denials of human rights stemmed from the deliberate policies adopted by occupation forces to weaken oppressed peoples economically, socially and culturally so as to perpetuate states of occupation.

It had become a way of life for the Kashmiri people to do without the basic necessities of life. The tourist industry was in a major slump, primarily because of the repression and overall militarization of Kashmir. Kashmiri children suffered enormously, not least because the crackdowns and curfews disrupted schools, many of which had been damaged in the course of the war.

TSERING JAMPA, of International Union of Socialist Youth, said the Chinese Government had often used the words "development and "growth" in its official discourse on Tibet. It had often attempted to refute criticism of its human rights record by asserting that the Tibetan people were experiencing earth-shaking progress as a result of China's development policies. If such claims were to be believed, the growing number of refugees escaping Tibet and the evidence that their testimonies portrayed must be the most elaborate and comprehensive network of fabrications that had ever existed. There were many indications that in Tibet poverty and basic subsistence issues dominated daily life. While total household spending in rural Tibet was 564 yuan per capita, which was 78 per cent below the global poverty line, the per capita income for Tibet's urban areas -- where most Chinese settlers lived -- was 5036 yuan, ten times as much, and growing at twice the rate.

China's focus on the right to development had been a constant in its human-rights strategies. This was one reason why a discussion on the realization of the right to development in Tibet was timely and necessary. China believed that as history developed, the concept and connotation of human rights also developed. From 1991 through its recent claims about human rights, the Chinese Government had continued to assert the primacy of State sovereignty and domestic law, while marginalizing international law. This was a crucial matter to which the international community should pay attention.


JINGSHENG WEI, of Transnational Radical Party, said the ruling Communist Party in China overemphasized the right to development in order to use it as an excuse to severely limit the ability of the Chinese people to criticize restrictions on their basic rights. Currently, there were over 400 million people living in China's cities and only 1 per cent of them could be considered wealthy. On average those who were wealthy earned several hundred times more than other workers. A great number of people lived without any income or access to basic resources. They had become the victims of a system that promoted economic development at the expense of protecting human rights and the promotion of democracy.

Because the Communist regime did not fundamentally respect the rights of farmers or the peasantry to possess their own land and means of production, most of the revenue from agriculture fell into the pockets of local administrators and their cadres.

DORA CARCANO, of Women's International Democratic Federation, said 50 years after the international commitment to respect human rights, there was still the violation of these most fundamental rights -- health, education, and the most basic, the right to life and dignity. The social services that Governments should provide -- health, education and social security -- were dependent on international mechanisms in this globalized society. The right of people to preserve their culture heritage and their national identity was also being threatened with extinction. Multinational corporations were trying to eliminate indigenous cultures and force their own cultures on people..

In Cuba, social rights were guaranteed for all individuals in society with no distinction based on race, gender, religion, sexual preference or ideology. The country had suffered for 40 years an economic blockade, and still it had achieved these social goals. It had health care for all, it had eradicated illiteracy. This should make people think about who was really violating human rights.

RIYAZ PUNJABI, of Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, said that ever since the adoption of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, there had been a marked rise in conditions inimical to upholding the rights that promoted human dignity and respect for cultural diversity. It needed to be recognized that the biggest challenge in realizing the socio-cultural rights emanated from attempts to homogenize societies on the basis of religion or on the basis of specific sectarian interpretations. The situation became complex when States became a party in the process of cultural homogenization.

It was urgent to look into the contents of education in different parts of the world. There was documentary evidence that “education” in some South Asian states not only undermined the ethos of diverse ethno-cultural groups but also promoted xenophobia, gender bias and cultural apartheid.

NATHALIE PROUVEZ, of International Commission of Jurists, said the High Commissioner for Human Rights had opened the workshop on the Justiciability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights with particular reference to the draft optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by saying it was time to get serious about the implementation of these rights. Examples were given of other mechanisms for complaints at the regional and universal levels.

Experts also reviewed the key features of the draft optional protocol and noted that the development of jurisprudence through the examination of complaints by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would help define with clarity the normative implications and operational requirement of the rights guaranteed under the International Covenant. The high level of Government participation in the workshop was proof of the importance attached to the matter. An important momentum had been created by the workshop, and it was now up to the Commission to decide the next step.

ASHOK BHAN, of Indian Council of Education, said economic, social and cultural rights had been systematically violated by Pakistani fundamentalist and terrorist groups in Jammu and Kashmir. These perverted fundamentalists systematically targeted secular, modern schools. These educational institutions were blown up. Parents were told not to send their children to these secular schools. According to some estimates, more than 10,000 such elementary schools had stopped functioning during the past twelve years. In their places, religious seminaries called madrassas had sprouted all around. They taught hatred and intolerance against other cultures and faiths. Youth had been put through continuous brainwashing to make them believe that the whole world was against them and they should destroy the current institutions so as to build a new religious order.

Young boys were forcefully made to take up arms and grenades. Girls were threatened with dire consequences if they did not put on veils and some of those who dared not to were shot at. Cinemas were forced to close. The tourism and handicraft industry, which used to be the mainstay of the Jammu and Kashmir economy, had also received a fatal blow.

MUMTAZ KHAN, of International Institute for Peace, said there was a misinterpretation of Islam in the way that some now perceived it as leading to the denial of economic, social and cultural rights. From the day the Prophet Mohammad had first preached his divine message of humanity, Muslim society had gained new adherents and had spread to different corners of the world. It had also contributed immensely to economic, social, civil and political rights, including that of women and children, as well as to the development of art, literature, science, mathematics, architecture, and medicine. These various accomplishments had enriched civilizations not only at home but abroad. The message of Islam had been humane, progressive, liberal and a great source of reaffirming peoples’ claims for full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.

The attack by the Taliban on the Buddha statues in the Bamiyan province of Afghanistan had been made in utter disregard of the sentiments of those who professed a different faith, and was a perverse attempt to gain international attention. Instead of recognizing it as such and condemning the claims by the Taliban that this vandalism was in consonance with Islam, several Islamic countries, including the Taliban's mentor, Pakistan, merely had made appeals against the destruction of the statues. The world had yet to see a challenge emerge from within the religious doctrine advanced by the Taliban to the destruction of an ancient international cultural heritage at the altar of religious intolerance.

RENZO CHIRI MARQUEZ, of Andean Commission of Jurists, said that Colombia faced the worst economic crisis among Andean countries. Violence and drug trafficking were rife, affecting Colombian civil society and institutions. The human-rights situation in the country was a matter of serious concern. The military component of Plan Colombia had been challenged by Colombian society and the international community since it could have negative effect on viable development. Under the plan, a large number of peasants would have to leave their land. There were already 400,000 displaced persons in the country and Plan Colombia would only increase their number. The rights to health and housing had been severely affected by armed conflict and the State was incapable of providing services to displaced persons, the great majority of whom were women.

The international community must follow closely the implementation of Plan Colombia. The Commission, in particular was urged to follow closely the situation in order to contribute to the promotion of peace, democracy and human rights.

JUANITA OLIVER, of European Union of Public Relations, said every shot that was fired at the statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan was a shot at a people's right to their cultural heritage. Where such blatant denial of cultural heritage could be so easily administered, economic and social rights had no meaning. Authoritative voices were raised in Pakistan, from religious and temporal quarters, seeking to justify the destruction of the statues as a manifestation of their proteges’ reaction to the imposition of sanctions by the international community. The reality was that the destruction was one more manifestation of Taliban ideology, imbibed in Pakistan, and endorsed by the more obscurantist elements in Pakistan. Economic, social and cultural rights were inter-linked. Given the diversity of mankind with its many religions, cultures and social structures, individual and group aspirations needed the cocoon of State and societal guarantees, particularly in multi-religious and multi-ethnic societies.

Prejudiced attitudes and non-responsive State structures had traditionally been responsible for the denial of economic, social and cultural rights of different groups. Today, there was a new threat in the form of terrorism, grounded in obscure and fundamentalist beliefs, that sought to overthrow established orders where, after much struggle, individuals and groups had managed to secure some semblance of economic prosperity, cultural richness and a recognized place in society. What was needed was a concerted global effort guaranteeing an immediate and effective response to the depredations of terrorist groups.

HARISH GUPTA, of International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, said the problems of HIV/AIDS and debt relief for poor countries were of primary importance. Regrettably, many African leaders and members of the international community had failed to tackle these problems. Some African leaders had even used aid assistance to purchase weapons. Equal importance should be given to civil and political rights on the one hand and economic and social and cultural rights on the other.

Many States had not ratified the International Convenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. Investment projects had often destroyed natural resources and caused human rights violations, including the destruction of the livelihoods of indigenous peoples who had managed those resources. Economic development had to benefit all of a population. It was therefore imperative that economic and social rights be treated on an equal footing with civil and political rights.

YADOLLAH MOHAMMADI TEHRANI, of Organization for Defending Victims of Violence, said globalization was one of the major obstacles to the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights. It had created a growing gap between the North and the South. Trafficking in persons had increased with globalization.

The extensive inequality between rich and poor countries had caused instability in the world.



* *** *