Press Briefing by OHCHR, 17 April 1998

Geneva, 17 April 1998


John Mills, media officer for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said his office had distributed a list of the draft resolutions the Commission on Human Rights would be considering today under agenda items 5, 6, 12, 14, 15,8, 9 and 17. There were about 50 drafts; some of them were amendments to other resolutions and others which might be withdrawn. The Commission had already adopted this morning the resolution on the right to food.

Mr. Mills noted as an important development that there were three resolutions which would establish an independent expert or special rapporteur in the area of economic, social and cultural rights.

Mr. Mills reminded correspondents that the Special Rapporteur on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Roberto Garreton, would be speaking to the press at 11.15 a.m.. At noon, Rajsoomer Lallah, Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, would speak to interested correspondents.

A correspondent asked whether the Commission would make a statement on the allegations by Human Rights Watch concerning the visit to China of the working group on arbitrary detention and the "whitewashing" of the group's report. Mr. Mills said as far as he knew the Commission had no plans along those lines.

Was there any reaction from the High Commissioner on the Secretary-General's decision to withdraw his Investigative Team from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and continue the inquiry from outside that country? asked another correspondent. Mr. Mills noted that although such a decision was being previewed in some detail in the media that the Secretary-General had not officially made a decision on the Team yet. It was likely the High Commissioner would have a response when the Secretary-General made his decision official.

The High Commissioner's points of view regarding the Team and the difficulties it faced had been made very clear in the two statements she had issued in the past weeks, he said in response to an additional question.

A correspondent said some diplomats had voiced concern that the Office of the High Commissioner was being "too friendly" with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and encouraging meetings like the one on Algeria, in which even admitted members of the FIS, an outlawed party in that country, had been present. Mr. Mills said he was puzzled by that comment. The High Commissioner's Office was committed to having constructive relationships and working partnerships with NGOs working on human rights issues. However the Office had not been involved in encouraging, setting up or otherwise playing a role in the meetings referred to by the correspondent. There had been dozens of meetings on the margins of the Commission organised by NGOs and others on various issues, including the situation in Algeria. But those were not meetings taking place under the auspices of the Office of the High Commissioner. He thought that the concern, to the extent it existed, could be misplaced.

He did not have a read-out at the moment on the meeting earlier this week between the High Commissioner and the Justice Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Mills said in reply to a question. One would see the High Commissioner's views on the situation in any statement she made in the event that the Secretary-General took a decision regarding the Investigative Team.