Sub-Commission hears introductions to reports on contemporary forms of slavery, use of small firearms

Sub-Commission on the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights
55th session
4 August 2003
Morning






The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights this morning heard introductions to reports on contemporary forms of slavery and the use of small firearms under its debate on agenda item 6 on specific human rights issues: women and human rights; contemporary forms of slavery; and new priorities, in particular terrorism.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Sub-Commission Expert and Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on contemporary forms of slavery, said that the Working Group considered that slavery, in all its forms and practices, was a crime against humanity and that any acquiescence by a State in such practices, irrespective of whether it had acceded to the conventions on slavery or any other relevant conventions, constituted a grave violation of basic human rights. A review of the information provided to the Working Group had shown that serious forms of slavery still existed and new insidious forms of slavery were emerging. The Group had considered as a matter of priority the question of contemporary forms of slavery relating to and generated by discrimination, in particular gender discrimination, with a focus on forced marriages and early marriages.

Barbara Frey, Sub-Commission Expert and Special Rapporteur on the prevention of human rights violations committed with small arms and light weapons, said that the availability and misuse of small arms had dramatic consequences; and a flood of small arms into a community could shift the entire balance of power there and destroy the rule of law. There were an estimated 640 million small arms in the world, a number that did not include the estimated 230-245 million stockpiled landmines. While the proliferation of small arms was not an entirely new phenomenon, in the era of globalization, there were definitely more firearms getting in the hands of more people with fewer restraints, she said.

Many Experts spoke on both issues, expressing their concerns and praise and, among other things, proposing the implementation of national norms to combat all forms of contemporary forms slavery and the setting up of an international mechanism to effectively control the use of firearms and light weapons, and their transfer.
Participating in the debate were Sub-Commission Experts or Alternates Antoanella-Iulia Motoc, David Weissbrodt, El Hadji Guisse, Francoise Jane Hampson, Florizelle O’Connor, Leila Zerrougui, Yozo Yokota, Asbjorn Eide, Christy Eyim Mbonu, Oleg S. Malguinov, Emmanuel Decaux, Chen Shiqiu, Soo Gil Park and Miguel Alfonso Martinez.

The representative of Union nationale de la femme tunisienne also took the floor.

When the Sub-Commission reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will continue its debate on item 6.


Documents

Under the agenda item on specific human rights issues: women and human rights; contemporary forms of slavery; and new priorities, in particular terrorism, the Sub-Commission has before it a report of the Working Group on contemporary forms of slavery on its twenty-eighth session (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/31) by its Chairperson-Rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro. The report contains information on the organization of the session; contemporary forms of slavery related to and generated by discrimination, in particular gender discrimination (such as forced marriage, child marriage, and sales of wives); review of the implementation and follow-up to the conventions on slavery; review of developments in measures to prevent and repress all forms of slavery; activities of the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery; as well as recommendations. The report makes recommendations on general issues; contemporary forms of slavery related to and generated by gender discrimination; trafficking, prostitution and exploitation; support, assistance and protection of victims; bonded labour and debt bondage; elimination of forced labour and child labour; migrant and domestic migrant workers; sexual exploitation of children and recommendations to the Special Rapporteur on this subject; as well as sections on corruption and the misuse of the Internet.

There is a preliminary report submitted by Barbara Frey on the prevention of human rights violations committed with small arms and light weapons (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/29). The report develops the broad parameters for the legal and practical issues involved in the prevention of human rights violations with small arms and light weapons. It develops the analysis adopted by the Special Rapporteur in her working paper regarding the role of international human rights laws and procedures in preventing human rights violations committed with small arms and light weapons. The paper first defines the use of terms, including small arms, misuse, armed individuals and groups, and transfers. The paper then briefly reviews the direct and indirect human rights impact of the availability, misuse and transfer of small arms and light weapons. Then it discusses a basic human rights law analysis of several different categories of violations with small arms and light weapons. Finally, the report suggests some recommendations and proposes areas for further development.

There is a working paper by Y.K.J.Yeung Sik Yuen on human rights and weapons of mass destruction, or with indiscriminate effect, or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/35). Part I of the updated paper recalls the undisputed principles of humanitarian law and the four established humanitarian law principles by which weapons are to be considered banned. Part II of the updated paper deals with new information concerning the use and effects of depleted uranium; nuclear weapons, including the adoption of a bill in 2003 by a committee of the United States Senate authorizing the development of “mini-nukes”; cluster-bombs and landmines; and directed energy weapons. The paper recommends that the Sub-Commission call for a new environmental assessment of Afghanistan, with special reference to examining the effects of the weaponry deployed in the recent war. The Sub-Commission must also encourage scientific assessments of the effects of the use of fuel-air bombs, “bunker busters” and “mini-nukes” and directed energy weapons. The Sub-Commission should consider requesting the High Commissioner to submit a paper to its next session on progress achieved in these areas.


Statements

ANTOANELLA-IULIA MOTOC, Sub-Commission Expert, responded to the presentation given by Sub-Commission Expert Emmanuel Decaux last week and said the topic itself was broad -- treaties ratified by States and the reasons why certain conventions had not been ratified by States. Some could be domestic reasons, and other reasons could relate to the international context. It was however important to press on, since many States had not ratified a number of the human rights conventions. Concerning the effectiveness of some treaties, one needed to deal both with juridical and sociological issues. Research had been undertaken on the time when the conventions were ratified and it had then been followed by human rights violations. It had to be noted that sometimes the ratification of conventions or treaties was more of a strategic move on the part of States than the manifestation of commitment to protect and promote human rights. Human rights were provided for by treaties, but were also provided for under customary law. One problem was reservations to human rights treaties. It was therefore important that Mr. Decaux dealt with some of these issues in his future reports.

PAULO SERGIO PINHEIRO, Sub-Commission Expert and Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on contemporary forms of slavery, said that the standards for the observations of the Working Group on contemporary forms of slavery had already been set forth, and what remained was their implementation. During the discussion on forced marriages and child marriages, it was asserted that gender inequality, lack of a culture of education of girls, and lack of self-esteem of girls were conducive to their perpetuation. Some participants noted that gender inequality started even before birth, with sex selection of fetuses. Only a few of the UN agencies were interested in the work of the Working Group. However, the International Labour Office had collaborated with the Working Group in the areas of child labour, domestic workers and sexual exploitation.

It was proposed that the Working Group review conventions other than the slavery conventions, in particular the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Protocol); and that the Group take up one of its previous recommendations that protocols be drafted to update the conventions.

The Working Group considered that slavery, in all its forms and practices, was a crime against humanity and that any acquiescence by a State in such practices, irrespective of whether it had acceded to the conventions on slavery or any other relevant conventions, constituted a grave violation of basic human rights. A review of the information provided to the Working Group had shown that serious forms of slavery still existed and new insidious forms of slavery were emerging. The Group had considered as a matter of priority the question of contemporary forms of slavery relating to and generated by discrimination, in particular gender discrimination, with a focus on forced marriages and early marriages.

DAVID WEISSBRODT, Sub-Commission Expert, said his presentation responded to the comments made by the Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights concerning women, as well as the report of the Working Group on contemporary forms of slavery. It was estimated that 42 million people were living with HIV/AIDS, and in many parts of the world, the highest rates of infection were amongst young women. Less than one in five persons affected had access to basic HIV treatment programmes. Denied affordable treatment, they would suffer early deaths, although the drugs they needed to continue useful lives were available to inhabitants of wealthier countries. The availability of AIDS medicines to all those infected had been a major concern at the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in Doha in November 2001. Two years later, the significant progress made had been undermined. The United States and the European Union had opposed the Doha Declaration. Their principal excuse had been the assertions that the patent exception rule would lead to the distribution of generic medicines for non-infectious diseases and even to calls for a generic form of Viagra to treat male sexual impotence. The important objectives of the Doha Declaration should be reaffirmed at the upcoming Cancun meeting in September for the sake of people infected with and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, so that such an apparently trivial dispute was quickly resolved and the Declaration was promptly implemented.

HIV/AIDS was contributing to regional and global insecurity by undermining development efforts – particularly in the poorest countries. The disease perpetuated poverty through work loss, school dropout, decreased financial investment, and increased social instability. What had evolved was a complex system of mutually reinforcing negative forces between AIDS and poverty that threatened to reverse invaluable achievements of development and human rights. In addition, women were often infected with HIV after being subjected to human rights abuses. Aside from rape in armed conflict, the rapid spread of the HIV virus was facilitated by the unwillingness of many governments to support preventive education relative to HIV/AIDS; to publicly discuss sexual and reproductive health or to acknowledge the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people, sex workers, drug users and adolescents. Economically, the financial or material dependence of women upon men often meant that women could not control when, with whom, and in what circumstances they had sex. Governments and non-governmental organizations must give priority to both formal and informal educational programmes that enabled women to develop self-esteem, acquire knowledge, make decisions on, and take responsibility for their own sexual health. Young men must also be educated to respect women’s self-determination and to share responsibility with women in matters of sexuality and reproduction. In conclusion, the social development, human rights and health consequences of the pandemic needed to be seen from a gender perspective.

Aziza HTIRA, of the Union Nationale de la Femme Tunisienne, said the realisation of the principle of the universality of human rights inevitably passed through equality between the sexes. To eliminate all forms of discrimination and certain practices at the heart of violence against women, there was a need to cause a change in behaviour and to elaborate adequate sensibilisation and information programmes that advocated change whilst upholding the respect of local traditions and taking into consideration the socio-cultural dimensions of the phenomenon. It was time to remedy the deep-reaching causes of violence, in particular the economic, social and political conditions of women which stopped them from knowing their rights and exploiting the possibilities that these rights allowed for. In the light of the international situation, there was a need to prioritise the protection of the human rights of women in times of war and conflict.

EL HADJI GUISSE, Sub-Commission Expert, speaking on debt, poverty and women, said that the external debt servicing by African countries had resulted in the collapse of their national economies. The worsening situation of the economy had badly affected large segments of the societies. The debt servicing had particularly affected women’s living conditions, and their poverty situation had been aggravated. The situation of women required the cancellation of the external debt, which was obtained by some countries, thanks to their resistance not to reimburse the external debt. Many African countries were experiencing the vicious circle of debt problems since the 1980s because of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which had imposed programmes of structural adjustment on those countries.

The conditions imposed by IMF and the World Bank did not match with the problems in the ground. The expenditures on social affairs were literally cut down, prompting the aggravation of the poverty situation. Women, in particular, were subjected to poverty and exodus due to the implementation of policies that did not improve their living conditions. Adjustment policies were not aimed at establishing equality between men and women. The system of education victimized the girl child. In general, women were trapped by the policies designed by the authorities and were unable to bear the economic burden. Special attention should be paid to girls’ education. Programmes to ameliorate the conditions of women should be sustained. The review in agriculture policies and investment programmes were areas which should be implemented to improve the food crises that affected millions of people. The reform programmes adopted by many African countries did not improve the living conditions of their people because of the seriousness of the debt burden.

FRANÇOISE JANE HAMPSON, Sub-Commission Expert, thanked the Secretariat for the report on systematic rape and sexual slavery during armed conflict. The Working Group on the administration of justice was working on this issue and would be setting up guidelines with regard to punishment at both domestic and international levels.

BARBARA FREY, Sub-Commission Expert, introduced her preliminary report on the prevention of human rights violations committed with small arms and light weapons. The report was built on the working paper presented at the last session as well as the helpful comments and insights made about the issue by Sub-Commission Experts. The availability and misuse of small arms in communities had dramatic consequences. A flood of small arms into a community could shift the entire balance of power there and destroy the rule of law. There were an estimated 640 million small arms in the world, a number that did not include the estimated 230-245 million stockpiled landmines. While the proliferation of small arms was not an entirely new phenomenon, in the era of globalization, there were definitely more firearms getting in the hands of more people with fewer restraints. Small arms had become the tools of choice in facilitating or executing widespread human rights violations. At the top of the list of violations were arbitrary and summary killings, and massacres, but small arms were also used to facilitate rape, enforced disappearances, torture, forced displacement and forced recruitment of child soldiers, to name a few violations.

In the preliminary report, she had developed further the legal analysis set forth in last year’s working paper, including misuse by States agents; misuse by armed individuals and groups when the State failed to exercise due diligence; and the transfer of arms with knowledge that they were likely to be used to commit serious violations. In future reports, she intended to examine further the consequences of these violations as well as to address the other categories raised in her working paper, including the misuse of small arms in situations of armed conflict. The report recommended that a necessary first step toward clarifying human rights obligations applicable to State officials with regard to small arms would be to draft model human right principles that addressed the training, operational planning and investigation of the use of small arms by law enforcement officials. The report also recommended that the human rights community make a contribution to the discussion on small arms by proposing some core principles on State responsibility for preventing and investigating human rights violations caused by armed individuals and groups.

EL HADJI GUISSE, Sub-Commission Expert, said that in his continent, the most well known person was Mr. Kalashnikov, the creator of this weapon and a man who was the source of utmost suffering. The manufacturing countries of the North were responsible for this suffering. The five permanent members of the Security Council were the largest manufacturers of weapons and profited from inciting people in his countries to kill one another. Why was the public opinion that spoke on trade issues remaining silent on this mass industry of destruction? The United Nations had even entered into this mentality, having forgotten that to help a Bosnian refugee, one needed $ 18 dollars, as opposed to the one dollar needed to help African refugee. All children were on the battlefield in their continents, having been retrograded to the level of savages. They were not responsible, the countries of the North, the manufacturers and the pushers of weapons, were the culprits.

FRANÇOISE JANE HAMPSON, Sub-Commission Expert, speaking on the issue of due diligence, said that protective measures had been taken in some cases in Europe. Training should be given to the police and other security forces. The issuance of guidelines to the holders of arms was not enough; and more stress should be made on their training. The issue of due diligence and transfer of arms should be explored further. An international legal norm should be set to control the transfer of arms. The scope of responsibilities of States should be strengthened.

PAULO SERGIO PINHEIRO, Sub-Commission Expert, said the report addressed a subject of basic importance for human rights. It was not his intention to engage in polemics with Mr. El Hadji Guisse, however one could not attribute all the problems caused by weapons to the northern countries. He would not refer to any country since experts were not to refer to matters of their countries of origin. Therefore, in Latin America as a region, the easy access to small arms whereby children were lured into drug trafficking, were related to the responsibility of the local elites and their failure to govern their regions properly. There was therefore a need to move from monitoring to regulating the easy access to weapons. As far as Latin America was concerned, responsibility was a local matter. The South also had to show its responsibility to the weapons in circulation.

FLORIZELLE O’CONNOR, Sub-Commission Expert, said that many island countries were much affected by small firearms that were distributed by the actors of the Cold War with the aim of supporting one group against the other. Small arms were not the products of the developing countries but they were all imported from the countries that produced them – the developed countries. All firearms were introduced in the small islands by the neighbouring developed countries. Crimes and abuses of weapons had been enhanced due to firearms held by civilians. Each country should design appropriate measures to tackle the problem of small arms. The use of weapons should be regulated by all legal means in order to reduce the criminal activities involving the use of firearms.

YOZO YOKOTA, Sub-Commission Expert, said it was the individuals who used or misused weapons who killed others. However, easy availability of small and light weapons created armed conflicts and small dispute more prone to death, injuries and suffering, particularly among children. Japan was known for a low crime level, particularly murder. Unfortunately, the situation in Japan was changing as the policy was experiencing difficulties in controlling the proliferation of weapons. It was hoped that not only Japan, but the entire world, would become a safer place. Domestic as well as international regulations needed to be strengthened in this regard. Ms. Frey must continue her research in this area and address both domestic and international control-systems. On new priorities, newspapers in Japan had stated last year that a resolution adopted during the last session had been targeting a special country without naming it. The Sub-Commission had not adopted any country-specific not thematic resolution which had targeted a specific country. This was a serious matter since the articles gave a misleading idea of the work of the Sub-Commission and the newspapers had ignored an official letter from the Sub-Commission on this matter. The role of the media in human rights could therefore be addressed by the Sub-Commission, particularly within the topic of new priorities within human rights.

El HADJI GUISSE, Sub-Commission Expert, said that in his previous intervention, he referred to African countries as a whole and did not mention any single country by name. The African countries were users and manufacturers of the firearms and they were not held responsible for manufacturing them. The responsibilities of the African countries were secondary.

LEILA ZERROUGUI, Sub-Commission Expert, said it seemed that the report of Emmanuel Decaux was a very topical study that must be continued by focusing on the universality of human rights treaties and non-derogable rights. Such a study would also supplement the current work of Francoise Jane Hampson. On Ms. Frey’s report, it was important that a study on the misuse of small weapons focused both on those who violated human rights through the use of small arms and those who transferred weapons to States where such human rights violations were ongoing. There was complicity between the manufacturers, those in charge of transfers and users of small arms and light weapons. It was also important to address issues related to mercenaries or private corporations responsible for human rights violations. Such a study could assist in making every actor shoulder its responsibilities for the human rights violations resulting from the misuse of small weapons and light arms.

ASBJØRN EIDE, Sub-Commission Expert, said that with regard to firearms, it was essential to set forth a mechanism for the effective international monitoring of the use of firearms. Some State might not have the time to implement the regulations set forth concerning firearms because they were busy in strengthening their power. The situation of firearms transfer and their misuse by States and non-state actor should be considered. There was also a need for the training of the state agents applying the effective control of firearms. The international control should be mandatory and respected by all States. The impact of ratification of the convention concerning arms should be effective. Something serious should be done with regard to firearms, in addition to those carried out by some of the Sub-Commission Experts.

CHRISTY EZIM MBONU, Sub-Commission Expert, said that in many developing countries children had pistols in their lunch boxes, just as there were such incidents in developed countries. It would therefore be important to look at the effect on children of being exposed to such violence, as well as the role of manufacturers in the misuse of small arms. Concerning due diligence and the report expressing the need to hold the State accountable, one needed to include situations where terrorist groups or rebel forces were responsible for human rights violations. In such situations, the State could not be held responsible. With regard to this issue, the priority, however, must be to address the manufacturers of small weapons and aim to include a human rights perspective to their solely profit-oriented business.

OLEG S. MALGUINOV, Alternate Sub-Commission Expert, said that the issue of small firearms had been given close scrutiny. It was not the existence of the small firearms that mattered but their misuse. Firearms were misused because of the lack of a strong law prohibiting their misuse. A small quantity of arms could be at the origin of a great disaster. The use of arms, as it was fit to do, had become normal in many countries that had possessed them for years. The misuse of arms by State actors should be given a thought. A proportional response at the national level should be provided. Concerning the report of the Working Group on contemporary forms of slavery, the report had been very suggestive and the work had been well done.

FRANÇOISE JANE HAMPSON, Sub-Commission Expert, commented on the working paper submitted Mr. Yueng Sik Yuen on human rights and weapons of mass destruction, or with indiscriminate effect, or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering, and said that a study that took account of the legal framework could, amongst other things, provide useful arguments for those raising weapon-related issues before human rights tribunals or before domestic courts which could entertain such arguments. However, in order for such a study to be useful, it must be factually accurate and intellectually rigorous. This study was one-sided as evidenced in the sections on the effects of depleted uranium. Sometimes the one-sidedness even led to the omission of useful material. The factual part of the report failed to acknowledge or comment on negotiations currently underway on such weapons. It also failed to comment on genetic weapons. Legally, many resources were ignored. One could not ignore court cases, just because one did not like the result. There was no reference to existing human rights law, or to academic writing on legal regimes. The terminology also seemed confused, such as the manner in which he defined the weapons of mass destruction, including the description of cluster-bombs as inherently indiscriminate. The argument needed to be made in this case, rather then leaving such issues and descriptions as self-evident. The subject was appropriate to the Sub-Commission if it was expanded, and included a well founded legal analysis.

EMMANUEL DECAUX, Sub-Commission Expert, referring to the working paper submitted by Y.K.J. Yeung Sik Yuen on “human rights and weapons of mass destruction, or with indiscriminate effect, or a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering”, said that the work of the Sub-Commission was collective and that an individual who was not member could not contribute to that end. On the issue of nuclear weapons, the Sub-Commission was not competent to deal with the issue, as it was a case for the Conference on Disarmament. The work of the former Sub-Commission Expert Sik Yuen should be pursued by an actual member of the Sub-Commission.

SHIQIU CHEN, Sub-Commission Expert, said that the report followed closely the international weapons development, a point which much be affirmed. With the rapid development of technology, weapons of mass destruction had reached unprecedented levels. The development and use of these weapons had posed threats to peace and security and the right to life of human beings. The use of weapons of mass destruction must pass the test of the four principles. If they did not pass these principles, the weapons in question must be banned. The report also stressed that weapons of mass destruction must be comprehensively banned whether countries were parties to treaties or not, representing the views of the Sub-Commission and the entire human community. Weapons of mass destruction were the cruelest forms of disasters. The Sub-Commission must support the proposal of the Special Rapporteur that the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP and the World Health Organization WHO conduct an investigation on the use of depleted uranium in Afghanistan and Iraq.

ASBJØRN EIDE, Sub-Commission Expert, said that the work done by Mr. Yueng Sik Yeun was important from the human rights point of view. However, the legal analysis should be improved, and the work should be relayed by one of the members of the Sub-Commission.

SOO GIL PARK, Sub-Commission Expert, said there was a lack of analysis on the potential of the use of non-State actors of weapons of mass destruction. The author had acquired his information on the effects of weapons of mass destruction and depleted uranium from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It would be useful if the factual aspects were drawn from more scientific sources. On Ms. Frey’s report, it was a well-presented follow-up, however he was not sure about the efficacy of the possible steps mentioned by her on the role of the international community.

BARBARA FREY, Sub-Commission Expert, said that the issue of small arms posed problems. The number of actors, including States, non-States and insurgents had made it difficult to assess the situation. She appreciated the passion involved in the debate on the issue of small firearms. She invited all participants to contribute to her work with patience.




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