Welcome to the United Nations 
OHCHR 
Press releases CHR subsidiary body
SUBCOMMISSION ON PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION AND PROTECTION OF MINORITIES TO HOLD FIFTIETH SESSION IN GENEVA FROM 3 TO 28 AUGUST 1998
29 July 1998
Share
BACKGROUND RELEASE
HR/SC/98/1
29 July 1998
The Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, the Commission on Human Rights’ principal body of experts, will hold its fiftieth session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 3 to 28 August 1998.
Created by the Commission on Human Rights in 1947, the Subcommission is made up of 26 independent experts representing countries from the five regional groups. According to their mandate, the experts undertake studies and make recommendations to the Commission on Human Rights concerning the prevention of discrimination, the protection of the rights of minorities, plus in more general terms, the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
At its opening meeting on Monday, 3 August, the Subcommission will proceed to elect its chairperson, vice chairpersons and rapporteur.
According to the provisional agenda of the Subcommission, which has to be adopted at the opening of the session, the experts will examine issues concerning xenophobia and the situation of migrant workers; the human rights of indigenous peoples; the protection of minorities; the implementation of the human rights of women; contemporary forms of slavery; the administration of justice and human rights; and the realization of economic, social and cultural rights.
The Subcommission will also focus on the elimination of all forms of intolerance or discrimination based on religion or belief; terrorism; peace and security at the international level; arbitrary deprivation of nationality; and freedom of movement.
The experts will examine situations which reveal a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all countries. In order to avoid duplicating the work of the Commission on Human Rights, the Subcommission will not take measures with respect to human rights situations which the Commission is considering under its public procedures for human rights violations in specific countries and territories.
The Subcommission will consider, in closed session, communications which appear to reveal a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
During this session, the Subcommission will examine the reports it requested three of its members to prepare on the situation concerning systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during periods of armed conflict; treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between States and indigenous populations; and indigenous peoples and their relationship to land.
The body will also review new studies prepared by its experts on the relationship between the enjoyment of human rights and the working methods and activities of transnational corporations; the realization of the right to education; the right to access to drinkable water; affirmative action against racial discrimination; and a joint study with the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on the role of teaching, education, culture and information to combat prejudices which lead to racial discrimination.
Last year, the Subcommission appointed a Special Rapporteur to conduct a comprehensive study on terrorism and human rights. It also authorized a study in the context of human rights and humanitarian norms and on weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effect or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.
The Subcommission also requested a Special Rapporteur to submit a follow-up report on the situation regarding the elimination of traditional practices affecting the health of women and the girl child and it sought a supplementary report on the relationship between human rights and income distribution.
Three working groups created by the Subcommission will be presenting their reports. They are the Working Group on Minorities, created in 1996; the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, created in 1982; and the Working Group on
Contemporary Forms of Slavery, created in 1974 under the name of the Working Group on Slavery. The work and the report of the Subcommission’s fourth Working Group on Communications is confidential.
QUESTIONS TO BE EXAMINED DURING THE SESSION OF THE SUBCOMMISSION
Elimination of Racial Discrimination
The item concerning measures to combat racism and racial discrimination and the role of the Subcommission has been on the agenda since 1978. In 1994, the Subcommission decided that its agenda would annually include an item concerning a comprehensive examination of thematic issues relating to racism, xenophobia, minorities and migrant workers.
In 1996, the Subcommission decided to entrust two of its members, José Bengoa and Mustapha Mehedi, with the preparation of a joint working paper on article 7 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. This article obliges States parties to adopt immediate and effective measures, particularly in the fields of teaching, education, culture and information, with a view to combatting prejudices which lead to racial discrimination and to promoting understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations and racial or ethnical groups. This working paper will be presented this year (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/4).
Last year, the Subcommission entrusted one of its members, Marc Bossuyt, with the preparation of a working paper on the concept of affirmative action for submission under the present agenda item in order to enable it to take a decision at its fiftieth session on the feasibility of such a study (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/5).
The Subcommission also decided to continue to consider the question of the situation of migrant workers and members of their families.
Prevention of Discrimination Against and the Protection of Minorities
The Subcommission established in 1995 an inter-sessional working group to promote the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. The Working Group on Minorities, chaired by Asbjorn Eide, is the main forum for consideration and possible resolution of problems between minorities and Governments, as well as among minorities themselves, and it draws on the expertise of scholars, among others. It also recommends further measures, as appropriate, for the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. At this session, the Subcommission will have before it the report of the Working Group (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/18).
Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples
In 1982, the Subcommission established the Working Group on Indigenous Populations to review developments pertaining to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples. The Working Group also gives special attention to the evolution of standards concerning the rights of indigenous peoples, taking account of both the similarities and differences in the situations and aspirations of indigenous peoples throughout the world. On these issues, the Subcommission will have before it the report of the Working Group (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/16) which will be presented by its Chairman-Rapporteur, Erica-Irene A. Daes.
In 1990, the Subcommission entrusted Mrs. Daes with the preparation of a working paper on the question of the ownership and control of the cultural property of indigenous peoples. In 1995, she presented her final report on the Protection of the Heritage of Indigenous People. Last year, the Commission on Human Rights approved a recommendation to entrust Mrs. Daes with a continuing mandate to exchange information with all parts of the United Nations system involved in activities concerned with the heritage of indigenous people, with the purpose of facilitating cooperation and coordination and of promoting the full participation of indigenous people in those efforts.
Mrs. Daes was also appointed as Special Rapporteur to conduct a comprehensive study on the problem of recognition of and respect for indigenous land rights. She was asked to prepare a working paper on indigenous people and their relationship to land, suggesting practical measures to address ongoing problems in this regard. The Subcommission will consider the final working paper prepared by Mrs. Daes (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/15).
The Subcommission will also consider the final edition of a Study on Treaties, Agreements and Other Constructive Arrangements Between States and Indigenous Populations. The Special Rapporteur on this issue since 1987 has been Miguel Alfonso Martinez.
The Subcommission will examine other issues related to indigenous populations including the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations which assists representatives of indigenous communities and organizations to participate in the deliberations of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations by providing financial contributions; the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People; the International Day of Indigenous People (9 August); elaboration of a United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples; and the creation of a permanent forum within the United Nations for indigenous peoples, an issue now also being examined by a working group of the Commission on Human Rights.
Implementation of the Human Rights of Women
In 1984, the Subcommission decided to include in its agenda a sub-item on the prevention of discrimination and protection of women. Last year, it decided to consider more fully the implications of the Beijing Platform for Action for the work of the Subcommission in such areas as women and poverty, the role of women in global development and the promotion of human rights, as well as additional measures to combat violence against women, including trafficking in women.
It was in 1988 that the Subcommission requested Halima Embarek Warzazi to study recent developments with regard to traditional practices affecting the health of women and children. Last year, the Subcommission requested the Special Rapporteur to submit her follow-up report on the situation regarding traditional practices affecting the health of women and children in the framework of a Plan of Action (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/11).
The Subcommission will also examine the role and equal participation of women in development. It will have before it the most recent reports of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Contemporary Forms of Slavery
The Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery was created by the Subcommission in 1974 to review developments in the field of slavery and the slave trade in all their practices and manifestations, including the slavery-like practices of apartheid and colonialism, the traffic in persons and the exploitation of the prostitution of others. The Subcommission will have before it the report of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/14).
The Subcommission will also have before it, under this item, the final report on the situation of systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during the periods of armed conflict which was prepared by Gay McDougall (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13). The Subcommission started its consideration of this subject in 1996 after it appointed a Special Rapporteur to undertake an in-depth study of the situation.
The Subcommission is also considering the report of the Secretary-General on the elimination of the exploitation of child labour (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/12).
Situations of Violations of Human Rights
Under the item on the "Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including policies of racial discrimination and segregation and of apartheid, in all countries, with particular reference to colonial and other dependent countries and territories", the Commission on Human Rights in 1967 requested the Subcommission to prepare a report containing information on violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms from all available sources. The Commission invited the Subcommission to bring to its attention any situation which it had reasonable cause to believe revealed a consistent pattern of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any country.
As part of the process, the Subcommission gives attention to follow-up of decisions and resolutions which it had adopted the previous year and to decisions and resolutions in the field adopted by the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and the Commission on Human Rights on situations prevailing in various countries and territories. It has decided that to improve efficiency and to avoid duplication of work, it will not take action concerning situations of human rights that the Commission has acted on in public session.
Administration of Justice and the Human Rights of Detainees
The Subcommission created in 1981 a working group on the question of the human rights of detainees which was replaced in 1994 by the sessional Working Group on Administration of Justice and the Question of Compensation. The Working Group was charged the following year with continuing to examine the working document on the recognition as an international crime of flagrant and massive violations of human rights committed under the order of a Government or with Government sanction (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/29), and to transmit the document to the International Law Commission.
Under the same agenda item, the Subcommission considers the matter of human rights under states of emergency. The Subcommission has examined since 1977 the question of the application in certain countries of laws and regulations in such situations.
In addition, the Subcommission will focus on other issues related to the administration of justice, such as the application of international norms on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary and the independence of lawyers, the human rights of juvenile detainees, the privatization of prisons, the individualization of prosecution and penalties, and the right to due process of law.
Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Under this agenda item, the Subcommission will take up a supplementary report and a supplementary document prepared by José Bengoa, Special Rapporteur on the relationship between the enjoyment of human rights, in particular economic, social and cultural rights, and income distribution (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/8). The final report on the topic was presented last year (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/9)
There will be discussion of an updated study by Asbjorn Eide on the right to food (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/88) and a working document by El-Hadji Guissé on promotion of the right to access to drinking water and to sanitation services (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/7).
After several years’ discussion, the Subcommission will take up the subject of human rights and the working methods and activities of transnational corporations through review of a background document prepared by El-Hadji Guissé (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/6).
The right to education, including education in human rights, will be debated on the basis of a working paper prepared by Mustapha Mehedi. The paper’s purpose is to explain the content of the right to education, taking account, in particular, of its social dimension and the freedoms it includes; its dual character covering civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights; and to identify ways and means of promoting human rights education (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/10).
Other matters
Under an agenda item on “Review of further developments in fields with which the Subcommission has been or may be concerned,” the group will take up a note by the Secretary-General (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/20) on a number of topics. It also will discuss the recent activities of the International Labour Office (ILO) (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/21) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/22).
There also are scheduled discussions, as decided at the Subcommission’s forty-ninth session, on promotion of dialogue and cooperation in the field of human rights and commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A full meeting will be devoted to discussion of the Universal Declaration.
The Subcommission will review, as well, the topic of adverse consequences of economic sanctions on human rights; and will consider a note by the Secretariat on the topic of terrorism and human rights (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/24), following appointment by the Commission on Human Rights of Kalliopi K. Koufa as Special Rapporteur on the subject.
The Subcommission will also have before it a working paper by Clemencia Forero Ucros on the matter of the utility, scope and structure of a study on weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effect, or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/23).
There will also be a report of the Secretary-General presenting the observations of six bodies created pursuant to human-rights instruments on the subject of the preliminary conclusions of the International Law Commission on reservations to multilateral normative treaties, including human rights treaties (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/25); and the Subcommission will continue review of several topics that have concerned it in recent years, notably the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief; the protection of human rights in the context of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); human rights and scientific and technological progress; the effects on human rights of humanitarian activities; arbitrary deprivation of nationality; freedom of movement; and the promotion, protection, and reestablishment of human rights at national, regional, and international levels.
Communications Concerning Human Rights
This year, as at previous sessions, the Subcommission will consider complaints of abuses forwarded to it by its Working Group on Communications, which must first determine whether the allegations appear to reveal a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Under the terms of the confidential “1503 procedure”, named for the Economic and Social Council resolution that established it, the Subcommission considers at private meetings those communications in order to determine whether to refer them to the Commission.
Membership of the Subcommission
The members and alternates (*) of the Subcommission are Miguel Alfonso Martinez, *Marianela Ferriol Echevarria (Cuba); José Bengoa (Chile), *Alejandro Salinas Rivera; Marc Bossuyt, *Guy Genot (Belgium); Volodymyr Boutketvitch, *Oleg Shamshur (Ukraine); Erica-Irene A. Daes, *Kalliopi Koufa (Greece); Asbjorn Eide, *Jan Helgesen (Norway); Fan Guoxiang, *Zhong Shukong (China); Héctor Fix-Zamudio, *Alfonso Gomez-Robledo Veduzco (Mexico); Clemencia Forero Ucros, *Alberto Diaz Uribe (Colombia); Rajenda Kalidas Wimala Goonesekere, *Deepika Udagama (Sri Lanka); El-Hadji Guissé (Senegal); Francoise Jane Hampson, *Helena Cook (United Kingdom); Ribot Hatano, *Yozo Yokota (Japan); Louis Joinet, *Emmanuel Decaux (France); Ahmad Khalifa, *Ahmed Khalil (Egypt); Ioan Maxim, *Antoanella Iulia Motoc (Romania); Mustapha Mehedi (Algeria); Joseph Oloka-Onyango (Uganda); Sang Yong Park, *Myung Chul Hahm (Republic of Korea); Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, *Marilia S. Zelner Goncalves (Brazil); Teimuraz O. Ramishvili, *Vladimir Kartashkin
(Russian Federation); Yeung Kam Yeung Sik Yuen (Mauritius); Soli Jehangir Sorabjee (India); Halima Embarek Warzazi (Morocco); David Weissbrodt, *Gay J. McDougall (United States of America); and Fisseha Yimer (Ethiopia).
Working Groups and their Chairpersons
Working Group on Indigenous Populations
Erica-Irene A. Daes
Working Group on Minorities
Asbjorn Eide
Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
Halima Warzazi
Working Group on Communications
Fisseha Yimer
Subcommission Special Rapporteurs
Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples and their relation to their lands
Erica-Irene A. Daes
Special Rapporteur on treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between
States and indigenous populations
Miguel Alfonso Martinez
Special Rapporteur on the evolution of the situation concerning elimination of traditional
practices affecting the health of women and girl children
Halima Warzazi
Special Rapporteur on terrorism and human rights
Kalliopi K. Koufa
Special Rapporteur on the relationship between the enjoyment of human rights and income
distribution
José Bengoa
Expert entrusted with completion of report on systematic rape, sexual slavery and lavery-like
practices during armed conflict
Gay J. McDougall
Subcommission Members Asked to Prepare Studies
Common working paper on article 7 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (education against discrimination)
José Bengoa and Mustapha Mehedi (With two members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial discrimination)
Working paper on affirmative action on elimination of racial discrimination
Marc Bossuyt
Background document on the relation between human rights and the activities and working methods of transnational corporations
El-Hadji Guissé
Working paper assessing the utility, scope and structure of a study on weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effect, or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering
Clemencia Forero Ucros
Working paper on the right to education, particularly human rights education
Mustapha Mehedi
Working paper on the promotion of the right of access to drinking water and sanitation services
El-Hadji Guissé
Updated study on the right to food
Asbjorn Eide
Other mandates
Permanent mandate to exchange information with all elements of the United Nations system
having activities touching on the patrimony of indigenous peoples, with the aim of improving
cooperation and coordination and promoting the full participation of all such indigenous peoples in these efforts
Erica-Irene A. Daes
HR/SC/98/1
29 July 1998
The Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, the Commission on Human Rights’ principal body of experts, will hold its fiftieth session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 3 to 28 August 1998.
Created by the Commission on Human Rights in 1947, the Subcommission is made up of 26 independent experts representing countries from the five regional groups. According to their mandate, the experts undertake studies and make recommendations to the Commission on Human Rights concerning the prevention of discrimination, the protection of the rights of minorities, plus in more general terms, the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
At its opening meeting on Monday, 3 August, the Subcommission will proceed to elect its chairperson, vice chairpersons and rapporteur.
According to the provisional agenda of the Subcommission, which has to be adopted at the opening of the session, the experts will examine issues concerning xenophobia and the situation of migrant workers; the human rights of indigenous peoples; the protection of minorities; the implementation of the human rights of women; contemporary forms of slavery; the administration of justice and human rights; and the realization of economic, social and cultural rights.
The Subcommission will also focus on the elimination of all forms of intolerance or discrimination based on religion or belief; terrorism; peace and security at the international level; arbitrary deprivation of nationality; and freedom of movement.
The experts will examine situations which reveal a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all countries. In order to avoid duplicating the work of the Commission on Human Rights, the Subcommission will not take measures with respect to human rights situations which the Commission is considering under its public procedures for human rights violations in specific countries and territories.
The Subcommission will consider, in closed session, communications which appear to reveal a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
During this session, the Subcommission will examine the reports it requested three of its members to prepare on the situation concerning systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during periods of armed conflict; treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between States and indigenous populations; and indigenous peoples and their relationship to land.
The body will also review new studies prepared by its experts on the relationship between the enjoyment of human rights and the working methods and activities of transnational corporations; the realization of the right to education; the right to access to drinkable water; affirmative action against racial discrimination; and a joint study with the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on the role of teaching, education, culture and information to combat prejudices which lead to racial discrimination.
Last year, the Subcommission appointed a Special Rapporteur to conduct a comprehensive study on terrorism and human rights. It also authorized a study in the context of human rights and humanitarian norms and on weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effect or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.
The Subcommission also requested a Special Rapporteur to submit a follow-up report on the situation regarding the elimination of traditional practices affecting the health of women and the girl child and it sought a supplementary report on the relationship between human rights and income distribution.
Three working groups created by the Subcommission will be presenting their reports. They are the Working Group on Minorities, created in 1996; the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, created in 1982; and the Working Group on
Contemporary Forms of Slavery, created in 1974 under the name of the Working Group on Slavery. The work and the report of the Subcommission’s fourth Working Group on Communications is confidential.
QUESTIONS TO BE EXAMINED DURING THE SESSION OF THE SUBCOMMISSION
Elimination of Racial Discrimination
The item concerning measures to combat racism and racial discrimination and the role of the Subcommission has been on the agenda since 1978. In 1994, the Subcommission decided that its agenda would annually include an item concerning a comprehensive examination of thematic issues relating to racism, xenophobia, minorities and migrant workers.
In 1996, the Subcommission decided to entrust two of its members, José Bengoa and Mustapha Mehedi, with the preparation of a joint working paper on article 7 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. This article obliges States parties to adopt immediate and effective measures, particularly in the fields of teaching, education, culture and information, with a view to combatting prejudices which lead to racial discrimination and to promoting understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations and racial or ethnical groups. This working paper will be presented this year (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/4).
Last year, the Subcommission entrusted one of its members, Marc Bossuyt, with the preparation of a working paper on the concept of affirmative action for submission under the present agenda item in order to enable it to take a decision at its fiftieth session on the feasibility of such a study (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/5).
The Subcommission also decided to continue to consider the question of the situation of migrant workers and members of their families.
Prevention of Discrimination Against and the Protection of Minorities
The Subcommission established in 1995 an inter-sessional working group to promote the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. The Working Group on Minorities, chaired by Asbjorn Eide, is the main forum for consideration and possible resolution of problems between minorities and Governments, as well as among minorities themselves, and it draws on the expertise of scholars, among others. It also recommends further measures, as appropriate, for the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. At this session, the Subcommission will have before it the report of the Working Group (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/18).
Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples
In 1982, the Subcommission established the Working Group on Indigenous Populations to review developments pertaining to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples. The Working Group also gives special attention to the evolution of standards concerning the rights of indigenous peoples, taking account of both the similarities and differences in the situations and aspirations of indigenous peoples throughout the world. On these issues, the Subcommission will have before it the report of the Working Group (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/16) which will be presented by its Chairman-Rapporteur, Erica-Irene A. Daes.
In 1990, the Subcommission entrusted Mrs. Daes with the preparation of a working paper on the question of the ownership and control of the cultural property of indigenous peoples. In 1995, she presented her final report on the Protection of the Heritage of Indigenous People. Last year, the Commission on Human Rights approved a recommendation to entrust Mrs. Daes with a continuing mandate to exchange information with all parts of the United Nations system involved in activities concerned with the heritage of indigenous people, with the purpose of facilitating cooperation and coordination and of promoting the full participation of indigenous people in those efforts.
Mrs. Daes was also appointed as Special Rapporteur to conduct a comprehensive study on the problem of recognition of and respect for indigenous land rights. She was asked to prepare a working paper on indigenous people and their relationship to land, suggesting practical measures to address ongoing problems in this regard. The Subcommission will consider the final working paper prepared by Mrs. Daes (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/15).
The Subcommission will also consider the final edition of a Study on Treaties, Agreements and Other Constructive Arrangements Between States and Indigenous Populations. The Special Rapporteur on this issue since 1987 has been Miguel Alfonso Martinez.
The Subcommission will examine other issues related to indigenous populations including the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations which assists representatives of indigenous communities and organizations to participate in the deliberations of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations by providing financial contributions; the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People; the International Day of Indigenous People (9 August); elaboration of a United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples; and the creation of a permanent forum within the United Nations for indigenous peoples, an issue now also being examined by a working group of the Commission on Human Rights.
Implementation of the Human Rights of Women
In 1984, the Subcommission decided to include in its agenda a sub-item on the prevention of discrimination and protection of women. Last year, it decided to consider more fully the implications of the Beijing Platform for Action for the work of the Subcommission in such areas as women and poverty, the role of women in global development and the promotion of human rights, as well as additional measures to combat violence against women, including trafficking in women.
It was in 1988 that the Subcommission requested Halima Embarek Warzazi to study recent developments with regard to traditional practices affecting the health of women and children. Last year, the Subcommission requested the Special Rapporteur to submit her follow-up report on the situation regarding traditional practices affecting the health of women and children in the framework of a Plan of Action (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/11).
The Subcommission will also examine the role and equal participation of women in development. It will have before it the most recent reports of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Contemporary Forms of Slavery
The Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery was created by the Subcommission in 1974 to review developments in the field of slavery and the slave trade in all their practices and manifestations, including the slavery-like practices of apartheid and colonialism, the traffic in persons and the exploitation of the prostitution of others. The Subcommission will have before it the report of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/14).
The Subcommission will also have before it, under this item, the final report on the situation of systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during the periods of armed conflict which was prepared by Gay McDougall (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13). The Subcommission started its consideration of this subject in 1996 after it appointed a Special Rapporteur to undertake an in-depth study of the situation.
The Subcommission is also considering the report of the Secretary-General on the elimination of the exploitation of child labour (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/12).
Situations of Violations of Human Rights
Under the item on the "Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including policies of racial discrimination and segregation and of apartheid, in all countries, with particular reference to colonial and other dependent countries and territories", the Commission on Human Rights in 1967 requested the Subcommission to prepare a report containing information on violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms from all available sources. The Commission invited the Subcommission to bring to its attention any situation which it had reasonable cause to believe revealed a consistent pattern of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any country.
As part of the process, the Subcommission gives attention to follow-up of decisions and resolutions which it had adopted the previous year and to decisions and resolutions in the field adopted by the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and the Commission on Human Rights on situations prevailing in various countries and territories. It has decided that to improve efficiency and to avoid duplication of work, it will not take action concerning situations of human rights that the Commission has acted on in public session.
Administration of Justice and the Human Rights of Detainees
The Subcommission created in 1981 a working group on the question of the human rights of detainees which was replaced in 1994 by the sessional Working Group on Administration of Justice and the Question of Compensation. The Working Group was charged the following year with continuing to examine the working document on the recognition as an international crime of flagrant and massive violations of human rights committed under the order of a Government or with Government sanction (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/29), and to transmit the document to the International Law Commission.
Under the same agenda item, the Subcommission considers the matter of human rights under states of emergency. The Subcommission has examined since 1977 the question of the application in certain countries of laws and regulations in such situations.
In addition, the Subcommission will focus on other issues related to the administration of justice, such as the application of international norms on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary and the independence of lawyers, the human rights of juvenile detainees, the privatization of prisons, the individualization of prosecution and penalties, and the right to due process of law.
Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Under this agenda item, the Subcommission will take up a supplementary report and a supplementary document prepared by José Bengoa, Special Rapporteur on the relationship between the enjoyment of human rights, in particular economic, social and cultural rights, and income distribution (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/8). The final report on the topic was presented last year (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/9)
There will be discussion of an updated study by Asbjorn Eide on the right to food (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/88) and a working document by El-Hadji Guissé on promotion of the right to access to drinking water and to sanitation services (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/7).
After several years’ discussion, the Subcommission will take up the subject of human rights and the working methods and activities of transnational corporations through review of a background document prepared by El-Hadji Guissé (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/6).
The right to education, including education in human rights, will be debated on the basis of a working paper prepared by Mustapha Mehedi. The paper’s purpose is to explain the content of the right to education, taking account, in particular, of its social dimension and the freedoms it includes; its dual character covering civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights; and to identify ways and means of promoting human rights education (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/10).
Other matters
Under an agenda item on “Review of further developments in fields with which the Subcommission has been or may be concerned,” the group will take up a note by the Secretary-General (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/20) on a number of topics. It also will discuss the recent activities of the International Labour Office (ILO) (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/21) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/22).
There also are scheduled discussions, as decided at the Subcommission’s forty-ninth session, on promotion of dialogue and cooperation in the field of human rights and commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A full meeting will be devoted to discussion of the Universal Declaration.
The Subcommission will review, as well, the topic of adverse consequences of economic sanctions on human rights; and will consider a note by the Secretariat on the topic of terrorism and human rights (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/24), following appointment by the Commission on Human Rights of Kalliopi K. Koufa as Special Rapporteur on the subject.
The Subcommission will also have before it a working paper by Clemencia Forero Ucros on the matter of the utility, scope and structure of a study on weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effect, or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/23).
There will also be a report of the Secretary-General presenting the observations of six bodies created pursuant to human-rights instruments on the subject of the preliminary conclusions of the International Law Commission on reservations to multilateral normative treaties, including human rights treaties (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/25); and the Subcommission will continue review of several topics that have concerned it in recent years, notably the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief; the protection of human rights in the context of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); human rights and scientific and technological progress; the effects on human rights of humanitarian activities; arbitrary deprivation of nationality; freedom of movement; and the promotion, protection, and reestablishment of human rights at national, regional, and international levels.
Communications Concerning Human Rights
This year, as at previous sessions, the Subcommission will consider complaints of abuses forwarded to it by its Working Group on Communications, which must first determine whether the allegations appear to reveal a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Under the terms of the confidential “1503 procedure”, named for the Economic and Social Council resolution that established it, the Subcommission considers at private meetings those communications in order to determine whether to refer them to the Commission.
Membership of the Subcommission
The members and alternates (*) of the Subcommission are Miguel Alfonso Martinez, *Marianela Ferriol Echevarria (Cuba); José Bengoa (Chile), *Alejandro Salinas Rivera; Marc Bossuyt, *Guy Genot (Belgium); Volodymyr Boutketvitch, *Oleg Shamshur (Ukraine); Erica-Irene A. Daes, *Kalliopi Koufa (Greece); Asbjorn Eide, *Jan Helgesen (Norway); Fan Guoxiang, *Zhong Shukong (China); Héctor Fix-Zamudio, *Alfonso Gomez-Robledo Veduzco (Mexico); Clemencia Forero Ucros, *Alberto Diaz Uribe (Colombia); Rajenda Kalidas Wimala Goonesekere, *Deepika Udagama (Sri Lanka); El-Hadji Guissé (Senegal); Francoise Jane Hampson, *Helena Cook (United Kingdom); Ribot Hatano, *Yozo Yokota (Japan); Louis Joinet, *Emmanuel Decaux (France); Ahmad Khalifa, *Ahmed Khalil (Egypt); Ioan Maxim, *Antoanella Iulia Motoc (Romania); Mustapha Mehedi (Algeria); Joseph Oloka-Onyango (Uganda); Sang Yong Park, *Myung Chul Hahm (Republic of Korea); Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, *Marilia S. Zelner Goncalves (Brazil); Teimuraz O. Ramishvili, *Vladimir Kartashkin
(Russian Federation); Yeung Kam Yeung Sik Yuen (Mauritius); Soli Jehangir Sorabjee (India); Halima Embarek Warzazi (Morocco); David Weissbrodt, *Gay J. McDougall (United States of America); and Fisseha Yimer (Ethiopia).
Working Groups and their Chairpersons
Working Group on Indigenous Populations
Erica-Irene A. Daes
Working Group on Minorities
Asbjorn Eide
Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
Halima Warzazi
Working Group on Communications
Fisseha Yimer
Subcommission Special Rapporteurs
Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples and their relation to their lands
Erica-Irene A. Daes
Special Rapporteur on treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between
States and indigenous populations
Miguel Alfonso Martinez
Special Rapporteur on the evolution of the situation concerning elimination of traditional
practices affecting the health of women and girl children
Halima Warzazi
Special Rapporteur on terrorism and human rights
Kalliopi K. Koufa
Special Rapporteur on the relationship between the enjoyment of human rights and income
distribution
José Bengoa
Expert entrusted with completion of report on systematic rape, sexual slavery and lavery-like
practices during armed conflict
Gay J. McDougall
Subcommission Members Asked to Prepare Studies
Common working paper on article 7 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (education against discrimination)
José Bengoa and Mustapha Mehedi (With two members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial discrimination)
Working paper on affirmative action on elimination of racial discrimination
Marc Bossuyt
Background document on the relation between human rights and the activities and working methods of transnational corporations
El-Hadji Guissé
Working paper assessing the utility, scope and structure of a study on weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effect, or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering
Clemencia Forero Ucros
Working paper on the right to education, particularly human rights education
Mustapha Mehedi
Working paper on the promotion of the right of access to drinking water and sanitation services
El-Hadji Guissé
Updated study on the right to food
Asbjorn Eide
Other mandates
Permanent mandate to exchange information with all elements of the United Nations system
having activities touching on the patrimony of indigenous peoples, with the aim of improving
cooperation and coordination and promoting the full participation of all such indigenous peoples in these efforts
Erica-Irene A. Daes