SUBCOMMISSION ON PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZES WORKING PLANS FOR SESSION

MORNING
HR/SC/99/3

3 August 1999


The Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights decided this morning on a number of organizational arrangements for its four-week meeting, including replacing a sessional working group on the administration of justice with a working group on methods of work of the Subcommission.

Chairperson Ribot Hatano explained that the change would make it easier the Subcommission to continue and conclude work it had begun in 1997. Addressing the concerns of several fellow experts, Mr. Hatano stressed that the working group on the administration of justice was not being abolished. It would resurface again next year, he said.

Subcommission experts also elected members to its working groups on methods of work and transnational corporations. The working group on methods of work will consist of Marc Bossuyt, Expert from Belgium; Héctor Fix-Zamudio, Expert from Mexico; and Halima Embarek Warzazi, Expert from Morocco; Chairman Hatano, Expert from Japan; and Oleg Shamshur, alternate Expert from Ukraine.

The working group on transnational corporations will consist of Asbjorn Eide, Expert from Norway; Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Expert from Brazil; El-Hadji Guissé, Expert from Senegal; Zhong Shukong, alternate Expert from China; and Antoanella Iulia Motoc, alternate Expert from Romania.

Aside from discussing organizational matters, the Subcommission heard several statements eulogizing the recently assassinated human-rights advocate Neelan Thiruchelvam of Sri Lanka.

The working group on transnational corporations will meet Tuesday afternoon in closed session. The entire Subcommission will reconvene on Wednesday morning to begin a discussion on the question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in all countries.


Statements

HEWA S. PALIHAKKARA (Sri Lanka) said there should be an acknowledgement of the feelings expressed by the Subcommission, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and others on the tragic death of an eminent son of Sri Lanka -- Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam. Neelan was not only an intellect of renown, but passionately believed in and single-mindedly worked towards a peaceful solution to the ethnic issues in Sri Lanka. He earned national and international admiration for that and persevered in the task until he made the supreme sacrifice a few days ago.

The Sri Lanka delegation was grateful as well for feelings of solidarity expressed on the occasion of yet another horrendous terrorist act committed by the LTTE. It was an act which attracted instant and unqualified world-wide condemnation for its perpetrators, the LTTE. It was ironic that Neelan was murdered in the most brutal fashion as he was leaving home for his daily work as a human-rights defender. An ardent campaigner against the death penalty and a true believer and practitioner of non-violence, it was only some weeks ago Neelan had said in Parliament that death could not be glorified whether in the battlefield or otherwise. The tragic loss brought into sharper focus the immense dangers posed to human-rights defenders by ruthless terrorist groups such as the LTTE. It was also a poignant reminder to fora such as the Subcommission that supporters of this terrorist group masquerading as accredited representatives were propagating falsehoods and distributing documents with forged signatures in order to cover up dastardly acts such as the murder of human-rights defenders and peacemakers.

PAMELA HOLMES (United States) said Neelan Thiruchelvam was a great defender of human rights, and his contributions had been recognized by the United States Government. His death was regretted, and the actions of the LTTE condemned. A peaceful means of pursuing their political ends should be sought, and the United States had advocated this many times in the past. Mr. Thiruchelvam had been a teacher, and the United States shared the sense of loss of his friends and family.

RAJENDA KALIDAS WIMALA GOONESEKERE, Subcommission Expert from Sri Lanka, said many of the Subcommission knew Neelan very well, and respected his intellect, ability and good nature. He had known Neelan for a long time. His death had left him completely shattered. Neelan was a brilliant thinker who engaged himself in non-aggressive, accommodating fashion, and his murder was the murder of the principles for which he stood. He was never an aggressive man. His loss was a great loss to the human-rights community. This was not the destruction of a man, this was the destruction of an entire family. It should not be tolerated in a civilized society.