Human Rights Council concludes interactive dialogue on enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and internally displaced persons

MORNING

8 March 2011

High Commissioner for Human Rights Commemorates International Women’s Day

The Human Rights Council this morning concluded its clustered interactive dialogue with Jeremy Sarkin, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances, El Hadji Malick Sow, Chairperson of the Working Group on arbitrary detention, and Chaloka Beyani, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons. The Council also heard a statement from United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay in commemoration of International Women’s Day.

In her statement, the High Commissioner reaffirmed that norms and principles of gender equality and non-discrimination were at the core of all fundamental human rights treaties. In addition to legally binding standards, States had made explicit commitments under the Beijing Platform of Action of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, which recognized education as a basic human right and an essential tool for achieving more equal relations between men and women. States had also agreed to promote gender equality and empower women, as well as work towards the elimination of gender disparity in primary and secondary education. In this regard, when measured in enrollment figures, gender disparity in primary education had decreased globally in the last decade. However, the world was still far from full compliance with its legal obligations and political commitments. At present, more than 55 million girls worldwide received no formal schooling whatsoever and in the least developed countries, women were 30 percent less likely to be literate than men.

In concluding remarks, Mr. Sarkin said the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances would like to thank the States which had cooperated with it and urged other States to increase their cooperation with the Working Group. Eighty-eight States had signed the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and 22 had ratified it and a number of other States had said they would sign it, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. More work needed to be done to ensure the norms and standards in the Convention would be incorporated domestically and the Working Group was gratified that a number of States had reviewed their criminal law and it urged States to implement an autonomous law on enforced disappearance and to create detained registers.

Mr. Sow, in final remarks, said the only substantive criticizing comment concerning the report of the Working Group was that of Venezuela concerning the case of Judge Afiuni. The Chairperson invited Venezuela to re-discuss this issue at the next session of the Working Group, which would facilitate finding a solution. All other comments from delegations which took the floor were encouraging. There were no cases of reprisals against persons which cooperated with the Working Group on arbitrary detention during their country visits, apart from those already reported. The Chairperson asked for the support of the Council to obtain from the Government of Thailand an invitation for the visit to this country.

Mr. Beyani, in concluding remarks, said the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement were elaborated by the Commission on Human Rights and what they did was synthesise the prescriptions of international law and international humanitarian law with regard to protection of internally displaced persons, to which States had already agreed. The resolution of the Human Rights Council creating this mandate recognised the Guiding Principles and encouraged States and other actors to work together in their implementation. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur also requested the mandate holder to ensure the implementation of the Guiding Principles. The role of the Special Rapporteur was to make sure that internally displaced persons issues were part of the humanitarian response, and that response was human rights-based.

Speaking in the interactive dialogue on enforced or involuntary disappearances, arbitrary detention and internally displaced persons were Honduras, Belarus, Venezuela and Congo. The International Organization of La Francophonie also took the floor.

The following national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations also took the floor: National Council of Human Rights of Morocco, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, Federation of Cuban Women, Colombian Commission of Jurists, Badil Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, International Commission of Jurists, Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, International Association for Democracy in Africa, Asian Legal Resources Centre, Human Rights Watch, and Forum Asia.

The Council today is holding a full day of meetings from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. In the midday meeting, it will hold a clustered interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteurs on the right to food and on the right to adequate housing.

Statement by High Commissioner for Human Rights in Commemoration of International Women’s Day

NAVI PILLAY, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, addressing the Human Rights Council on the occasion of International Women’s Day, said the current upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa aptly illustrated the disconnect between the availability of education and access to employment and social justice. At the core of the recent uprisings were the frustration of many educated young women and men over lack of jobs and the denial of fundamental rights and freedoms. Moreover, it was not surprising that women had played a key role in the protest movements and were at the forefront of the demonstrations. These women knew they were the ones who stood to stuffer most from the perpetuation of the status quo. The High Commissioner added that the courage and determination of these women should act as a source of inspiration for everyone. Finally, she underlined the importance of education, which needed to be more inclusive and accessible to girls and boys, both in law and in practice.

The High Commissioner reaffirmed that norms and principles of gender equality and non-discrimination were at the core of all fundamental human rights treaties. In addition to legally binding standards, States had made explicit commitments under the Beijing Platform of Action of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, which recognized education as a basic human right and an essential tool for achieving more equal relations between men and women. States had also agreed to promote gender equality and empower women, as well as work towards the elimination of gender disparity in primary and secondary education. In this regard, when measured in enrollment figures, gender disparity in primary education had decreased globally in the last decade. However, the world was still far from full compliance with its legal obligations and political commitments. At present, more than fifty-five million girls worldwide received no formal schooling whatsoever and in the least developed countries, women were thirty percent less likely to be literate than men. The High Commissioner also highlighted the importance of the availability, accessibility and acceptability of education for girls. Education needed to be flexible and tailored to the needs of female students, particularly in changing societies where girls and women were breaking gender stereotypes and were pressing forward to take full part in public, professional and public life. In conclusion, the High Commissioner urged all Members of the Council to stand in solidarity with women all over the world who were working for positive change in their families, their communities and in their countries.

Interactive Debate with Mandate Holders on Enforced Disappearances, Arbitrary Detention and Internally Displaced Persons

ROBERTO FLORES BERMUDEZ (Honduras) said that cases of enforced disappearances in Honduras had mainly occurred between 1981 and 1984. Many of those cases had been solved but there were still some pending. With this regard, Honduras had welcomed the visit of the Working Group on forced disappearances in 2007 and noted with satisfaction the help and assistance provided by the Working Group on this issue. Honduras was implementing the recommendations of the Working Group and had signed and ratified the Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances. At the moment Honduras was continuing the reform of the Penal Code and the addition of enforced disappearances to the list of crimes. Honduras had committed itself to guaranteeing and protecting the human rights of its population, in line with the Constitution and its international obligations.

ANDREI TARANDA (Belarus) said that Belarus supported and welcomed investigating reports on arbitrary detention in the combat against terrorism and this should remain the focus of particular attention of the Working Group. Belarus welcomed the European Union’s desire to investigate instances of secret detentions in European countries. Belarus advocated a more critical approach of the Working Group to the information it received regarding the reliability and objectivity of sources and it strongly voiced its disagreement with Special Procedures reference to Belarus in their statement and emphasized that Special Procedures should comply with the code of conduct in their interactions with States which should be based on equality.

RIDHA BOUABIB, of the International Organization of La Francophonie, thanked the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and on enforced or involuntary disappearances for their respective reports. The International Organization of La Francophonie would concentrate their statement on the work of the latter and thanked the Working Group for its investigations of cases of disappearances. The number of requests that the Working Group received each year reflected the high numbers of cases of disappearances. The International Organization welcomed the recent entry into force of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance which allowed families of the victims to exercise their right to truth and justice. The Convention’s Committee should be a genuine committee and all States should ensure the effective functioning of this mechanism. In conclusion, the International Organization of La Francophonie recalled the commitment taken by States in October last year to pursue the ratification of their international instrument for the promotion and protection of human rights in their domestic law and to mobilize more strongly in favour of the fight against impunity and human rights violations.

EDGARDO TORO CARRENO (Venezuela) said that once again Venezuela had to refer to serious incongruence in the report of the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the references made in the report on the case of former Judge Afiuni. Venezuela called the attention of the Council to its communication regarding the case of Judge Afiuni. The Opinion of the Advisory Group did not include the explanations communicated by the Venezuelan Government regarding this person. This left no doubt in anyone mind’s that this was a case of reprisal. Venezuela regretted the partiality of the report of the Working Group. The Government of Venezuela recommended that the Working Group rectify this mistake. The rights of the former Judge Afiuni were guaranteed, said Venezuela.

Mr. MASSAMBA (Congo) said the cases of forced disappearances around the world remained a concern. In 2009 Congo provided to the Working Group information on missing people in Congo and evidence of reparations made to the families of the victims. The Working Group requested a visit to Congo in 2009 which should take place in 2011. Congo took note of the general comments of the Working Group in section G of the report regarding enforced disappearances. The Government encouraged the Working Group to organize workshops stating that an understanding of standards was the preliminary step.

ABDERRAZAK ROUWANE, of Advisory Council on Human Rights of Morocco, said that the former Advisory Council of Human Rights of Morocco had received accreditation A by the International Coordinating Committee of the National Human Rights Institutions; it had undergone major reforms and was now called the National Council of Human Rights of Morocco. The National Council took the opportunity to note the work of the Moroccan Government and the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearance and said that the National Council of Human Rights had provided information on disappearance and recalled that the investigatory work conducted by the National Council had made it possible to clarify 900 cases and the number of victims was published. Two cases remained pending and the survivors had benefited from compensation and social rehabilitation. As part of the consistency of internal legislation with international norms of human rights the National Council of Human Rights had established two cases concerning the criminal procedure cases and proposed to criminalize human rights violations and strengthen guarantees for the protection of the victims. The National Council of Human Rights said Morocco would soon ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

KATHARINA ROSE, of Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, said that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia concurred with the findings and recommendations of the Working Group on arbitrary detention of June 2010 on Malaysia and called on the Government to repeal all preventive laws in Malaysia such as the Internal Security Act, the Emergency Ordinance, the Dangerous Drugs and others. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia was of the opinion that those laws were inconsistent with human rights and principles and might lead to gross violations of human rights. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia urged the Government to take into serious consideration the findings and recommendations of the Working Group in relation to issues concerning conditions in places of detention, death in custody, excessive power of the police and others. The Government should take cognizance of the report of the Working Group and take the necessary measures towards the abolition of preventive laws, or, pending the abolition, to ensure the amendments it planned to undertake were in compliance with human rights norms.

DAISUKE SHIRANE, of International Movement against all Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), said that concerning the issue of internally displaced persons, the drafting of laws in the Philippines and Sri Lanka had made limited progress. In post conflict Sri Lanka, challenges for the Government remained and if internally displaced people returned to their homeland in the north they still required assistance. The Movement would like the Special Rapporteur to conduct a visit to Sri Lanka to investigate the lack of protection for victims and witnesses, the fear of reprisals and the culture of impunity which made filing cases difficult for civil society actors.

OLGA SALANUEVA, of Federation of Cuban Women, in a joint statement with American Association of Jurists, said in a joint statement that it would like to draw attention to the case of Puerto Rico which was occupied by the United States. There was an excessive use of force by the police in Puerto Rico and the Government had attacked the bar association and the free exercise of the independence of the judiciary. The response of the United States Government to the Working Group on the five Cuban citizens held in the United States was not adequate and there was a new revelation that the United States Government paid Miami journalists to have a negative impact on the trial.

AURORA GARCIA BOUZADA, of Colombian Commission of Jurists, referred to the perspective of the mandate of the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances as explained in the report and the Special Rapporteur’s attention to the realization of the human rights of internally displaced persons by working with the Government of Colombia. This perspective was very important for Colombia where the number of displaced persons was very high as it was demonstrated by the high number of homicides of internally displaced persons which had been registered by the Colombian Government between 2007 and 2010. The Colombian Commission of Jurists called upon the Special Rapporteur to support the adoption of the draft law for reparation of the victims so that the law could guarantee housing and other property of displaced persons. They hoped that the Special Rapporteur would observe compliance with the order of the constitutional courts.

CLEA THOUIN, of Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, said that Badil Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights welcomed the focus of the Working Group on arbitrary detention on application of international humanitarian law in armed conflict and regretted that this focus did not result in a decision of the Working Group to visit to Israel. Given Israel’s continued refusal to give access to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Badil Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights called on the Working Group on arbitrary detention to revise its stance in this case and request an official invitation from Israel as soon as possible. Today, more that 5,800 political prisoners and detainees remained in Israeli prisons and detention centres and the Badil Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights drew attention to Israel’s use of administrative detention. It also highlighted the drastic increase in the number of Palestinian children arrested and detained in East Jerusalem in the past few months under circumstances that violated Israeli and international law.

ANGKHANA NEELAPAIJIT, of International Commission of Jurists, urged all Governments to cooperate with Working Groups in order to combat arbitrary detention and clarify the fate and whereabouts of persons allegedly subject to enforced disappearances, including by unconditionally accepting their requests for visits. The International Commission of Jurists informed the Council about a case of enforced disappearance in Thailand and expressed its concern over the ongoing practice of arbitrary detention in Thailand pursuant to the Emergency Decree of 2005. This Decree undermined the rule of law and Thailand’s legal obligations and this included serious alarm about the overly expanded powers of arrest and detention that allowed the arbitrary detention of persons.

GAJJALA PRAVEEN, of Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, said a large number of fellow non-Muslim citizens from the state of Jammu and Kashmir were made to flee their homes under a threat of genocide by terrorists supported by the neighbouring country, Pakistan. Enforced ethnic cleansing of Pandits from the Kashmir valley was done to pave the way for Islamic homogenization and should not be tolerated. The Pandits lived in camps like refugees in their own country and this was created by violations of human rights by the Government of Pakistan which claimed to be committed to the cause of human rights. The Commission to Study the Organization of Peace urged the Special Rapporteur to press upon Pakistan that it should be accountable for creating conditions for people feeling their homeland.

VISHAL SHAH, of Foundation for Democracy in Africa, said that two observations of the Working Group were significant: that no jurisdiction should allow an individual to be deprived of their liberty in secrecy and that secret detention was in violation of human rights law. The International Association for Democracy in Africa would like to draw attention to the experience of the people of Baluchistan, a province of Pakistan, and the intelligence and security services of Pakistan who abducted and detained Baluch youth in arbitrary detention with no information provided to their families.

NORMAN VOSS, of Asian Legal Resources Centre, said that Asia remained the scene of many of the world’s disappearances. The Working Group on enforced and involuntary disappearances had noted with concern the increase in the number of contemporary cases of enforced disappearances in Pakistan. The same applied to Sri Lanka which shockingly accounted for 80 per cent of the Working Group’s present case backlog. Had the Working Group received any response from the Government of Sri Lanka concerning its repeated requests for a country visit? This remained vital as disappearance continued to be perpetrated with impunity in Sri Lanka. In Nepal impunity for hundreds of cases of forced disappearances persisted with the lengthy political stalemate there preventing any credible actions by the authorities to address this problem.

JULIE DE RIVERO, of Human Rights Watch, commended the Working Group on arbitrary detention for its incisive critique of conditions in Malaysia and for its Opinion (20/2010) on the arbitrary detention of Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni of Venezuela. Human Rights Watch urged Venezuela and Malaysia to promptly implement the recommendations of the Working Group on arbitrary detention. Malaysia could not present itself as a responsible member of the international community while continuing to refuse to ratify core United Nations
treaties, including inter alia, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention against Torture as the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had recommended.

TEMME LEE, of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), said that Forum Asia strongly echoed the recommendations of the Working Group on arbitrary detention that the Government of Malaysia must take steps to repeal the Internal Security Act and three other preventive laws. The Government’s announced amendments of those laws did not address the concerns of the Working Group that those laws impeded the detainees’ right to a fair trial and severely restricted detainees’ access to legal counsel. Forum Asia was deeply disturbed at the fact that the Government of Malaysia had been aggressively recruiting members for the Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia, that stood accused of various forms of abuses and ill-treatment against detainees. Detention should only be the last resort when it came to irregular migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons. In this regard, Forum Asia wished to hear from the Working Group whether during their visit to Malaysia in June 2010 discussion had taken place with Malaysian authorities regarding alternative measures of detention.

Concluding Remarks on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Arbitrary Detention and Internally Displaced Persons

JEREMY SARKIN, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, in closing remarks said the Working Group was gratified by the comments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of Morocco, the latter who decided to implement 91 per cent of the Working Group’s recommendations. The Working Group would like to thank the States which had cooperated with it and urged other States to increase their cooperation with the Working Group. Eighty-eight States had signed the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and 22 had ratified it and a number of other States said they would sign it, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. More work needed to be done to ensure the norms and standards in the Convention would be incorporated domestically and the Working Group was gratified that a number of States had reviewed their criminal law and it urged States to implement an autonomous law on enforced disappearance and to create registers listing detainees. The right to know the truth was an important development and part of the Working Group’s work. There was a need for greater resources and the Working Group agreed with the comment made by Peru to improve the website and the comment made by Congo for increased workshops. The Working Group noted information from Pakistan, Iran and Angola on various cases and was gratified that Nepal and Pakistan continued to examine the possibility of a visit by the Working Group.

MALICK EL HADJI SOW, Chairperson of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in his closing remarks said, that the only substantive criticizing comment concerning the report of the Working Group was that of Venezuela concerning the case of Judge Afiuni. The Chairperson invited Venezuela to re-discuss this issue at the next session of the Working Group, which would facilitate finding a solution. All other comments from delegations which took the floor were encouraging. Concerning the visits to Armenia and Malaysia, there was a very strong spirit of cooperation which enabled the editing and acceptance of the conclusions and recommendations of the report. Regarding the working methods of the Working Group, Mr. Sow said that those methods had been adopted at the last session of the Working Group and therefore it was not possible to postpone the study on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary. There were no cases of reprisals against persons which cooperated with the Working Group on arbitrary detention during their country visits, apart from those already reported. The Chairperson asked for the support of the Council to obtain from the Government of Thailand an invitation for the visit to this country. With regard to Peru, the cases presented could be discussed during the next session of the Working Group. There were many other questions, for example detention of journalists or cooperation between Special Procedures, but they could be discussed directly with delegations or in between the sessions.

CHALOKA BEYANI, Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, in concluding observations, said that the areas indicated in the report would be priorities in terms of thematic reporting. It did not mean that other situations of internal displacement would be neglected. Turning to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the Special Rapporteur said those Guidelines were elaborated by the Commission on Human Rights and what they did was synthesise the prescriptions of international law and international humanitarian law with regard to protection of internally displaced persons, to which States had already agreed. The resolution of the Human Rights Council creating this mandate recognised the Guiding Principles and encouraged States and other actors to work together in their implementation. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur also requested the mandate holder to ensure the implementation of the Guiding Principles. The African Union Convention recognised this instrument and recognised it in the body and text of the Convention. There were some Member States that had adopted laws incorporating the Guiding Principles.

Other themes touched on the issue of collaboration with other United Nations agencies and the Special Rapporteur was happy by the cooperation extended to his mandate. The role of the Special Rapporteur was to make sure that internally displaced persons issues were part of the humanitarian response, and that response was human rights-based. The real value and the benefit of the African Union Convention in relation to internally displaced persons issues was another question asked by the delegation, and the Special Rapporteur said that the important benefits were that it represented a cohesive framework in relation to internally displaced persons, a framework of accountability for armed groups, and the responsibilities of the African Union in relation of internally displaced persons. The issue of property was important, particularly in relation to sustainable solutions. There were a number of international instruments and practices that addressed this issue and they had recognised that the property of internally displaced persons should be protected after they fled the area, and the responsibility to return property upon return. The mandate would continue engagement with a number of country situations, such as Armenia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iraq.

__________

For use of the information media; not an official record