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20 March 2002



Speech by
Joschka Fischer,
Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs

„Anti-terrorism measures are no excuse for human rights violations“
at the 58th Session of the Commission on Human Rights

Geneva
20 March 2002



First of all, I would like to congratulate you, Ambassador Jakubowski, on taking over the chair of the 58th Session of the Commission on Human Rights. I wish you every success and a sure hand in exercising this responsible office.

This year's Session of the Commission on Human Rights is taking place in a new context. 11 September and its consequences have re-oriented world politics and this is not without implications for human rights policy. The questions raised by this new situation will dominate this year's discussions in Geneva.

Every government has to consider protecting the security of the citizens in its charge as one of its supreme duties. We are all called upon to fight terrorists who put their goals ahead of the lives of innocent people with the utmost determination and rigour - where necessary, as in Afghani-stan, also with military means.

Tough action and repression alone do not however constitute a satisfactory response to the threat posed by modern terrorism. We will only be able to curb it through a policy of preven-tion, if we manage to take a new joint approach to effectively fighting its many different causes. This includes new strategies against hunger, poverty and the lack of opportunities as well as a socially just management of economic globalization.

But this includes above all protection of human rights, civil, political as well as socio-eco-nomic and cultural rights. Human rights are not a luxury, not an exotic issue that can be pushed to the side when security policy is back at the top of the agenda. The very opposite is true. Promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law is in the long term the most solid foundation for stability and peace - this central lesson from the Cold War has been given a new, global relevance in the light of 11 September.

We have been facing an old dilemma in a new form since the horrific attacks in the US. What is the right balance between freedom and security? How can we best protect people's security without restricting the rights and liberties of the individual? The concrete questions raised here are often not easy to answer; in Germany, too, we have struggled time and again to find the right answers. In principle, there can only be one convincing response here. Freedom and security have to be realized simultaneously. "Those that give up liberty to obtain safety ... will in the end lose both" - this dictum by Benjamin Franklin is just as rele-vant today as it was almost 250 years ago.

Last year unfortunately saw the emergence of a new dangerous tendency of legitimizing human rights violations under the pretext of combating terrorism. The community of nations and all civilized states have to counter this trend with the utmost determination.

Every society must make sure that in dealings with those holding different views, political opponents, religious and ethnic minorities as well as prisoners of war and those suspected of involvement in terrorist acts, the internationally agreed norms governing the protection of human rights continue to form the irrevocable foundation. It would be a fatal setback if the terrorists were to bring us to question our own values. On no account must the basic human rights be watered down under the pretext of combating terrorism. There must be no anti-ter-rorism "bonus". The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, set this out clearly in her opening statement and in her report to the Commission on Human Rights. I would like to thank her most sincerely for this and for all her valuable work over the past years.

Mr Chairman,
Particularly against this backdrop, serious violations of human rights must be clearly addressed at this Session of the Commission on Human Rights. The EU will therefore sponsor resolutions against a number of countries this year, too.

Despite the release of political prisoners and the increased readiness to cooperate with inter-national human rights mechanisms, we still take a very critical view of the human rights situation in China. The Federal Government therefore calls once again upon China:
to end the persecution of members of Christian Churches and other religious communi-ties,
to halt the oppression of ethnic minorities and to grant the Tibetans and the Uigurs in particular substantial autonomy rights,
to cease persecuting Falun Gong followers,
to declare a moratorium on the enforcement of the death penalty with a view to its ultimate abolition, and
to soon ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and implement the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its entirety.

The situation in Chechnya is also a source of constant grave concern. Russia continues to define the Chechnya conflict as an "anti-terrorist operation" and as a "domestic matter". After 11 September, Russia called for the recognition of the necessity and appropriateness of Rus-sian action in Chechnya given the links between Chechnya rebels to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.

The Federal Government has never questioned Russia's legitimate right to maintain its territo-rial integrity. Russia has not only the right but also the duty to defend itself against terrorism. Nevertheless we consider the use of military force against the civilian population to be unac-ceptable and not compatible with European and international norms.

Just recently, serious reports on systematic and grave violations of the human rights of the civilian population have increased on both sides. We expect the Russian and the Chechnya side alike to finally end the massive use of violence, stop the fighting and take visible, ener-getic steps to push ahead with the search for a political solution. The situation in Chechnya has to remain on the agenda of the Geneva Commission on Human Rights until there is a clear improvement.

The dramatic escalation of the situation in the Middle East in recent weeks has deeply shocked the world and all of us. The daily images of dead and wounded Israelis and Palestini-ans - including more and more innocent civilians, more and more women and children - have revealed the depth of the hatred and despair on both sides. For months now we have seen how every attempt to agree a ceasefire and return to the negotiating table by following the Tenet and Mitchell plans has been thwarted by terrorists. One side says: "Terror must not pay," the other: "Occupation must not pay". The result is an unending string of human rights violations.

I most urgently call on both sides to fully respect international humanitarian law and human rights. The Palestinian Authority, as the legitimate governing body, bears full responsibility for combating terrorism. It must ensure that minimum human rights stan-dards are observed by its police and security forces. And it must take more decisive action against lynching mobs and suicide bombers. Israel must immediately withdraw its armed forces from Area A, stop extrajudicial executions, lift blockades and restrictions and call a halt to the settlement pol-icy. Measures against medical and humanitarian institutions and their staff are totally unac-ceptable. The functioning of these institutions must be guaranteed, no matter what.

The tragedy of this conflict is that both sides have legitimate claims, and that all the elements for a solution are already on the table: Resolutions 242 and 338, Madrid, Oslo, Camp David, the Clinton parameters and Taba are all milestones along this route. Everything has been dis-cussed hundreds, even thousands of times. The objective is clear: "a vision of a region where two States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders", as formulated in Security Council Resolution 1397 and as expressed repeatedly by the European Union. All hope is now pinned on the increased efforts being undertaken by the international community, above all the US, the EU, the UN Secre-tary-General, Russia and the Arab League, to again open up a political perspective for the Middle East. The endorsement of the Saudi Arabian initiative at the Arab League summit in Beirut would be a positive and significant signal.

A polarization of the debate on the Middle East conflict here in Geneva would not under the present circumstances help build confidence and advance the peace efforts. I would therefore like to urgently appeal to all participants to avert this danger, which is a danger both to the situation in the Middle East and to the success of this Conference.

Mr Chairman,

It was a moving occasion for the whole world to see how women in Afghanistan could for the first time welcome International Women's Day as a day of hope. A sign of departure, which must now be followed by concrete steps. Women as entitled as men to the protection of human rights, and yet in many countries of this world they are trodden underfoot for what are called religious or cultural reasons. It must be our common goal to promote equal rights and genuine equality of opportunity for women and girls all around the world.

When women are stoned to death because they have been accused of adultery, when they are systematically abused as sex slaves as under the Taliban, these are cruel, appalling crimes that must not be tolerated, and must not be tacitly condoned, not even by Islamic countries. We believe that intercultural dialogue with the Islamic world has become particularly urgent fol-lowing 11 September, but it will only bear fruit if both sides are prepared to state outright what they find unacceptable. In our view, honest intercultural dialogue must address the question of the compatibility of sharia law with women's rights and the international Human Rights Covenants.

At this year's meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, the Federal Government will also push forward a range of initiatives which have long been close to our hearts. We will, together with our EU partners, continue to work tirelessly for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty. We support the elaboration of a strong, effective optional protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and also the worldwide banning of the production and export of instruments of torture. As regards economic, social and cultural rights, Germany will again sponsor the resolution on the right to reasonable housing. I ask for your support on this matter.

Please permit me to restate here Germany's willingness to cooperate with the Special Rap-porteurs of the Commission on Human Rights and to receive them in Germany as they wish.

Mr Chairman,

The past decade has seen progress in important areas of human rights – the tribunals in The Hague and Arusha, the International Criminal Court, the rising status of human rights vis-à-vis to state sovereignty, new democratic constitutions in many countries, and the successful conclusion of the World Conference against Racism in Durban are of tremendous signifi-cance. All this was possible not least because the vital importance of human rights for suc-cessful modernization and social and economic development is gaining recognition around the globe following the collapse of the antagonistic bloc system.

Putting security above liberty, as is being demanded again in some quarters in the face of the emergence of a new threat to world peace, would be a dangerous, fatal mistake from a human rights and political point of view. Liberty and human rights are our fundamental values. If we were to surrender them, the terrorists would already have won their first victory. Security and liberty are not opposites and are not rival forces in a zero sum game. Far from it - security and liberty are mutually dependent and must therefore be realized together. Germany's commit-ment to this goal shall not fail.