Dionne Jackson Miller

UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Mary Robinson yesterday said that the ongoing efforts to protect the cultural rights of indigenous peoples should not be used as a rationale for preserving practices that are clear violations of human rights.

Robinson spoke at the seminar on Globalising Human Dignity and Sustainable Development, at the Catholic University last evening.

Her comments came against the background of concerns from the audience regarding the efforts being made to protect the rights of indigenous peoples.

'We have highlighted cultural rights, but we have to be very careful because sometimes harmful practices are advanced as being part of cultural rights,' she told the audience. 'For example, female genital mutilation, honour killings - these are not cultural rights.'

The cultural rights discussion was advanced by former prime minister of Portugal Mario Soares, who noted that protecting the cultural rights of ethnic groups is now a serious issue in Europe.

He noted that gypsies (or Roma) in Portugal, for instance, have faced xenophobia from other countries unwilling to have them settle in their outlying areas.

'There is a civil official in Portugal who has become famous because he defends the rights of gypsies to live with us. This has to be done, and it also has to be done for other groups,' he said.

In the meantime, President of the UN Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Virginia Bonoan-Dandan, noted that because of the extreme sensitivity involved in dealing with cultural rights, society has been reluctant to tackle the issue.

She noted, for instance, that it is a sticky question whether imposing one group's cultural rights on another can ever be justified.

'There is fear in confronting these issues, because these are difficult questions,' she said. 'How far can tradition go if a certain tradition violates individual rights? The protection of cultural rights is a process. There will always be cultural differences. It is up to us to look for a balance.'

The panellists also spoke of the need to ensure that the process of globalisation does not decimate the human rights agenda.

The president of Amnesty International's executive committee, Colm Cuanachain, was particularly insistent on this point.

'There's an urgent need to ensure that globalisation is not a challenge to human rights,' he said. 'We must hijack globalisation and ensure that it becomes a part of the social movement represented in Porto Alegre. We must ensure that we globalise the social, cultural and civil rights movements.'

Other questions raised at the seminar included whether institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank can be forced to accept human rights issues as reference points, balancing the need for land reform in Zimbabwe with individual rights, Europe's responsibility to Africa, UN financing and the need for the United States to accept its responsibilities to the organisation.

The seminar continues today with two more sessions. Speakers include Bantorn Ondam, Assembly of the Poor, Thailand; Susana Chiarroti, National University of Rosario, Argentina; Minar Pimpel, Executive Director of Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action, India; and Jorge Daniel Taillant, Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights and the Environment, Argentina. A discussion on conclusions and recommendations will wrap up the proceedings.