HUMAN RIGHTS: UN Commission Wraps Up Fruitful Session

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Apr 29 2000 (IPS) - The United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights concluded one of its most productive sessions in half a century Friday, with the approval of resolutions long demanded by non-governmental organisations and by sectors defending economic and social rights.

Among the decisions adopted by this specialised body of the UN was the creation of a permanent forum for examining the problems of the world’s indigenous peoples.

Another resolution arising from this session recommends the designation of a special representative entrusted with protecting activists around the world who defend human rights.

Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, observed that the naming of a representative for human rights defenders “has been applauded by the entire movement” of activists. It is, she said, one of the Commission’s major achievements this year.

The organisation, made up of 53 member states, also endorsed two protocols of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. One criticises to the enlistment of minors into the military, while the other condemns the sale of children and the use of minors in pornography and prostitution.

The president of this recent session, Shambu Ram Sinkhada, of Nepal, told a press conference that it was “exceptional” that the Commission had approved two international human rights instruments in just one year.

In the area of economic and social rights, and the difficulties developing countries face in fully implementing them, the Commission decided to designate a special rapporteur with a mandate focused on decent housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living.

With votes in favour from 30 countries, the abstention of seven and the opposition of 15 – mostly industrialised nations -, delegates approved a resolution on the effects of structural adjustment policies and of foreign debt on the exercise of economic, social and cultural rights in developing countries.

On another, closely related issue, the Commission designated a special rapporteur to study the human right of access to food.

When it came time to conclude discussions on environmental questions, the Commission passed a resolution that condemns the transport and dumping of toxic and dangerous waste in developing countries, this time with the opposition vote of 16 industrialised countries.

Robinson said the Commission’s decisions, along with the naming of rapporteurs or independent experts on the rights to development and education, show that the organisation is applying the principles of the indivisibility, inter-dependence and inter-relation of human rights.

Also in the recent sessions, a call was issued to the member nations to adhere to a protocol for eliminating the death penalty, which was approved by a vote of 27 in favour, 13 against and 12 abstentions.

In this case, the opposition united countries including Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan and the United States.

The Commission dedicated an entire day to studying the relation between poverty and human rights. Robinson stated that strategies for reducing misery would have a better chance of succeeding if they take human rights into account.

The Commission’s president this session, Shambu Ram Sinkhada, pointed out that a UN conference dedicated to the least-advanced countries, to be held in Brussels in May 2001, will establish jurisprudence for the world’s 48 poorest countries.

In studying the particular situation of each country, the Commission made proclamations critical of the human rights records of Colombia, Cuba, Iran, Iraq and the Sudan, among others.

For the first time, the organisation censured a permanent member of the UN Security Council, chastising the Russian Federation for atrocities committed in Chechnya.

This resolution, passed with 25 votes in favour, seven against and 19 abstentions, “shows that no one is exempt from criticism,” stated Joanna Weschler, who represented the US-based independent organisation Human Rights Watch during the Commission’s sessions in Geneva.

Weschler said the result of six weeks of discussions was “relatively successful,” though she was disappointed that the Commission did not take a decision on China’s human rights record.

Delegates from Beijing opposed a procedural appeal on a motion for non-action in order to prevent debate on a proposal by the United States that would have censured China for its human rights situation.

In the closing session, Robinson issued a call to the international community to help protect the right to life, given the potential for disaster in the Horn of Africa.

The High Commissioner was referring to the drought currently thrashing those countries, especially Ethiopia. She said the natural disaster is endangering the lives of some 16 million people in the region.