Notes on the 4th Session of the Human Rights Council
12th to 30th March 2007, Geneva.
The Commission on Human Rights has been replaced by the Human Rights Council (HRC); thus human rights have been upgraded to become one of the three Council pillars of a reformed UN, alongside economic and social issues, and international peace and security. The defunct Commission had been accused of having among its members several notorious violators of human rights. Some of these States are in the Council as well, but the rules of the game have changed.
I did not attend the first week of the HRC as the greater part of it was taken up by its 47 members each giving their 10 minute speech. The High Commissioner’s Annual Report and other reports followed but the much-awaited report on a mission to assess the human rights situation in Darfur was delayed. Jody Williams, Nobel Prize Winner and head of the high level mission to Darfur had been prevented from going to the Sudan but was able to prepare a report based on information gathered in Chad’s 2 camps of some 40 000 refugees, and in Ethiopia. After some obstruction she could finally present her report to the Council but it was at first rejected by Sudan and its allies. The plight of civilians caught in this war as the prime targets and victims is all too well known, and arriving at an agreement within the HRC was vital to its credibility. After what must have been intensive negotiations, a text was adopted on the human rights situation in Darfur at the end of the session.
A resolution was also adopted on the Occupied Territories of Palestine where the dispatch of fact-finding missions had been hindered by Israel.
Obviously the atmosphere is at times politically charged and the divide roughly along North/ South lines runs deep, but much of the Council’s work is not political. Other resolutions adopted were on the right to development, on strengthening various economic, social and cultural rights, and two of them concerned religions: combating defamation of religions and eliminating discrimination and intolerance based on religion or belief. In fact in her opening speech “the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said that two essential themes guided the work of the Office: these were economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the issue of equal rights for women.
The fight against poverty was one of the issues to which great importance was given. Women were particularly vulnerable, not only to violations of the economic, social and cultural rights, but also to poverty, discrimination, and violence in all forms.” (press release)
In addition to plenary meetings a lot of parallel activity goes on most of the time involving everyone, State representatives, NGOs and the Secretariat. During the lunch break activity seems to peak featuring also a number of side events organized for or by NGOs.
Two information sessions on the work of the Council
One of these side events was an NGO Orientation Session organized by the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with UN (aka CONGO), the UN/NGO liaison office, the International Service for Human Rights with the new Deputy High Commissioner (from Korea) making an appearance.
After reaffirming that partnership with NGOs was a fundamental pillar of the HRC, the panel started to explain the great difficulties involved in moving from the 60 year-old Commission to the new Council, reforming and institution building whilst ensuring continuity. This did not surprise anyone as the Commission was an extremely complex body and the Council is unlikely to be much simpler. Major changes appear to be the introduction of a Universal Periodic Review of members whose human rights records will be examined, and several sessions of the Council a year are scheduled to replace the former once a year session. The mechanisms and mandates known as “Special Procedures” through which independent experts and representatives, Special Rapporteurs (SRs) and working groups examine thematic issues and specific countries through studies and missions and make recommendations for the improvement of human rights are, all being reviewed.
There is much uncertainty as regards the future of the 42 mandates of these experts and groups as well as regarding the expert advice body which is to replace the old think-tank that used to be the defunct Sub- Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Decisions will be made in June, at the end of the Council’s first year. The second year of the Council, said the President, will be easier for everyone.
Another meeting was held for NGOs to meet the Council Bureau. It is no doubt thanks to the extraordinary ability of the Council President Alfonso de Alba that the session didn’t fall apart before the end and that NGOs were allowed to intervene in the debates as much as they did. The rules regarding NGO participation in the Council are ambiguous –it’s no longer ECOSOC- and their interventions are not particularly welcome by some less democratic States. In view of the very tight schedule, NGOs were allowed 3 minute interventions, the same as non-member States. It didn’t seem very much to those NGOs who had travelled thousands of kilometres to be heard.
Two Special Events
The Council held two Special events introduced by the Commissioner for Human Rights. Special events as well as the presentation of reports were followed by statements and interactive dialogue
One was a special event concerning the Rights of the Child, on violence against children based on a study by the independent expert Paolo Sergio Pinheiro. It is the most comprehensive study made by the UN on this issue. It has been presented to the General Assembly calling for a commitment by the international community to end all forms of violence to children by adopting its recommendations. The study covers all types of violence with the exception of children in armed conflicts which is dealt with elsewhere. The opening statement is clear: “No violence against children is justifiable; all violence against children is preventable.” During the interactive dialogue speakers affirmed that multi-facetted violence against children existed in all countries. Children represent the only issue which is politically not divisive but although the Convention on the rights of the child has been almost universally ratified –with the exceptions of the US and Somalia – the obligations of the Convention have not been widely met.
Several NGOs have planned activities and contributions for the study’s implementation, which include as the starting point the dissemination of the study which is available on www.ohchr.org (document A/61/299).
Another special event marked the opening to signatures to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This group that has been called the largest of minorities is estimated at 10 percent of the world’s population which underlines the urgency for protection. And it is a group which is expected to grow with medical advances and ageing populations. It was pointed out that the Convention marked a paradigm shift from thinking about disability as a social welfare matter to dealing with it as a human rights issue, which acknowledged that societal barriers and prejudices were themselves disabling. The UNICEF representative expressed satisfaction at this new convention which should reinforce the existing right stated in the Convention of the Child.
Reports in Plenary
Only a few of the Thematic Reports presented at plenary sessions are summarized below (without the recommendations).
Reports at this session were presented on minority issues, effects of economic reform policies and foreign debt on human rights, racism and racial discrimination, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, freedom of religion or belief, human rights of migrants, protection of human rights while countering terrorism, freedom of opinion and expression, physical and mental health, education, sale of children and child prostitution, indigenous people, torture, violence against women, human rights and transnational corporations, human rights defenders, internally displaced persons, people of African descent, arbitrary detention, and enforced or involuntary disappearances.
In her report on minorities, the independent expert Gay McDougal establishes that minorities experience high and disproportionate levels of poverty and that this section of the population which exists in every country is subject to discrimination, exclusion and denial of basic rights. Her study of 50 Millennium Development Goal country reports and poverty reduction strategies concludes that not enough attention is being paid to minority groups - ethnic, religious and linguistic - which could even result in widening the gap with the rest of the population, and she recommends that in planning for poverty alleviation, priority should be granted to those in extreme poverty.
The Special Rapporteur (SR) on the rights of indigenous peoples stated that whilst there had been new norms and policies and the establishment of new institutions both at national and international levels, there was a huge implementation gap between norms and practices. Indigenous peoples continued to be the victims of serious violations of their individual and collective human rights : the official summary continues sadly, “Indigenous peoples' resources continue to diminish, their territorial base and land rights continue to decrease, and they continue to have less and less control over their natural resources, in particular forest lands. The number of indigenous migrants has increased, and indigenous migrants are particularly vulnerable to human rights violations, in particular indigenous women and children who suffer disproportionately from violence and sexual exploitation.” The SR urged member states to use their good offices for the adoption of the Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples adopted by the Council but still to be approved by the General Assembly.
The Working Group on Indigenous Peoples of the former Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights met in Geneva for some twenty years; at first attended by no more than twenty people, it grew to over a thousand participants with indigenous peoples from all over, representatives of States and NGOs as well as academics. This working group is largely responsible for having attracted the attention of the world on the situation of indigenous peoples. SDI representatives attended these very colourful annual week-long meetings quite a few times. Three ethnology students from France also participated and the last person was former SDIA Chief, Wilbert Verheyen, who made a statement on the work being done in the University of Palankaraya to retrieve the treasures of indigenous heritage from the archives and museums of the former colonizer, at least in DVD form. SDI covered travel and hostel accommodation for the participants.
Yakin Erturk, the SR on violence against women, its causes and consequences, is a worthy successor to the highly popular Radhika Coomaraswamy who produced a very complete study on violence against women in the course of ten years. A section of the present study examines the intersections between culture and violence against women, a sensitive and controversial issue. The SR identifies culture-based politics as a major challenge to gender equality and the elimination of violence against women. Although values shared by the international community and formalized in international human rights law which includes the principle of equality between women and men as a key value, the very legitimacy of human rights norms is being increasingly challenged and criticized as being Western in origin and therefore not necessarily applicable in other cultural settings. After decades of women’s advocacy, in 1993 the General Assembly adopted by consensus a comprehensive Declaration on the elimination of violence against women which specifies inter alia that states are required to condemn violence against women and should not invoke any custom, tradition or religious considerations to limit these obligations. However, women’s rights continue to be compromised or even sacrificed for cultural demands.
Some forms of traditional practices in the developing world singled out as harmful to the health of women have been on the human rights agenda, especially female genital mutilation, and certain cultures are considered to be the source of harmful practices (honour killings, child marriage etc). However, the SR points out the high rate of domestic violence and rape in the Western world which is classified as individual acts, could also be considered a cultural phenomenon. The US gun culture which kills many women, and the media’s portrayal of women as sex objects are in fact also examples of Western oppression and violence against women. Pointing to the “other” culture and mores does not advance the cause of women and ignores the universality of the patriarchal dimension.
Upholding the universality of human rights whilst continuing to respect the diverse cultures requires strategies to resist all oppressive practices. The report concludes that culture needs to be demystified: it is wrongly seen as immutable, as homogeneous and detached from the material foundations of life. Guidelines for an effective strategy are proposed.
The report on Freedom of religion and belief was presented by Asma Jahangir, a remarkable judge from Pakistan. SDIA is a member of the NGO Committee on freedom of religion and belief and its website is mentioned in the Committee’s website www.congo.cx.la. In her report, the SR mentions three issues of concern to her mandate:
- The vulnerable situation of women who suffer from humiliation and aggravated discrimination with regard to their religious and ethnic identities, the imposition or prohibition of dress codes, practices detrimental to the health of women and girls in the name of religion or ascribed to religion, discrimination within the family etc. The preceding mandate holder, Abdelfattah Amor produced a very complete study on all types of discrimination against women resulting from religious practices and traditions. The SR once again requested that this study be translated into English as, quite exceptionally, it is available only in the original French.
- The SR explores violations linked to counter-terrorism measures adopted in some states after 9/11 which target selected religious and ethnic groups; the harassment or deportation of persons perceived to hold extremist views; and the tightening of immigration controls by various means, including religious and ethnic profiling.
- Religious minorities and new religious movements face various forms of discrimination and intolerance. When the minority is a new or non-traditional religion, it may give rise to suspicion and limitations of the right to freedom of belief. In this connection the definition of religion and belief has been studied for a number of years in human rights bodies but no satisfactory distinction between religions, sects and new religious movements has been arrived at. The SR interprets the scope of application of freedom of religion and belief in its broadest sense, subject only to the limitation of laws on public safety and order, health and morals.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, now special representative of the Secretary General for children in armed conflict reports that although the situation has improved, more than a quarter of a million children continue to be exploited as child soldiers. Six grave violations against children are identified: the recruitment and use of children as soldiers; killing and maiming; rape and other grave sexual violence; abduction; attacks on schools and hospitals; denial of humanitarian assistance. Measures to protect children and to end impunity involve the combined efforts of the human rights Office, the UN refugee organization, UNICEF and, where it operates, a Security Council working group.
Two side events organized by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women Where is the missing girl, what is at stake?
The meeting was very well attended, but mostly by women. The panelists spoke of the existing demographic imbalance in several countries in Asia, especially China and India but also Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Korea. Boys now outnumber girls significantly as boy preference has led to female foeticide and infanticide on a large scale. Many reasons are given for this preference which can be economical as boys can become breadwinners whereas girls leave home when married, “Raising a daughter is like watering someone else’s field” is a saying in rural China; there is also the question of lineage, burial ceremonies traditionally carried out by sons, and of course the girl’s dowry which may cost ten times more than an abortion. The long-term physical and psychological consequences on women who give in to the societal and in-law pressure to get rid of baby girls are considerable, especially after multiple interventions. Progress in sex determination through ultrasound and other medical techniques has greatly helped this phenomenon.
The subject remained taboo for a long time but recent studies in India reveal interesting facts: it is in the more prosperous areas that sex-selective abortions are more prevalent which goes to show the main cause is not poverty. The estimated women/men ratio is at its worst in China at 832/1000 partly as a result of its one child per family policy, but India which had no such policy is not far behind at 882/1000.
A number of positives steps are being taken in these countries to redress the situation, but in the meantime the consequences of a shortage of marriageable girls is leading to increased aggression and cases of trafficking, kidnapping, rape and polyandry.
On another occasion, a panel discussion organized by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, three Indian NGO activists working in Gujarat where the women/men ratio is very alarming, spoke of their work with women. The women/men imbalance could also be due to the life women lead: Prof. Pathak painted a tragic picture of a woman’s life in that area as one long sacrifice with four dangerous moments: women have no say in the survival of a female foetus, but if a girl is born, she is healthy as long as she is breast-fed after which nourishment and health care will be neglected. Thus many girls die before the age of five. If she survives, the third danger is reached at puberty when, very young, she goes to live with her husband, the marriage having been arranged beforehand. And very young, she bears children thus facing a high risk of death as the mortality rate in childbirth has not diminished in decades. If she survives, when she no longer seems useful to others, she is often driven to suicide by family members.
Women and War in Africa. A side event organized by Femmes Afrique Solidarité and chaired by Bineta Diop, the Executive Director. This NGO together with the Mano River Women’s Peace Network have played a major role in bringing peace to the Mano River countries, Liberia and Sierra Leone and Guinea for which they were awarded a special peace prize by the General Assembly. The area which comprises 21 ethnic groups was torn by wars which made use of child soldiers, and in the course of which sexual abuse and brutal mutilations were frequently reported. Working with parliamentarians and helped by the media, these NGOs were successful in managing to bring the disrupted lives of people back to normal in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Guinea apparently needs more attention.
In addition to the African NGOs, the panellists included the SR on violence against women, the Advocacy Director from Human Rights Watch and a woman activist from Darfur who each addressed a large audience of both women and men including several African Ambassadors, and a Sudanese official who remained silent until just before the end. Much of the discussion was on sexual violence perpetrated in Darfur - and in general. Rape is now a recognized war crime and can be taken to an International Court, but the question is how many rapists have been prosecuted? According to a male witness, rape in Darfur was committed primarily to humiliate and as a sign of ownership. Sexual violence committed by peace keeping soldiers and personnel was the most objectionable.
The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 of the year 2000 on the impact of armed conflict on women was quoted several times as an important step forward. It emphasizes “the responsibility of all states to put an end to impunity and prosecute those responsible for …… war crimes including those relating to sexual and other violence on women and girls…..”. But it will apparently take time for men to accept that rape is not collateral to war, and in the meantime wars will continue to be fought on women’s bodies.
Katherine Carré, 11 April 2007