Simultaneously with the Commission meeting, the FIDH also organised information meetings, either on its own or as a joint initiative with other NGOs, which brought together the international media and which were also open to experts from all over the world and to the general public [2].
The overall results of this conference are not very positive. Apart from the renewal of most of the mandates of the special procedures, the Commission on Human Rights has failed to react to some situations of flagrant violations of human rights and has not been able to create a mechanism for monitoring the respect for the Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, unanimously demanded by NGOs.
The Commission on Human Rights face-to-face with reality : Kosovo
The 55th session of the Commission this year was set against the backdrop of the grave incidents in the former Republic of Yugoslavia. The Commission dedicated one working session to the situation in Kosovo, where NGOs raised their voices to denounce the policy of ethnic cleansing. Professor Ymer Jaka, Chair of the Human Rights Council of Kosovo, spoke on behalf of the FIDH, denouncing the tragic results of the policy of repression and terror against the Albanian population in Kosovo for more than ten years now, a policy whose pre-meditated and ultimate aim is the ethnic cleansing taking place in the Region today.
During the session, the High Commission for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, sent a mission to the field and each week, she reported to the Commission about the activities undertaken by the mission, about the field office and about its observations on the situation.
The Special Procedures of the Commission on Human Rights
Since the beginning of the 1980s, the Commission has considerably increased its effectiveness by putting in place special rapporteurs and working groups, in charge of carrying out enquiries, either in a specific country or on different subjects or categories of human rights violations. The principal forms of action taken by the experts in charge of these issues are field surveys, gathering information on alleged human rights violations, particularly from non-governmental sources and issuing urgent warnings.
Subjects and procedures by country
This session has clearly shown the reluctance of governments to deal with situations of grave human rights violations. Thus, no new draft resolutions were presented concerning human rights violations in particular countries, except for one draft resolution on China which was not even put to vote, due to a motion of non-action proposed by China itself and voted by the majority of member states of the Commission.
A draft resolution on the human rights situation in Cuba tabled by the Czech Republic and Poland was adopted. This resolution denounces human rights violations in Cuba, but does not restore the mandate of the special Rapporteur on Cuba (to which the Commission put an end last year), which enabled other governments, mainly those of Latin American countries who had abstained during the 54th session, to vote in favour of this resolution.
However, this session marked the end of the mandate of the special Rapporteur on Nigeria. Although the FIDH welcomed the country’s achievements in favour of a move towards democracy and stability, it made the point that keeping a special Rapporteur on Nigeria would have made the transition towards democracy for this African country easier. Nonetheless, the Commission decided, upon the initiative of the African group, to put an end to the monitoring of the human rights situation in that country.
As for the other special geographical procedures, the Commission decided to renew their mandates [3]. The Chair of the Commission made a lengthy declaration on Colombia, demanding the country’s authorities to adhere to the recommendations of numerous international instances, and the High Commissioner to submit a report on the activities of his/her field office at the next session. In addition, the Commission decided to end the monitoring of Sierra Leone, according to the confidential procedure (1503), and adopted a public resolution on the human rights situation in the country.
As far as Chad is concerned, the Commission decided to continue the monitoring - a decision which is fully justified by the grave situation - in a confidential procedure, though, i.e. not in public. Each year up until now, the FIDH and its affiliate, the Human Rights League of Chad, has campaigned in favour of the human rights situation in Chad to become the subject of a public debate at the Commission. The Commission has adopted a solution this year which is inappropriate, to say the least, since it deals with this situation under the point of its agenda entitled ‘consultative services and technical cooperation in the field of Human Rights’. This decision is far below the expectations of Human Rights defenders, since it proceeds from an analysis according to which human rights violations in Chad simply occur as a result of a lack of resources available in the country to remedy the situation. According to the FIDH and the Human Rights League of Chad, if this lack of resources is real, the fact remains that it still goes hand in hand with a lack of political will on the part of the country’s authorities. Apart from (financial and material) grants to those authorities, this would have required the maintenance of a monitoring system for the measures taken to enforce the respect for human rights in the country. It should be noted that, for instance, several of the 53 member states of the Commission (and the European countries in particular) have important stakes in Chad. The raison d’Etat has thus, once again, been more important than everything else.
Subject-related issues and procedures
The main ‘big issue’ concerning the subject-related procedures at the 55th session of the Commission was the designation of a Special Rapporteur on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, which all national and international NGOs had demanded for several years, with greater legitimacy, though, since the Declaration on the Protection of Huamn Rights Defenders was adopted on 9th December 1998 [4].
Human Rights defenders, i.e. citizens who actively campaign for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to become reality, and in accordance with this Declaration - play an important role in all societies. Their activities are often jeopardized by those whose power is at stake. This is why they need greater protection by the international community, in proportion to their commitment.
Time and time again, NGOs have stressed that this session of the Commission, which followed the adoption of the Declaration, was a propicious moment for creating a protection mechanism specifically for Human Rights defenders. Regrettably, the Commission has not fulfilled its promises : the resolution adopted on the issue is confined to inviting the existing procedures to apply the Declaration in fulfilment of their mandate, and to inviting the Secretary-General to submit a report to the Commission on ways of promoting the implementation of the Declaration. The FIDH, together with the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders which it jointly runs with the OMCT, and in concertation with other NGOs, will continue to push for the establishment of a protection mechanism for human rights defenders.
One important subject nevertheless caught the attention of the Commission. It has put in place a new mechanism on the protection of migrant workers, by appointing a special rapporteur who will be charge of carrying out enquiries on human rights violations among this vulnerable group of society. His work will enable the Commission on Human Rights to get more involved in the issue, without expecting the International Convention on the Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families to enter into force. The FIDH welcomes this development and will make sure that it regularly cooperates with the person to be designated by the Bureau of the Commission to fulfil this mandate.
As far as economic, social and cultural rights are concerned, no new procedure for the protection and promotion of these rights has been adopted.
The mandate of the special rapporteur on the right to education who, at the Commission meeting, submitted her preliminary report, remains the same. Apart from that, the draft optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights remains in the hands of the Commission; time for the member states to make their comments. By so delaying the adoption of the protocol, the Commission demonstrates its reluctance, as far as the justiciability of economic and social rights is concerned. Once adopted, individual residents of the state parties to the protocol are allowed to lodge complaints (‘individual communications’) to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights each time their rights guaranteed by the Covenant are violated.
The reform of the mechanisms of the Commission
This year, the Commission has spent time on the reform of its working procedures. The Bureau of the 54th session of the Commission had prepared a report containing proposals which tended to increase the effectiveness of the mechanisms of the Commission, according to the wording of the report. True, the majority of proposals go in the right direction, but the FIDH has still found a number of weaknesses : proposed for example, to weaken the competence of the Sub-Commission to adopt country resolutions, to convert the working group on arbitrary detention into a special rapporteur and to strengthen the role of the Chairman of the Commission proposals which go beyond measure and should be eliminated.
And the role of NGOs in the functioning of the mechanisms of the Commission is not mentioned, although it is them who submit the information on human rights violations in the field on a daily basis and although it is them who form the basis of their work.
An informal working group which brings together the member states and which is open for NGOs to participate, has been mandated to examine the proposals of the former Bureau. This group has held five meetings which have once again highlighted the total disagreement between the members of the Commission. The positive proposals of the Bureau turned out to be unacceptable for the group of countries who believe that national sovereignty is more important than the protection of human rights at international level. For those countries, it seems, the Commission will not be effective unless it no longer has the possibility to monitor the human rights situation in certain countries. In short, this draft reform has created an extreme polarisation of positions, making any negotiations very difficult.
A text of compromise in the form of a declaration of the Chairman concluded the debate on the reform of mechanisms. The Commission decided to form an inter-sessional working group, responsible for examining the reform of the mechanisms of the Commission and to submit a report at the next session of the working group to make sure that the debate does not jeopardize the role and the participation of NGOs forming part of the Commission on Human Rights.
In conclusion, this session of the Commission was not very productive, with member states appearing once again reluctant to respond to human rights violations appropriately and to take the demands of civil society into consideration. The Commission on Human Rights thus appears more like an arena for political negotiations than a place which is dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights.
Footnotes :
1. At the 55th session, which took place at the Palace of Nations in Geneva from 22nd March to 30th April 1999, the delegation of the FIDH, under the coordination of A. Bernard, Executive Director, S. Guillet, Head of Relations with inter-governmental organisations and E. Petroula, permanent deputy delegate at the United Nations in Geneva, was composed of 78 people altogether, representing the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights of Bahrain, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, The Human Rights Council of Kosovo, the Committee for the Administration of Justice of Northern Ireland, the Human Rights Committee for Viet Nam, Human Rights in China, Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, the Iranian League for Human Rights, the Mexican League for Human Rights (LIMEDDH), the Mexican Commission for Human Rights, the African Association for Human Rights (ASADHO), the Sudan Human Rights Organisation, the Finnish Human Rights League, the Committee of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Colombia, the British-Irish Human Rights Watch, the Scottish Center for Human Rights, the Swiss League for Human Rights and the Buthan Peoples Forum.
2. Two meetings were also held on the following subjects : the Human Rights situation in Mexico, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo ; on the protection of Human Rights defenders (for the publication of the annual report of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights defenders - joint FIDH/OMCT programme) on national security and Human Rights in Asia, as well as a seminar on the implementation of the 4th Geneva Convention in the Palestinian occupied territories and has co-sponsored a ceremony of tribute to Rosemary Nelson, lawyer, Human Rights defender and member of the Executive Committee of the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) in Northern Ireland, who was assassinated on 15th March 1999. The FIDH also organised a meeting between its member organisations which took part in the 55th session of the Commission.
3. There are currently 11 geographical procedures reporting on the Human Rights situation in the following countries : Afghanistan, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, Rwanda, Sudan, the Palestinian Occupied Territories since 1967, the territories of the former Yugoslavia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
4. Declaration on the rights and responsibilities of individuals, groups and other institutions around which society is organised, to promote and protect human rights and universally recognised fundamental freedoms.