Position Paper
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POSITION PAPER 61st Session of the Commission on Human Rights March 14th – April 22nd 2005 FIDH FIDH 17, passage de la Main d’Or Délégation Permanente auprès de l’ONU F-75011 Paris – France 15, Rue des Savoises, tel. +33 (0)1 43 55 25 18 CH-1205 Genève - Suisse fax. +33 (0)1 43 55 18 80 Tel : +4122 700 12 88 [email protected] Fax : +4122 321 54 88 http://www.fidh.org [email protected] [email protected], [email protected] [email protected] FIDH Position paper – 61stsession of the CHR TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 INTRODUCTION 4 COUNTRY PRIORITIES 7 AFRICA .......................................................................................................................................... 7 Burundi ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Democratic Republic of Congo .................................................................................................. 7 Ivory Coast ................................................................................................................................. 8 Mauritania................................................................................................................................... 9 Sudan/Darfur ............................................................................................................................ 10 Togo.......................................................................................................................................... 11 Zimbabwe ................................................................................................................................. 12 ASIA AND MIDDLE EAST ........................................................................................................ 13 Bangladesh................................................................................................................................ 13 Bahrain...................................................................................................................................... 13 Egypt......................................................................................................................................... 14 Iraq............................................................................................................................................ 15 Iran............................................................................................................................................ 15 Lao People's Democratic Republic...........................................................................................16 Malaysia.................................................................................................................................... 17 Nepal......................................................................................................................................... 17 Occupied Palestinian Territories .............................................................................................. 18 Pakistan..................................................................................................................................... 19 People's Republic of China....................................................................................................... 19 Vietnam .................................................................................................................................... 20 EUROPE AND WESTERN COUNTRIES .................................................................................. 22 Belarus...................................................................................................................................... 22 Russian Federation ................................................................................................................... 22 United States of America.......................................................................................................... 24 LATIN AMERICA ....................................................................................................................... 25 Colombia .................................................................................................................................. 25 Cuba.......................................................................................................................................... 26 Guatemala................................................................................................................................. 26 Haiti .......................................................................................................................................... 27 THEMATIC PRIORITIES 28 Corporate Responsibility in relation to Human Rights ............................................................ 28 Death Penalty............................................................................................................................ 28 Discrimination based on Work and Descent ............................................................................29 Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity ............................................. 29 Economic, Social and Cultural Rights......................................................................................30 Enforced Disappearances ......................................................................................................... 30 Extreme Poverty ....................................................................................................................... 31 Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism.......... 32 p. 2 FIDH Position paper – 61stsession of the CHR Human Rights Defenders.......................................................................................................... 33 Indigenous People..................................................................................................................... 34 Reparation for Victims of Violations of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law34 Impunity.................................................................................................................................... 35 p. 3 FIDH Position paper – 61stsession of the CHR INTRODUCTION Returning to the protection mandate « Faced with the multiplication of flagrant violations of Human rights and the impossibility to denounce them in countries, the only hopes of victims, their families, and of Human rights defenders are the condemnations and the pressures which can be exerted by the international community. The Commission, threatened, must be able to assume its central mission to achieve that purpose ». Sidiki KABA, President of the FIDH Only a few days away from the opening of the 61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) publishes its position paper. FIDH calls upon States members of the Commission to better exercise the protection mandate assigned to this body, as required by Resolution 34/175 of the UN General Assembly. Therefore, FIDH calls for the adoption of resolutions on 21 countries, and also urges recommendations on 12 specific themes. Guaranteeing its protection mandate On the occasion of previous sessions of the Commission on Human rights, and lately at the last session of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, a campaign against item 9 - country resolutions - has been openly launched by a number of countries. They have been using the fallacious argument of « political selectivity » of country resolutions to tentatively –and successfully - eliminate their examination and adoption by the Commission. FIDH reaffirms that CHR’s primary mandate is to evaluate and take position on the situation of Human rights throughout the world. Item 9 is a necessary instrument for the fulfillment of this task. Faced with attacks which have recently become systematic, FIDH recalls the necessity and the urgency, for States composing the Commission, to respect the objectives that have been assigned to this institution: - The public condemnation of Human rights violations are seriously feared by their authors. This can be easily measured with efforts deployed by targeted States to prevent such condemnations in the corridors of the Commission. Condemnation has a protecting deterrent effect when violators know they are being observed. - Resolutions enable the public qualification of human rights violations by the UN body, a first step in a process leading to justice and the reparation of victims. - Resolutions are requested by human rights defenders who, in the field, are the primary witnesses p. 4 FIDH Position paper – 61stsession of the CHR of human rights violations, sometimes at the peril of their lives. The argument of excessive politicization does not hold in front of voices who only demand compliance with international human rights law. “Reforms” are always justified when it is to reduce the alarming malfunctions characterizing a political organ such as the Commission on Human Rights. However, more than a new reform, it is political will that is lacking among the States composing the Commission, to allow it to carry out its mandate. FIDH fears that the new reform procedure aiming to further the credibility of the Commission, although necessary, is a new opportunity or pretext to reduce once again the Commission’s capacities to protect victims. FIDH therefore calls upon