Geneva, 7 July 1999
ECE/GEN/99/13
HUMAN RIGHTS:
FROM LAW TO ACTION
UN/ECE Year
2000 Hearings for the Millennium Assembly of the
United
Nations Opened Today
The European Regional Hearings
for the UN Millennium Assembly organized by the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)
opened this morning in the presence of over 400 representatives
of the civil society and of UN/ECE member States to discuss the
role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century and in
particular in this morning's session, the issue of Human Rights and
Globalization. His Excellency Mr. Guido de Marco, President
of Malta, chaired the meeting.
In his opening statement Mr.
Yves Berthelot, Executive Secretary of the UN/ECE, stressed the
tight interrelationships among three segments of the Hearings,
namely human rights, sustainable development and peace and
disarmament. "Human rights is an abstract concept for a
person who is starving, which means that sustainable development
is indispensable for achieving human rights. In turn, sustainable
development is only possible in a context of peace", said Mr. Yves Berthelot.
Mr. Miles Stoby, Assistant
Secretary-General, Coordinator for the Millennium Assembly,
mentioned that in preparation for the new millennium, and at the
request of the General Assembly, the United Nations has
designated its fifty-fifth session as the "Millennium Assembly of the United Nations" with an accompanying Millennium Summit. This is
expected to be the largest gathering of Heads of States and
Governments ever to be organized. It will be held in New York in
the autumn of the year 2000. In this context, the
Secretary-General of the United Nations has requested the five
Regional Commissions to organize Hearings in order to prepare for
this forthcoming event.
The outcome will make a
substantive contribution to the Millennium Assembly. In
particular, the Secretary-General will use the outcome of these
hearings to prepare the agenda of the Assembly and his own report
to the General Assembly. He called for the Hearings to be open,
frank and constructive.
The Chairman of the meeting, His
Excellency Mr. Guido de Marco, stressed that there were a number
of challenges which the United Nations had to face in the coming
years. He considered of the utmost importance the need to
revitalize the General Assembly. "If the General Assembly is not strengthened the
United Nations runs the risks of being marginalised". Another challenge facing the United Nations
which was directly related to the issue of Human Rights was how
and when should the international community intervene when human
rights were violated in a country? Who should authorize such
interventions and under which chapter of the Charter?
The opening of the two-day
meeting was immediately followed by the first thematic session of
the hearings on the question of human rights in the age of
globalization. Mrs. Mary Robinson, United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, acted as moderator. Mr. Theodoor
Van Boven, Professor, Faculty of Law, Mastricht University,
Netherlands; Mrs. Anne-Marie Lizin, Senator, Belgium;
Mr. Anders B. Johnsson, Secretary-General,
Inter-Parliamentary Union, Geneva; Ms. Limanovska, Executive
Director, National Women Information Center, Poland;
Mr. Robert Davies, Chief Executive, The Prince of Wales
Business Leaders Forum, United Kingdom, acted as panellists.
It was clear for all
participants that in the field of human rights, the UN offered a
comprehensive set of instruments which should contribute to
enabling the international community to ensure that human rights
be respected throughout the world. However that was not the case.
The twentieth century had witnessed little progress in this
context, and even setbacks in some cases.
An essential reason for this
failure was that these instruments were not implemented. Speakers
considered it as absurd to make new proposals if the existing
ones were not enacted. By enacted they meant not only ratified
but translated into practical actions at the local level. How to
better implement the UN instruments was therefore at the centre
of the debate.
One of the first reflections in
this context was "how can the UN do so without being more
democratic?" How can governments committing the
violations be the only interlocutors of the UN in this domain?
The answer to this concern could come from a fuller integration
of civil society, i.e. NGOs, business and parliamentarians in the
UN affairs. This integration could take the form of a People's Assembly formed of NGOs. In this context, the
representativity of NGOs was questioned by certain speakers who
felt that NGOs were not transparent enough and that elected
parliamentarians would be better interlocutors.
The second concern was related
to the inadequate amount of resources dedicated to human rights
in the United Nations context. "How was it possible for such a small team to
monitor and to react to what is happening throughout the world?" said one participant. This problem of resources
is one of the reasons why there appears to be a double standard
in applying human rights. Human rights should be the same for all
and there are no reasons why a region of the world should retain
the attention and resources of the UN when others are neglected.
The participation of business
was also highlighted. Privatisation is going on throughout the
world, the state is reducing its participation in the economic
activity. It is therefore important to associate more and more
business to whatever is going on in the United Nations bearing in
mind, however, that the goals of the two entities are not the
same; therefore, certain limits and criteria for this
participation should be drawn. Private sector alone will not
solve the development problems. Partnership with business can
nevertheless be a legitimate way to mitigate human rights
problems.
Participants also stressed the
importance of a better monitoring of what is happening in the
field of human rights, as well as better information. Last but
not least, the prosecution process in the case of violation of
human rights should become an important instrument for
implementing human rights principles.
For further information,
please contact:
Information Unit
United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)
Palais des Nations, Room
356
CH - 1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 917 44 44
Fax: +41 22 917 05 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.unece.org/press/press_h.htm