1993 session: human rights, social development.

During its five-week substantive session of 1993 (28 June-30 July, Geneva), the Economic and Social Council adopted more than 100 resolutions and decisions on an entire gamut of issues before it. Among the highlights to be recommended to the General Assembly were: adoption of a Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women; launching of the 1994 International Year of the Family; proclamation of 1995 as the UN Year for Tolerance, and 1994-2003 as the third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination; and declaration of 3 May as World Press Freedom Day.

More than 50 Government Ministers and officials of multilateral financial institutions, at the Council's two-day high-level segment (29-30 June), discussed the role of the UN system in promoting social development, including preparations for the World Summit for Social Development, scheduled to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1995.

Emergency relief and the continuum from rehabilitation to development were a focus of the coordination segment, convened from 1 to 6 July. The Council agreed that the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator should serve as the humanitarian advocate to ensure that the principles of humanity. neutrality and impartiality are fully taken into account in planning the Organization's responses to complex emergencies and that relief strategies should be compatible with longerterm rehabilitation and development.

Efforts by the UN system to prevent malaria and diarrhoeal cases were also addressed during that segment, and the Council decided that prevention and treatment of those diseases should be included as a major focus of health and development, as the benefits dwarfed the costs involved.

In the wake of its operational activities for development segment (7-9 July), the Council underlined the importance of making early progress on decentralization and delegation of authority in field operations and requested the UN system to devote sufficient resources to the triennial policy review of the Organization's operational activities.

Following is an overview of other selected texts, many of which were recommended for final action by the General Assembly.

HUMAN RIGHTS ...

* Asked for the elaboration of a draft optional protocol to the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and of a draft declaration on "the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms"; and requested annual report on the transition to democracy in South Africa.

* Established a working group to identify obstacies to implementing the 1986 Declaration on the right to Development, and asked for intensified implementation of the 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

* Approved preparation of a study on the human rights dimensions of population transfer, including the implantation of settlers and settlements, and continued work on a study on the right to a fair trial.

* Requested a report on ways the international Labour Organisation and other UN bodies protect children and other persons exposed to contemporary forms of slavery.

* Approved an expert meeting on international standards concerning the human rights of detained juveniles.

* Asked for appointments of Special Rapporteurs on: human rights and extreme poverty; contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; the right to freedom of opinion; the right to adequate housing; rape and abuse of women and children in the former Yugoslavia; human rights situation in Sudan; and alleged violations by Israel of international law and the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

* Extended the mandates of Special Rapporteurs on Cuba, Afghanistan, Haiti, Myanmar and Iraq.

* Called for appointment for one year of a human rights expert to assist the Special Representative for Somalia; asked for a one-year mandate extension for the independent expert in El Salvador; and approved funds to support the Centre for Human Rights in Cambodia.

ECONOMIC AND DEVELOPMENT

ISSUES ...

* Welcomed Japan's invitation to host the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction from 23 to 27 May 1994.

* Requested a report on scientific and technological aspects of the conversion of military capacity for civilian use and sustainable development, having stressed the importance of supporting developing countries in harnessing the potential of science and technology in achieving sustainable development.

* Established an ad hoc panel of experts to study strategies for using science and technology in promoting exports.

* Called for studies on global investment flows related to transnational corporations, in particular on the role of foreign investment in Africa.

* Urged African countries to mobilize their own financial resources through increased domestic savings and better management of national resources.

* Asked developing countries to complete the fourth replenishment of the international Fund for Agricultural Development.

* Supported decentralization to achieve a more effective distribution of responsibilities between global, regional and national entities in the social and economic fields.

* Asked that priority be given to strengthening technical cooperation among developing countries.

WOMEN'S ISSUE ...

* In recommending adoption of the Declaration on Violence against Women, called for condemnation of such violence; asked that States not invoke any "custom, tradition or religious consideration" to avoid obligations as to its elimination; and urged steps to guarantee appropriate punishment of perpetrators of such violence.

* Called for further steps, as requested in "Agenda 21", to ensure participation of women in policies relating to sustainable development.

* Asked again for measures to advance the status of Women within the UN, including promotion to senior-level positions.

* Urged those involved in the multi party forum in South Africa to place high on their agenda issues concerning women, and urged support for projects to aid Palestinian women.

DISABLED, ELDERLY

AND YOUTH ...

* Recommended adoption by the General Assembly of the draft Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, which provides preconditions, targets, implementation measures and monitoring mechanisms for equal participation.

* Asked for a draft plan of action based on the work of the UN Expert Group Meeting on a Long-Term Strategy to Further the Implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons to the Year 2000 and Beyond, adopted in 1982.

* Asked that the international Year of Older Persons be redesignated as the International Year of the Elderly, and appealed for wide support for its observance in 1999.

* Endorsed the calendar of activities to mark in 1995 the tenth anniversary of the International Youth Year, with the theme: Participation, Development, Peace.

DRUGS AND CRIME ...

* Asked for convening in 1994 of a World Ministerial Conference on Organized Transnational Crime.

* Approved the Provisional agenda for the Ninth Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, to be held in Italy in 1995.

* Urged dissemination of the proposed guidelines on urban crime to be considered by the Ninth Crime Congress.

* Requested that activities in the field of environmental crime be considered within the UN.

* Stressed the importance of developing programmes to combat drug abuse by reducing demand, and called for implementation of the 1989 UN System-wide Action Plan on Drug Abuse Control.

OTHER MATTERS

* Urged Governments to intensify their commitment to reduce tobacco consumption.

* Supported the World Health Assembly's call for a study on establishing a joint UN programme on human immune deficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

* Supported the action programme to improve the UN informatics systems.

* Urged States to incorporate population, environment and development concerns in their inputs to the forthcoming international Conference on Population and Development, and asked for completion by February 1994 of a draft final document for that meeting.

* Accepted China's invitation to host the thirteenth UN Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific, and decided to convene the Sixth UN Regional Cartographic Conference for the Americas during the first half of 1997.

* Approved a special session of the Statistical Commission to monitor progress made in the revised System of National Accounts.

* Recommended adequate funding for the Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods.

* Reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people and the population of the occupied Syrian Golan to their economic resources, and called for the immediate lifting of Isrieli restrictions that might hinder UN assistance to the Palestinian people.