Economic and Social Council considers issues relating to human rights, women, drugs, homeless, southern Africa.

Economic and Social Council considers issues relating to human rights, women, drugs, homeless, southern Africa 

Action by the 54-member Economic and Social Council at its first regular session of 1986 concerned a wide range of issues, including human rights, illicit drug traffic, the homeless, the status of women, crime control, racial discrimination, population, youth and the disabled. Particular situations relating to southern Africa, the Middle East and other areas of the world were also the focus of Council attention.

The Council, in adopting 43 resolutions and 35 decisions during its four-week session (New York, 28 April-23 May), also reviewed matters relating to the International Year of Peace, being observed during 1986.

Debate on some human rights situations and issues concerning southern Africa, including transnational corporations (TNCs) and mercenaries, resulted in votes reflecting opposing views.

The Council condemmed collaboration by TNCs with South Africa in the nuclear, military and economic fields, and the increased recruitment, financing, training, assembly, transit and use of mercenaries to destabilize and overthrow certain African Governments.

Texts were adopted on the human rights situations in southern Lebanon and Kampuchea, with calls made for withdrawal of troops from both countries. Approval was given to continued monitoring of situations relating to El Salvador, Chile, Iran, Afghanistan, and Guatemala, as well as to investigations of torture, summary executions and disappearances. Calls for support to women in southern Africa and to Palestinian women were also made, and action to advance the status of women in general was recommended.

Preparations continued for the holding of an international conference under United Nations auspices on drug abuse, and the observance of the international Year of Shelter for the Homeless, both in 1987. Other resolutions called for action regarding family violence and physical abuse of women, and for the creation of a crime and criminal justice information network.

Southern Africa

The Council approved a number of texts concerned with the situation in southern Africa. Its resolution (1986/1) on TNCs is to be reviewed at the World Conference on Sanctions against Racist South Africa, scheduled for Paris, from 16 to 20 June.

By it, the Council reiterated that their collaboration with South Africa "perpetuates the system of apartheid and the illegal occupation of Namibia'. At the same time, it welcomed as an "initial positive step' measures taken by home countries of certain transnationals to restrict further investment in South Africa and bank loans to the Pretoria regime, and requested more detailed information on TNCs operating in the region.

The body urged implementation of recommendations of an 11-member Panel of Eminent Persons that held public hearings in September 1985 on transnational activities in southern Africa (see UN Chronicle 1985, No. 10/11).

The roll-call vote on the resolution as a whole was 34 in favour to 2 against (United Kingdom, United States), with 6 abstentions (Belgium, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain). Provisions relating to the Panel's work were retained after a separate vote of 23 to 2 (United Kingdom, United States), with 11 abstentions.

In its resolution 1986/43 on mercenaries, the Council said support to mercenaries, including "so-called humanitarian aid', aimed to destabilize and overthrow the Governments of southern African States and fight against national liberation movements of peoples for the exercise of their right to sell-determination. States were called on to ensure that their territories were not used for such purposes.

The vote on the text was 38 to 7 (Belgium, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States), with 8 abstentions (Australia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Jamaica, Spain, Sweden, Turkey).

The Council approved, by a vote of 34 to 13, with 6 abstentions, a paragraph urging the Commission on Human Rights to appoint a special rapporteur to study the subject. A preambular paragraph characterizing the use of mercenaries as a "crime against humanity' was adopted by a vote of 31 to 11, with 11 abstentions.

In a related action (1986/24), the Council demanded that South Africa stop recruiting, training and financing mercenaries and armed bandits to commit acts of terrorism against women and children in the front-line States. The international community was asked to step up support for those States and to stop supporting the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). The vote was 43 to 1 (United States), with 8 abstentions (Belgium, Canada, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom).

Denouncing the forceful conscription of Namibian men and women, the Council rejected South Africa's insistence on linking Namibian independence to the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola and called on all women of the world to support and assist efforts to end colonialism in Namibia. That text (1986/23) was approved by a vote of 44 to 1 (United States), with 7 abstentions (Belgium, Canada, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom).

A resolution (1986/22) by which South Africa was condemned for imposing the state of emergency, the forcible separation of black families and the detention and imprisonment of women and children was adopted by a vote of 44 to 2 (United Kingdom, United States), with 6 abstentions (Belgium, Canada, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan). A call for imposition of sanctions against South Africa was approved in a separate vote of 43 to 3 (Federal Republic of Germany, United Kingdom, United States), with 6 abstentions (Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Japan).

The Council also called for intensified support for and solidarity with South African, Namibian and refugee women and children in southern Africa, and for assistance to women in national liberation movements in the region (1986/25) by a vote of 43 to 1 (United States), with 8 abstentions (Belgium, Canada, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom).

In view of the "present explosive situation' in southern Africa, the body decided to pay particular attention to the Programme of Action for the Second Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination as it related to elimination of apartheid. The Secretary-General was asked to ensure co-operation between the Centre for Human Rights and the Office of the Co-ordinator in implementing the Programme of Action (1986/2).

Human Rights

The Council made a number of human rights recommendations, many of which had been forwarded to it by the 1986 session of the Commission on Human Rights (see UN Chronicle 1986, No. 3).

Condemning Israel for human rights violations in southern Lebanon, the Council demanded, by a vote of 35 to 1 (United States), with 17 abstentions, Israel's immediate, total and unconditional withdrawal from Lebanese territory to the internationally recogmized borders (1986/148).

Again calling for withdrawal of all foreign forces from Kampuchea, to allow the Kampuchean people to exercise their right to self-determination, the Council expressed grave concern at the dilemma of some 250,000 Kampucheans still stranded in Thailand as a result of foreign armed attacks on the civilian encampments along the Thai-Kampuchean border (1986/146). The vote on that text was 41 to 6 (Byelorussian SSR, German Democratic Republic, India, Poland, Syrian Arab Republic, USSR), with 4 abstentions (Finland, Iraq, Uganda, Zimbabwe).

Extension of the mandate of the Special Representative on human rights in Iran (1986/137) was approved by a vote of 21 to 7 (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey), with 19 abstentions.

The Council approved the Human Rights Commission decision to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan (1986/136), by a vote of 37 to 7 (Byelorussian SSR, German Democratic Republic, India, Poland, Romania, Syrian Arab Republic, USSR), with 7 abstentions (Finland, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Yugoslavia, Zaire, Zimbabwe).

The Council approved appointment of a Special Representative to receive and evaluate information from the Guatemalan Government on implementation of its new legal order for the protection of human rights (1986/140). It also approved appointment of a Special Rapporteur to examine implementation of the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, by a vote of 30 to 3 (Byelorussian SSR, German Democratic Republic, USSR), with 18 abstentions (1986/134).

A request from the Commission on Human Rights for additional staff and other assistance for its Special Repporteur on the adverse consequences for human rights of assistance given to the South African regime (1986/145) was approved by a vote of 41 to 7 (Belgium, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States), with 6 abstentions (Australia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Spain, Sweden).

In other action, the Council strongly condemned the crime of genocide and reaffirmed the necessity for international co-operation to eradicate it, urging States that had not yet become parties to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to do so without delay (1986/42).

The Council also approved renewal for another year of mandates of the Special Rapporteur examining summary or arbitrary executions (1986/36), the Special Representative investigating the human rights situation in El Salvador (1986/135), and Special Rapporteurs monitoring human rights in Chile (1986/143) and alleged torture worldwide (1986/138).

The Council asked Equatorial Guinea to facilitate repatriation of all refugees and exiles (1986/39), and decided that material relating to the human rights situation in the Philippines should cease to be confidential, since the Human Rights Commission had decided to terminate study of the situation there (1986/147).

A decision to authorize meetings of the Commission's Working Group of Governmental Experts on the Right to Development (1986/133) was approved by a vote of 42 to 1 (United States), with 10 abstentions.

The Council also authorized meetings of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities (1986/34), and open-ended groups drafting a convention on the rights of the child (1986/40) and a declaration on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms (1986/37).

The Council extended for two years, on an experimental basis, the mandate of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (1986/139). It also decided that a study on amnesty laws prepared by a Special Rapporteur should be disseminated as widely as possible (1986/38).

Rights instruments

In action on human rights instruments, States were invited to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the International Convenants on Human Rights by continuing and strengthening measures to conform with their provisions (1986/5). Countries which had not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1986/4) were urged to do so.

In addition, the Council approved arrangements for the first meeting, in March 1987, of the new Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is to replace the Sessional Working Group on the subject. States which had not yet become parties to the Covenant were urged to do so, by a vote of 47 in favour to none against, with the United States abstaining (1986/3).

Women

The Council reviewed action recommended earlier in the year by its Commission on the Status of Women (see UN Chronicle 1986, No. 3).

Steps to improve the situation of Palestinian women were approved by a vote of 44 to 1 (United States), with 7 abstentions (Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, United Kingdom) (1986/21).

A provision by which the Commission would propose in 1988 concrete assistance to Palestinian women based on a Secretary-General's report on their main humanitarian needs was approved by a vote of 43 to 1 (United States), with 8 abstentions (Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom).

A paragraph emphasizing that "nothing less than the achievement of their inalienable rights will put an end to the sufferings of Palestinian women' was approved by 41 to 1 (United States), with 10 abstentions.

(Israel, in a report before the Council (E/1986/78), said the situation of Arab women and children in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, when viewed in the context of traditions and conditions in the Middle East, "compares favourably with neighbouring Arab countries'. Significant progress, it said, had been achieved in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, "considering the situation in those areas prior to 1967, when the problems, neglect and suffering prevalent there were not subject to scrutiny by the United Nations for obvious reasons'. The report of the Secretary-General on "the situation of women and children living in the occupied Arab territories' (E/CN.6/ 1986/7), it said, "deliberately ignores the wealth of reliable statistics and information' available regarding the situation, and had repeated "platitudes and falsehoods' appearing in previous documents.)

The Council called for a special five-day session of the Commission on the Status of Women in January 1987 to consider implementation by the United Nations system of the Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women adopted at the 1985 World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the UN Decade for Women, and to consider proposed guidelines for the Commission's long-term work programme through the year 2000 (1986/30).

The Council appealed for implementation by African States and international organizations of the Arusha Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of African Women Beyond the United Nations Decade for Women (1986/28).

States, organizations and United Nations bodies were urged to continue to give priority attention to the development and implementation of effective measures to secure the exercise by women of their rights (1986/17).

The Secretary-General was asked to convene an interregional seminar to examine the question of national machineries to promote the advancement of women, and to propose guidelines for the operation of such machinery (1986/31).

The Council called on States to facilitate women's participation on an equal footing with men in making decisions having to do with peace, disarmament and international negotiations (1986/20). It urged the strengthening of women's presence in policy-making positions, substantive occupations and technical co-operation activities in the United Nations system, emphasizing that their presence would help organizations respond more effectively and efficiently to their mendates and their responsibilities towards society as a whole (1986/19).

In a text on the role of women in society, Governments were urged to take measures to support parenthood, such as paid maternity leave, parental and child-care leave (1986/27). The Council recommended that elderly women be accorded a respected role in society to "reduce their isolation and permit their full participation', and decided that data on their situation should be analyzed and exchanged among countries and within the United Nations system (1986/26).

Also, States and organizations were encouraged to collect data on violence in the family (1986/18), and to take urgent steps to eradicate sex-specific physical violence against women in detention (1986/29).

In addition, the Council renewed its appeal to Governments, non-governmental organizations and other potential donors to contribute to the Trust Fund for the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (1986/32).

Drugs

Measures to combat drug traffic and abuse were considered by the Council, which approved recommendations on organizational matters relating to the 1987 International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, and decided that the Conference Preparatory Body should be reconvened for a second session in February 1987 (1986/128).

William B. Buffum, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and co-ordinator of United Nations drug programmes, warned that the current financial crisis of the Organization could affect the outcome of the drug conference. The Council this year, he said, had a "particularly historic responsibility' in making sure Conference preparations proceeded smoothly.

To strengthen international controls on trade in secobarbital, a sedative-hypnotic listed on schedule III of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the Council invited Governments of exporting countries to consult the International Narcotics Control Board before authorizing shipments of the drug, whenever questions arose as to the authenticity of import requests or when the amounts appeared excessive in terms of legitimate medical requirements (1986/8).

In a text on supply and demand of opiates for medical and scientific needs, Governments that had recently begun or expanded production of opiate raw materials for export of opiates were urged to exercise "maximum' restraint. By a vote of 29 to none, with 21 abstentions, the Council also called on importing countries to obtain their licit requirements of opiate raw materials from traditional supplier countries insofar as possible (1986/9).

Other action

Increasing worldwide attention to the plight of the homeless was reflected in a resolution (1986/41) in which the Council expressed deep concern that millions of people did not enjoy the right to adequate housing, as provided for under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Governments and concerned institutions were urged to intensify their efforts to achieve the goals of the 1987 International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. The text was adopted by a vote of 51 to none. The Federal Republic of Germany and United States abstained.

The international community was asked to strengthen further the resource base of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) through greater contributions, in order to meet the increasing needs of the developing countries for assistance in population activities (1986/7).

The Council called on United Nations bodies and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, particularly youth organizations, to exert all possible efforts to implement the guidelines adopted by the 1985 World Conference for the International Youth Year for further planning and follow-up in the field of youth, and to consider ways to improve co-ordination and information in that field (1986/13).

The Council also called on United Nations bodies and organizations to ensure representation of disabled persons (1986/16), and reiterated the need to give greater publicity to the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992).

Crime: The Council approved proposals on crime prevention and criminal justice recommended by the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control at its ninth session in March 1986 (see UN Chronicle 1986, No. 3).

Among them were measures to implement the recommendations of the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (Milan, August-September 1985). Action in the regard concerned the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules), the basic principles of justice for victims of crime and abuse of power, and on the independence of the judiciary, as well as model agreements on the transfer of criminal proceedings and on supervision of foreign offenders who have been conditionally sentenced or conditionally released (1986/10).

Other resolutions related to prevention of arbitrary and summary executions; rights of those facing the death penalty; alternatives to imprisonment; prevention of domestic violence; conduct of law enforcement officials; and measures to ensure the rights of lawyers and their clients.

In connection with measures to strengthen the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch of the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs, the Secretary-General was invited to set up a crime and criminal justice information network (1986/11).

The Council also recommended steps to facilitate responses to the next United Nations Survey of Crime Trends, Operations of Criminal Justice Systems and Crime Prevention Strategies (1986/12).

Peace Year: After extensive negotiations, Council members finally reached consensus on a text (1986/15) by which it welcomed Government efforts to achieve the objectives of the International Year of Peace (1986). Asserting that universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms would contribute to international peace and co-operation, the Council called on Governments, United Nations bodies and other organizations and institutions to commemorate the Year "in the most appropriate form'.

In another resolution, the Council encouraged Members States to adhere to the International Agreement for the Establishment of the University for Peace, requesting the Secretary-General to consider the possibility of establishing an agreement between the United Nations and the University (1986/6).

In reviewing the July agenda the Council decided to give priority to considering the interrelated issues of money, finance, resource flows, debt, trade, raw materials, including energy, and development. It also decided to further consider a draft annex to the 1947 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies relating to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Photo: Programme to develop skills for women in Costa Rica was financed by the Voluntary Fund for Women.