Human rights issues dominate the agenda.

Human rights questions again dominated the agenda of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), as it had in past sessions, with nearly one third of its 50 meetings devoted to these issues. Acting on the Committee's 12 reports, the General Assembly adopted 78 resolutions and decisions, 30 of which addressed a broad range of human rights issues. Other resolutions focused on social development, the advancement of women, promoting and protecting the rights of children, international drug control, crime prevention and criminal justice, the elimination of racism, as well as racial and religious discrimination, the support of refugees, indigenous peoples, the rights of peoples to self-determination and the condemnation of the use of mercenaries and terrorism.

One of the highlights of the Committee's session was the first address by the newly appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, who said it would be farsighted for the international community to offer the same level of protection to individuals in economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, as it afforded them in the political and civil sectors.

The emphasis on human rights issues took an added significance, as the Committee continually stressed the importance of the forthcoming commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the first five-year review of the Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted in Vienna in 1993 at the World Conference on Human Rights. The related activities were to take place within the context of the Human Rights Year (1998), launched on 10 December 1997. The Assembly urged all Governments to contribute to implementing the Plan of Action for the Decade for Human Rights Education, 1995-2004, by establishing broadly representative national committees for human rights education. The Assembly decided to proclaim 26 June as International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. It also adopted a decision on arrangements for awarding human rights prizes during 1998.

A series of debated human rights issues resulted in resolutions that were the subject of recorded votes. The implementation of the Declaration on the Right to Development especially received a great deal of attention in the Committee's debate, and the Assembly, adopting a resolution by a vote of 129 to 12, with 32 abstentions, reaffirmed the importance of the right to development as an integral part of fundamental human rights. Developing countries, by and large, called for respect for cultural and religious diversity around the world, respect for sovereignty and an end to the politicization of human rights issues. In contrast, several developed countries called for common standards of human rights and stressed that economic and social rights did not come before individual liberties.

Some controversial resolutions adopted by recorded vote dealt with unilateral coercive measures, noninterference in the States' electoral processes, condemnation of terrorism, use of mercenaries, freedom of travel and family reunification, strengthening United Nations action in the field of human rights, strengthening the role of the United Nations in promoting periodic and genuine elections, and the implementation of human rights instruments concerning coordination between human rights bodies.

By the terms of the text on Kosovo, the Assembly expressed deep concern about all human rights violations there, in particular, the repression of the ethnic Albanian population, and called on the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to take all necessary measures to end immediately all human rights violations against ethnic Albanians. On the human rights situation in the Sudan, the Assembly expressed deep concern at the serious, widespread and continuing human rights violations in that country and outrage at the use by all parties to the conflict of military force to disrupt or attack relief efforts. On Iraq, the Assembly strongly condemned the massive and extremely grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the Iraqi Government, and the suppression of freedoms in the country, including that of thought, expression, association and movement, summary and arbitrary executions, and widespread, systematic torture.

Some other resolutions addressed the human rights situations in Iran, Cuba, Nigeria, the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Haiti, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Rwanda and Burundi.

Refugees

The Assembly adopted five resolutions concerning refugees. On the humanitarian issue of refugees, returnees and displaced persons, the Assembly called upon Governments, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and the international community as a whole to strengthen the emergency response capacity of the United Nations system on the basis of the experience of the emergency in the Great Lakes region, and invited international institutions to contribute to the financing of projects and programmes within the framework of the Programme of Action, adopted by the 1996 regional conference on refugees and displaced persons in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Condemning all acts that posed a threat to the personal security of refugees and asylum seekers, the Assembly called upon States of refuge, in collaboration with international organizations, where appropriate, to ensure the civilian and humanitarian character of refugee camps and settlements. It condemned all acts of exploitation of unaccompanied refugee minors, including their use as soldiers or human shields in armed conflict and their forced recruitment into military forces. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, up for review every five years, was extended for a further period, from 1 January 1999.

In taking up the issues related to migrants workers and their families, the Assembly reaffirmed that all Governments, particularly those of receiving countries, must recognize the right to the universal freedom of travel and the vital importance of family reunification, and promote its incorporation into national legislation in order to ensure protection of the unity of families of documented migrants. The resolution was adopted by a recorded vote of 94 to 1 (United States), with 73 abstentions. It also expressed deep concern at the growing manifestations of racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination and inhuman and degrading treatment directed against migrant workers in different parts of the world.

Crime prevention, drug control

The Assembly established an open-ended intergovernmental group of experts to elaborate a preliminary draft of a comprehensive international convention against organized transnational crime. It also requested the Secretary-General to intensify technical assistance to Member States and provide them with advisory services in combating corruption, and to elaborate model legislation to assist Member States in giving effect to the Model Treaty on Extradition, in line with recommendations of the Intergovernmental Expert Group on Extradition. The Assembly also agreed upon the year 2000 to hold the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders.

In adopting a seven-part resolution on international drug control, the Assembly derided to hold a special session on illicit drugs from 8 to 10 June 1998, and called for Member States to participate at a high political level. The text, which received widespread support from Member States, covered such issues as increased international cooperation to combat drug abuse and illicit trafficking, principles for demand reduction and the decline in resources for international drug control. The newly-appointed Executive Director of the new Office for Drag Control and Crime Prevention, Pino Arlacchi, called on Member States to reassert their strong commitment to drug control as a priority at the national and international levels in the political declaration to be adopted at the special session.

Women and children

On the issue of the advancement of women and follow-up to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing), the Assembly adopted resolutions on women in rural areas, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), improving the status of women in the Secretariat and violence against women workers. Throughout the Committee's debates and in numerous resolutions, the issue of mainstreaming a gender perspective in every aspect of social, humanitarian, human rights and cultural issues was reinforced.

With regard to the rights of children, the Assembly stressed the need for full and urgent implementation of the rights of the girl child, urged the universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and emphasized such issues as children with disabilities, the damaging effects of armed conflicts on children, refugee and internally displaced children, child labour and street children. Resolutions were adopted on traffic in women and girls, traditional and customary practices affecting women and girls, and assistance to unaccompanied refugee minors.

Racial discrimination

In unequivocally condemning all forms of racism and racial discrimination, the Assembly categorically deplored the misuse of print, audio-visual and electronic media, and new communication technologies, including the Internet, to incite violence motivated by racial hatred. It encouraged the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to continue to contribute fully to the implementation of the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination and its revised Programme of Action, and decided to convene a word conference on racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance no later than the year 2001. The Assembly urged all States to ensure that no one within their jurisdiction, because of religion or belief, was deprived of the right to life or the right to liberty and security of person, or subjected to torture or arbitrary arrest or detention. It further appealed to States to protect the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.