Sale of children must be eliminated: development and gender issues stressed.

Children are being sold for prostitution, pornography and adoption at an increasing rate worldwide. That was the harsh conclusion of Ofelia Calcetas-Santos, a Filipina lawyer serving as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as she appealed to Governments to step up the fight to eradicate the sexual exploitation of children. She presented her report on 18 April to the fifty-second session of the Commission on Human Rights (Geneva, 18 March26 April).

In Asia, at least 1 million children are involved in the sex trade, in conditions virtually indistinguishable from slavery, Mrs. Calcetas-Santos estimated. Many are sold by relatives into sex rings that involve corrupt policemen and politicians. Globally, 1 million children join the ranks of the sexually exploited each year. She said that according to a recent United States Department of Health and Human Services report, up to 300,000 child prostitutes are walking the streets of the United States; many are no older than 11 or 12, and can be as young as 9.

Ms. Calcetas-Santos, who has a three-year mandate as Special Rapporteur, reported (E/CN.4/1996/100) equally harrowing allegations about the sale of children for pornography, adoption, labour, organ transplants and other purposes.

The Commission, on the basis of her report, expressed its profound concern that the situation of children in many parts of the world remained critical. It recommended that special rapporteurs, special representatives and working groups of the Commission and the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities pay special attention to situations in which children were in danger, including the plight of skeet children, exploitation of child labour, and children in armed conflicts, as well as children who were the victims of sale, child prostitution and child pornography. Governments were called on to take legislative, social and educational measures to ensure the protection of children from exploitation.

Deeply concerned at the persistence of such violations, the Commission recommended that States adopt measures to eliminate the existing market for such practices, and requested the group drafting a related optional protocol to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child to continue its work.

As regards this issue, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Jose Ayala Lasso will provide substantive support to the World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, to be held in Stockholm in August.

A round-up-of action

Meeting for six weeks, the 53-member Commission on Human Rights also adopted 83 other resolutions, as well as 14 decisions, the majority by consensus.

Among its measures, the Commission called for the creation of an open ended working group to develop policy guidelines for economic structural adjustment programmes and their effects on economic, social and cultural rights; and the holding by the Subcommission of a seminar of experts to develop guidelines on the subject of forced evictions.

The Commission extended the mandates of Special Rapporteurs on freedom of expression and on contemporary forms of racism; the expert for the special process on missing persons in the former Yugoslavia; the Secretary-General's Special Representative on the situation of human rights in Iran; and special rapporteurs on human rights situations in the former Yugoslavia, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Cuba, Myanmar, Iraq and Zaire.

Further meetings were authorized for working groups of the Commission on a draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples; a draft declaration on protection of defenders of human rights; a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict; and a draft optional protocol to the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment The Commission also endorsed a proposal to convene an additional two-week meeting of the Subcommission's working group on indigenous populations.

A subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council, the Commission on Human Rights is the central UN body responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights. Established fifty years ago, it can deal with any matter related to human rights at its annual six-week meetings in Geneva.

Gender-based issues

Governments have a duty to refrain from engaging in violence against women and to take appropriate and effective action concerning acts of violence perpetrated against them, said the Commission, which also condemned all human rights violations against women in situations of armed conflict. These were violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, it stressed, calling for effective response to such violations, in particular, to murder, systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy.

The Commission endorsed The decision of the Subcommission, its principal subsidiary body, to appoint Linda Chavez of the United States as Special Rapporteur to undertake an in-depth study of the situation of systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict.

In a resolution on violence against women migrant workers, States were encouraged to enact or reinforce penal, civil, labour and administrative sanctions to punish and redress wrongs done to women and girls subjected to any form of violence. In a related text, the Commission urged countries of destination to adopt measures to prevent excess*e use of force on the rights of all migrant workers and their families.

Right to development

The adoption, by consensus, of a resolution on the right to development was one of the "major achievements of the session", said Commission Chairman Gilberto Vergne Saboia of Brazil on 26 April. Reaffirming that the implementation of the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development required perseverance and concrete efforts, the Commission decided to establish an intergovernmental group of 10 experts to elaborate a strategy for the implementation and promotion of the right to development.

Concerned by the negative effects of the growing deterioration of living conditions of the large majority of people in the developing world on the full enjoyment of human rights, the Commission affirmed that debt repayments "should not take precedence over the basic rights of the people of debtor countries to food, shelter, clothing, employment, health services and a healthy environment". International financial institutions were asked to report periodically to the General Assembly and the Council on repercussions of their policies on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.

Country situations

In all, the Commission considered the human rights situations in over 30 countries and territories. It took action critical of the situations in: Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Nigeria, the former Yugoslavia, Cuba, Iraq, Zaire, Sudan, Afghanistan and Rwanda. It also adopted a measure condemning Israeli human rights violations in southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa, and called on Israel to end the bombardment of civilian targets in those areas. In one of several texts, the Commission also urged Israel to prevent any new installation of settlers in the occupied Arab territories. On the situation in Burundi, it urged the High Commissioner for Human Rights to increase immediately the number of human rights observers dispatched to the country.

In addition, four official statements by the Chairman were adopted which: expressed deep concern about continued cases of disappearances and torture in Colombia; deplored the indiscriminate destruction of life in Liberia; welcomed the visit to Indonesia of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to discuss the issue of East Timor; and called for an immediate, permanent cessation of bombardment of civilian towns and villages in the Russian Republic of Chechnya. The Commission rejected, in a no-action motion, a draft critical of the human rights situation in China.

Under its advisory services procedure, the Commission also considered human rights situations and programmes to promote human rights in Cambodia, Somalia and Haiti, and requested the Secretary-General to extend for a year the mandate of his independent expert on the situation in Guatemala. It voted to terminate consideration of the situation in Togo.

In closed meetings on 12 April, the Commission examined human rights situations in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Chad, Mali, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Thailand and Uzbekistan, and decided to discontinue consideration of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Mali, Nepal, Slovenia and Thailand.

Among its actions relating to the situations in various countries and territories, the Commission:

* condemned acts of genocide and violations of international humanitarian law on human rights in Rwanda and urged Governments to prevent their territories from being used for destabilizing activities;

* called on Nigeria to restore habeas corpus and release all detained political prisoners, trade-union leaders, human rights advocates and journalists;

* demanded that States arrest, detain and facilitate the transfer of persons indicted by the International Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia to its custody, and ensure adequate protection of witnesses;

* urged Myanmar to allow the released Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi freedom of movement and open a political dialogue with her and other political leaders;

* expressed strong condemnation of "widespread terror" inflicted by Iraq, in particular, through summary and arbitrary executions, systematic torture, and cruel and unusual punishment;

* deplored cases in Zaire of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, violence against women, arbitrary detention, summary executions and solitary confinement, inhuman and degrading prison conditions, particularly for children;

* urged Sudan to investigate reported policies or activities which supported, condoned, encouraged or fostered the sale of or trafficking in children, separation of children from their families and social backgrounds or which subjected children to forced internment, indoctrination or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

* urged all Afghan parties to halt the use of weapons against the civilian population, stop the laying of landmines and prohibit the recruitment of children as pare-combatants;

* called on Equatorial Guinea to promote the "harmonious coexistence" of all its ethnic groups;

* called for an end to rights violations in Cuba.

Hostages

The Commission demanded that all hostages be released immediately and without any preconditions, and called on States to prevent, combat and punish the taking of hostages.

The Commission also called on the representative and regional intergovernmental organizations to strengthen initiatives to facilitate, through regional approaches, assistance to and protection of internally displaced persons. It also recommended that the Council approve the Subcommission's request that the Special Rapporteur on human rights and states of emergency continue updating lists of States which had proclaimed, extended or terminated states of emergency.

States should refrain from adopting "unilateral measures of a coercive nature" with extraterritorial effects, according to the Commission, which rejected the application of such measures as tools for political or economic pressure against any country, particularly developing countries.

Indigenous and minority issues

The Commission created a new agenda item called "Indigenous Issues" under which the human rights of indigenous populations would be discussed each year. It also welcomed the General Assembly's affirmation of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, the adoption of a declaration on the rights of indigenous people, and the creation of a permanent forum for them within the UN system.

The Commission endorsed recommendations that the final report of the Special Rapporteur on the protection of the heritage of indigenous peoples be transmitted as soon as possible, and that a second progress report of the Special Rapporteur on the study of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between States and indigenous populations be submitted to the working group and the Subcommission.

Alarmed by acts of violence, intimidation and coercion motivated by religious extremism, the Commission condemned all such acts, including practices which discriminated against women.

Noting the need to promote multiethnic and multi-cultural diversity and seek solutions to problems concerning minorities, it also adopted resolutions on the promotion of tolerance and mutual understanding, and on the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.

Follow-up to the World Conference

Presenting his 18 March report (E/CN.4/1996/103) on the follow-up to the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, entitled "Making Human Rights a Reality", High Commissioner Ayala Lasso said human rights were "the basic link in the fence that holds together peace and development". While significant progress had been made in the last five decades in setting international norms and standards of human rights, he stressed, "the time has now come to make human rights a reality for people everywhere". Condemnation of human rights violations had to be made when necessary. However, "such condemnations should not be an end in themselves, but should be considered as part of the process of identifying durable solutions to serious human rights problems".

In follow-up to the World Conference, the Commission reaffirmed the importance of the promotion of universal respect for, and observance and protection of, all human rights and fundamental freedoms, as reaffirmed in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and called for States to take further action in light of the Conference recommendations.

Other action

Among its various other measures, the Commission:

* urged the international community to give appropriate support to developing countries in their efforts to control the transboundary movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes (32 in favour, 16 against, 3 abstentions);

* invited Governments to provide training in human rights and administration of justice, including juvenile justice, to all concerned with juvenile justice matters;

* expressed concern at the extensive detention of, and threats and acts of violence and harassment against, persons exercising the right to freedom of opinion and expression;

* requested the Secretary-General to allocate more resources from existing UN funds to enable countries in Asia and the Pacific to benefit from all the activities under the programme of human rights advisory services and technical assistance;

* called on all States to ensure that their laws, policies and practices, including those introduced in the context of HIV/AIDS, respected human rights standards, prohibited discrimination and did not have the effect of inhibiting programmes for the prevention of HIV/AIDS, and for the care of infected persons, particularly women, children and vulnerable groups;

* demanded that Governments end all acts, methods and practices of terrorism, regardless of their motivation;

* strongly condemned all extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.