Third Committee: social, humanitarian and cultural; Human rights dominate the development agenda.

In a year that has seen a renewed commitment to social development and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Third Committee's work on social, cultural and humanitarian issues has been of particular importance. Committee Chairman Francis K. Butagira of Uganda told the UN Chronicle that the 2005 World Summit was an important catalyst. It dealt with such issues as human rights, women in general, gender issues, disabilities and refugees--"all these have a direct bearing on the concept of the development agenda, as emphasized by the Summit", he said.

The Committee met 48 times, from early October to late November 2005, and addressed 14 agenda items encompassing issues ranging from international drug control to indigenous rights. Interactive debate on many issues was complemented by reports presented by heads of those UN offices, funds and agencies, whose work directly relates to the Third Committee's agenda, and by special rapporteurs and representatives, who were invited to report on a specific area of investigation. The Committee recommended to the Assembly 59 resolutions, of which 40 were adopted unanimously.

A significant resolution on reparation for victims of human rights abuses was adopted by consensus and praised as representing genuine progress. Titled "Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law", it was the culmination of more than 15 years of work by Member States, experts, the International Committee of the Red Cross and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These principles and guidelines provide a valuable tool to identify mechanisms and procedures for the effective implementation of existing legal obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. Although not legally binding and creating no new legal obligations, these guidelines provide victims and their representatives, including States, with a useful framework in designing and implementing public policies on reparations.

The General Assembly recommended that Member States take into account the principles and guidelines, promoting respect thereof and bringing them to the attention of the executive bodies of government. It also requested that steps be taken to ensure their widest possible dissemination in all United Nations official languages. The resolution's adoption constitutes "a milestone in the fight against impunity by stressing the principle of accountability for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law", the representative of Chile said, and reflects the international community's concern and solidarity with the victims of human rights abuses. Uruguay also welcomed the text, stressing that reparation, justice and truth were important in restoring social peace and strengthening the rule of law of institutions.

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The "Establishment of a United Nations human rights training and documentation centre for south-west Asia and the Arab region" also received strong multilateral support. The Commission on Human Rights had previously welcomed the offer in April 2005 by the Government of Qatar to host the centre, in Doha, which aims to support the development of national human rights capacities and infrastructure through regional cooperation. Under the resolution, approved by consensus, the General Assembly noted the continuing cooperation and assistance of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to further strengthen existing regional arrangements to promote and protect human rights, particularly through technical cooperation aimed at capacity-building, public information and education. Under the OHCHR supervision, the centre is mandated to undertake training and documentation activities according to international standards and support regional efforts of Governments, UN agencies and programmes, national human rights institutions and NGOs. The UN

Secretary-General and OHCHR were requested to support the centre through an agreement with the host country to set up and make resources available for its establishment.

As on previous years, country-specific resolutions again proved to be the most controversial. The Committee in 2005 approved texts condemning human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Myanmar, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and called on their Governments to take immediate action to address the situation. The Myanmar text was approved unanimously after that country's delegation disassociated itself entirely from it and declined to bring it to a vote. The other five were adopted by a majority of less than 100 votes, reflecting the deeply divisive nature of the resolutions.

The Committee for the first time addressed the human rights violations in Uzbekistan. Expressing grave concern at the "continuing and serious" violations, the Assembly called upon the Government of Uzbekistan to permit the full freedom of religious practice, register and allow independent political parties to participate in the electoral process, and lift restrictions on the activities of civil society, including NGOs. It also expressed concern over eyewitness reports of indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force by government troops to quell the May 2005 demonstrations in Andijan, resulting in the death of many civilians. Reports of arbitrary arrest and detention, suppression of independent media, refusal to permit the registration of opposition political parties and harassment of human rights defenders were also cause for grave concern. The Assembly expressed deep regret over Uzbekistan's repeated rejection of OHCHR calls to set up an independent inquiry commission.

A resolution on the human rights violations in Sudan was adjourned when a "no action motion", put forward by Nigeria on behalf of the African Group, was adopted by a narrow margin of 84 votes to 79, with 12 abstentions. Nigeria said that the African Group did not support initiatives that would endanger the peace agreements in Sudan. The United Kingdom, the main sponsor of the draft resolution, speaking also on behalf of the European Union, said that the situation in Darfur was the most serious and deserving case for action against grave human rights and humanitarian law violations and the prevailing culture of impunity.

Opposition to country-specific resolutions was particularly strong from Member States associated with the Non-Aligned Movement, which repeatedly supported the "no action motion" and voted against adoption. The texts were consistently criticized as being arbitrary and political in nature, based on "hypocrisy" and "double standards", and used "name and shame" tactics to selectively target developing countries, while turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in industrialized countries. Venezuela argued that this practice did not serve to advance the human rights agenda; instead "action should be aimed at encouraging cooperation for constructive multilateralism on human rights".

The question of addressing serious human rights violations was particularly topical in light of the concurrent discussions on the form that the proposed Human Rights Council would take and how it would affect the way human rights issues were dealt with by the United Nations. "The international community is at an historic crossroads, of whether to align itself with current conditions, or work for a new era in human rights implementation", Iran said. The World Summit Outcome document paved the way for the formation of a council to replace the existing oft-criticized Commission on Human Rights, while leaving up in the air many of the details of what form the new council would take. In response, the Committee organized an informal interactive debate on the challenges of implementing human rights instruments. "This was an opportunity to exchange views on the whole concept of setting up a human rights council", Chairman Butagira said. "There has been a constant criticism of the present Human Rights Commission being politicized, selective, engaging in double standards; and therefore this topic continues to be very, very interesting in provoking emotions", he added. "It has been very, very interesting to see how various countries explicate their reasons on this concept. The biggest challenge then, again, was how do you handle country-specific human rights resolutions?"

However, it was not only the country-specific resolutions that provoked division. A text on "Combating defamation of religions", which was previously adopted by the Human Rights Commission, called for the General Assembly to express deep concern at negative stereotyping of religions and related manifestations of intolerance and discrimination, and at religious defamation campaigns that have associated Islam with human rights violations and terrorism in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The resolution's explicit focus on Islam concerned many Member States. India said that although it condemned any attempts to associate Islam with terrorism and violence, and stood against negative stereotyping of any religion, it was concerned that the text spoke about only one religion, when in fact all religions faced similar problems. After the resolution was adopted by 88 to 52, with 33 abstentions, many delegations expressed hope that future texts on such an important issue would be more inclusive and adopted by consensus.

The text on "Inadmissibility of certain practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance" expressed deep concern over the glorification of the Nazi past through monuments, memorials and public demonstrations. It called for an end to such practices, noting that they did injustice to the memory of the victims of crimes against humanity committed during the Second World War, were incompatible with the United Nations Charter and democratic values, and encouraged the spread of various extremist political parties and groups. Several delegations expressed concern that the resolution threatened the freedom of speech and expression by failing to distinguish between actions and statements that were protected and those that promoted violence, which should not be protected. It was also criticized for undermining the rights to associate, assemble and express opinion. Chairman Butagira expressed regret that the resolution was put to a vote, which was adopted by 97 to 4, with 63 abstentions. "I think that was almost trivializing the issue".

In recent years, "resolutions, which used to be non-contentious, such as on the rights of the child, were being put to a vote", Singapore said, expressing deep regret that "some delegations seemed ready to fight to score points off each other". Mr. Butagira expressed similar sentiments, saying that the resolutions on the rights of the child and xenophobia were areas that "should have generated consensus--and to go to a vote, I think, this was unfortunate".

RELATED ARTICLE: The Second Decade of the World's Indigenous People

"Partnership for action and dignity" was the theme of the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, which officially started in 2005. The General Assembly approved unanimously a resolution on the Programme of Action for the Second Decade as a follow-up from its 2004 decision to continue the efforts that had been made during the First Decade (1994-2004).

The Programme of Action reaffirms the commitment of States to continue making progress in the advancement of human rights of the indigenous people at all levels, as well as in the areas of culture, education, health, environment, and social and economic development. While important advances were made during the First Decade, including the establishment of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, the High Commissioner for Human Rights has noted that indigenous peoples in many countries continue to be among the poorest and most marginalized. One of the major objectives of the Second Decade is the adoption of a declaration on the rights of indigenous people, which has been heavily debated for several years.

The resolution also appeals to the international community to provide financial support to the Programme of Action through contributions to the Voluntary Fund for the Second Decade, which provides financing for the implementation of related projects. Current projects include the Indigenous Fellowship Programme, which gives indigenous community members the opportunity to gain experience in human rights and the United Nations system, as well as community-led human rights training workshops for indigenous people.

Rodolfo Stavenhagen, the Special Rapporteur, reported to the Third Committee on his visits to Colombia, Canada and South Africa, and on his participation in 2005 in human rights and indigenous affairs forums. He stressed the importance of ensuring that the MDGs take into account the human rights of indigenous people, particularly in reducing extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education and ending discrimination against women. "Poverty indicators for indigenous people were generally above the national average, particularly for indigenous women", he said, and "urgent coordinated measures are needed to tackle the feminization of poverty".

The Coordinator for the Second Decade, Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs Jose Antonio Ocampo, works in cooperation with the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other relevant bodies of the United Nations system to fulfil his mandate and strengthen inter-agency coordination.

--Sally Bolton