COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS HEARS STATEMENTS BY NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

CESCR
26th session
13 August 2001
Afternoon






The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon heard statements by a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which spoke about the implementation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Senegal, Panama, Ukraine, Japan, Germany, and Nepal.

These counties are among the 145 States parties to the Covenant and their reports are scheduled to be considered during the current session of the Committee.

In their interventions, the NGOs told the Committee about problems related to the rights to housing, gender equality and health-care in these countries. Many speakers said that the economic, social and cultural rights of the populations in those countries had been violated and that the respective Governments had not taken appropriate measures to reverse the situation.

NGOs also made general statements about the situation in Israel, Zimbabwe and Angola.

Representatives of the following organizations took the floor: the World Organization Against Torture, the Centre for Reproductive Law and Policy (New York), Rencontre Africaine pour la défense des droits de l'Homme, the Latin American Committee for the Defense of the Rights of Women, the International Women's Rights Action Watch, the Japanese NGO Committee for the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Buraku Liberation Research Human Rights Institute, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, the Japanese Workers' Committee For Human Rights, the Working Women's International Network, the Hyogo International Human Rights Research Group, the Association of Korean Human Rights in Japan, the Lawyers' Group for Postwar Compensation for Koreans Living in Japan who are Japanese Military Veterans or Allied Civilians Personnel, the Lawyers' Group for Filipino Victims, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, the Alliance against Deportations of Southern Baden, the Food First Information and Action Network, the Protestant Development Service and the Protestant Aid Agency Bred for the World, the Forum for the improvement of the living conditions of old people in need of nursing care in Germany, Rural Reconstruction Nepal, the Women and Land Lobby Group, and the Congress of Racial Equality.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 14 August, it will hear a statement by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson. The Committee will then take up the second periodic report of Senegal (E/1990/6/Add.25) in the absence of a delegation.

Statements on the report of Senegal

The representative of the World Organization Against Torture regretted that despite the fact that the 1991 Constitution of Senegal guaranteed the enjoyment of the economic, social and cultural rights enshrined in the Covenant, no specific body of legislation guaranteeing these rights existed. There was a risk therefore that, for the time being, these rights remained at the level of principles or desirable goals. The World Organization Against Torture urged the Senegalese Government to pass legislation guaranteeing the enjoyment of these rights without discrimination, and to closely monitor the implementation of this law. Furthermore, the representative of the organization was very concerned about the ongoing deterioration of social indicators, even though economic growth had been consistent since the devaluation of the CFA Franc. This divergence between economic and social indicators might well highlight the authorities' inability to ensure a just repartition of wealth, as well as their failure to take appropriate steps, to the maximum of available resources, to implement the rights enshrined in the Covenant. The lack of participation of the civil society and affected groups in the elaboration and implementation of development programmes and projects also remained a concern.

The representative of the Centre for Reproductive Law and Policy (New York) said that despite the efforts of the State party, the health situation in Senegal was worrying, in particular the high rate of maternal death and infant mortality. Female genital mutilation, clandestine abortions and the HIV epidemic also threatened women's health. The access to social services, health-care services as well as sanitation remained a matter of concern. Moreover, the representative of the Centre for Reproductive Law and Policy said that in Senegal, sexual harassment was accepted as a normal behavior, as well as female genital mutilation. The representative suggested that sexual education was taught in schools in order to avoid most of these problems.

The representative of Rencontre Africaine pour la défense des droits de l'Homme said that in spite of the efforts of the country, access to health care remained weak. She regretted that the major part of the health staff was concentrated around Dakar, which only represented three per cent of the Senegalese territory. Moreover, because women did not have any education, they suffered from unemployment. Programmes must be created to give support to women and to help them enjoy their economic, social and cultural rights. Actually, such programs did exist but they did not have any practical impact. Lastly, she said that legal measures regarding discrimination and violence against women as well as prohibiting female genital mutilations also existed but were not implemented either

Another representative of Rencontre Africaine pour la défense des droits de l'Homme said that Senegal did take care of the problems of disabled persons. Nevertheless, facilities for the disabled such as schools and vocational training were mainly situated in Dakar. Structures should be built all over the country to avoid having disabled persons, who were very vulnerable, beg in the streets to be able to survive. The representative also raised the problem of vulnerable populations such as refugees. He was also very concerned about the restrictions on trade union rights. Indeed, worrying cases of dismissal for alleged trade unions activities continued to be reported on a large scale. Moreover, the protection of unionists was often not enforced.


Statement on the report of Panama

The representative of the Latin American Committee for the Defense of the Rights of Women said that Panama has made considerable progress regarding its legislation but without any practical effects. She mentioned for example that although legislation upheld equal wage for equal work, women still suffered from discrimination and were given lower salaries than men for the same work. Great disparities also remained between women and men in other various fields. Furthermore, she said that a mechanism should be created to receive complaints lodged from victims of sexual harassment. Social security was another field where progress had been noticed but more had to be done as various groups of persons still did not have access to social services. For example, legislation providing social security benefits and education to pregnant teenagers should be adopted.

Statement on the report of Ukraine

The representative of the International Women's Rights Action Watch said that despite constitutional and other legal guaranties of equality between women and men, exclusion of women in decision-making as well as violence and harassment against them still occurred. Moreover, the Government had not taken concrete steps to implement the right to work, specially for the most vulnerable groups. Work opportunities for women remained low. As a consequence, many Ukrainian women worked abroad and many of them had been victims of trafficking.

Statements on the report of Japan

The representative of the Japanese NGO for the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stressed that Koreans and other foreigners, including Japanese who returned from China after the war, continued to be disadvantaged in various fields, especially in employment, social security, medical care and education. The same held true for indigenous peoples and people with disabilities. While there had been progress in the field of gender equality, much remained to be done, especially in relation to participation in public life and family matters. In the field of social security, emergency medical care was sometimes not guarantied to foreigners and other vulnerable groups. Assistance for the family, namely the protection of the rights of children born out of wedlock as well as the provision of day-care centres, was also inadequate. The situation of the homeless people and forced evictions of them was also a matter of grave concern for this NGO. The representative said that he could not accept the argument of the Japanese Government that no forced evictions existed in Japan

The representative of the Buraku Liberation Research Human Rights Institute said that the Japanese Government had enacted a series of special laws since 1969 to eradicate discrimination against the Buraku. However, even though Buraku people continued to face discrimination and prejudice today, in particular in the field of marriage, education and employment, these measures would cease to apply in March 2002. The representative regretted that no survey on Buraku areas had been conducted since 1993 to determine the current situation.

A representative of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations said that in the jurisprudence of Japan, international treaties were regarded directly as national law. However, the Japanese Government interpreted that the Covenant did not set legal rights or obligations that individuals could rely on. It regarded the Covenant as simply a policy goal or a political obligation. The representative said that the Japanese Government should fundamentally change its understanding of legal obligations imposed by the Covenant. He also said that Japanese courts did not invoke provisions of the Covenant to relieve victims. Since 1979, when Japan ratified the Covenant, only one court decision had quoted the Covenant. An independent national human rights institution should be established to handle the violations of the rights provided in the Covenant.
The representative of the Japanese Workers' Committee For Human Rights pointed out that the Japanese Government had failed to address some important issues concerning labour rights. The Government itself had committed serious violations of the right of workers to organization, and even today failed to admit its responsibility and to follow the ruling of the Court that recognized unfair practices on the side of the Government as an employer. These practises constituted discriminatory treatments of workers in wages and promotion; that was against article 7 of the Covenant. Furthermore, the workers had to endure suffering for a long time to have their rights recovered, although "delayed justice is justice denied". Although the Japanese Constitution guaranteed workers' right of organization, some workers in the public sectors had been denied the right to form any labour union.

Another representative of the Japanese Workers' Committee For Human Rights said that there had been many compulsory retirement systems. In most Japanese companies, employees had to retire at the age of 55, while they could not receive pension until the age of 60. Many enterprises were unwilling to follow this new legislation; they adopted a new strategy to cut down the wage of employees when they became 55 years old. Japanese aged workers were now facing two types of discrimination based on the single fact of age.

The representative of the Working Women's International Network said that female workers were considered an inefficient work force because of possible long-term absences from work due to marriage and childbirth responsibilities. Gender discrimination continued to be practiced, women were less remunerated than men for the same work. The representative said that the Supreme Court recently revealed a document stating "Our Nation does not have legislation to assure equal wages between women and men". Japan must therefore respect its obligations regarding the Covenant, particularly with regard to sex discrimination.

The representative of the Hyogo International Human Rights Research Group said that the level of assistance given after the earthquake showed discrimination against the most vulnerable groups such as women, disabled persons and Burakus. No consideration was given to the minority groups after the earthquake in 1995.

The representative of the Association of Korean Human Rights in Japan said that Japan had deprived Koreans' of their name, their language and country since the beginning of the Japanese colonial rule over Korea. Although it had been more than 50 years since Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation, Korean schoolgirls wearing ethnic costume became the target of discriminatory acts such as violence or violent languages. But discrimination was not only at this level, the Japanese Government was still unwilling to prevent systematic discrimination against foreign schools like Korean schools.

The representative of the Lawyers' Group for Postwar Compensation for Koreans Living in Japan who are Japanese Military Veterans or Allied Civilians Personnel spoke about the situation of a client who served the Japanese military during World War Two and who had been denied financial support due to the nationality requirements in Japanese laws for such benefits.

The representative of the Lawyers' Group for Filipino Victims said that the organization was made up of Filipino comfort women, victims and survivors of rape and military sexual slavery. The Japanese Government was simply ignoring its legal responsibility despite the acknowledgment of the organizational involvement of the former Japanese military in the comfort women system. Instead, the Japanese Government had created the Asian Women's Fund, which offered apologies and atonement money in fulfilment of their moral obligations. The representative said that the Government should adopt measures to educate judicial personnel, particularly judges, as well as administrative officials and law enforcement officers, regarding the contents of the Covenant and the General Comments issued by the Committee. An independent national human rights institution should also be created to handle the violations of the rights provided in the Covenant.

The representative of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions said that because of the earthquake in 1995, many houses were destroyed and a large number of persons became homeless. The Government refused to provide protection against housing rights violations or to ensure basic shelter to the most vulnerable groups in Japanese society. One of the key reasons why housing rights were ignored by the State was due to the fact that housing laws and policies were designed primarily as a mean of ensuring employment within the powerful construction industry, rather than ensuring adequate housing for everyone, as stipulated in the Covenant. This approach forced prices higher and placed housing increasingly out of reach for average families. Given the extremely meagre welfare protection ensured by the Government, a growing number of families were facing homelessness.

Statements on the report Germany

The representative of the Alliance against Deportations of Southern Baden said that asylum seekers and refugees lived in bad conditions in centres which had very poor sanitary conditions. Limited health care was given to these persons as well as little education. The value of all benefits for asylum seekers was 30 per cent lower than the normal index of social help, which was defined as minimum existence. Among other reasons, the authorities said that integration of asylum seekers was not wished and socio-cultural activities were not necessary for the temporary stay of refugees.

The representative of Food First Information and Action Network said that the denial of social rights was frequent. Workers did not have any right to representation or strike. He said that the right to social assistance should not be only for people working, migrants should have the same rights as German citizens, especially health rights.

The representative of the Protestant Development Service and the Protestant Aid Agency Bred for the World said that Germany did not mention the effects of its policies on other countries and on German citizens living abroad. The lack of a written policy for the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights was also raised.

The representative of the Forum for the improvement of the living conditions of old people in need of nursing care in Germany said that more than 400,000 people lived in nursing homes. Investigations by the medical services of health insurance companies had revealed that considerable shortcomings existed in these nursing homes. A high percentage of these persons were deprived of the basic rights, such as the right to food and sanitation. The right attention and nursing care were denied as well as the right of movement. The Forum asked the Committee to express its concern about the situation of people living in nursing homes in Germany and to take steps to ensure that those people were looked after and treated humanely and with the proper medical care until they died.

Statement on the report of Nepal

The representative of Rural Reconstruction Nepal said that discrimination for ethnic reasons had economic, social and cultural dimensions. Trafficking of 200,000 women had occurred. The Nepalese Government must take measures to promote the rights of the women and to address the problems of people living in the far regions .




Statement on Israel

The representative of the World Organization Against Torture said that the human rights situation in Israel and the occupied territories still existed. Israel rejected the application of the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the occupied territories.

Statement on Zimbabwe

The representative of the Women and Land Lobby Group said that the Government of Zimbabwe should be urged to enact positive laws to protect women's rights. Indeed, Zimbabwean women still experienced discrimination and inequality with respect to their economic, cultural and social rights.

Statement on Angola

The representative of the Congress of Racial Equality said that the Angolan authorities should ensure the right to shelter of 50,000 persons who were living on the outskirts of Luanda and should guarantee that they were not evicted.


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