Subcommission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights continues debate on remaining human rights topics

Subcommission on the Promotion
and Protection of Human Rights
53rd session
14 August 2001
Afternoon




Terrorism, Traditional Practices Affecting Women,
Sexual and Contemporary Forms of Slavery,
and Administration of Justice Discussed


The Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights this afternoon carried on with its debate on various forms of human rights abuses, addressing issues such as terrorism, traditional practices affecting women, sexual and contemporary forms of slavery and the administration of justice.

Subcommission Expert Rajendra Kalidas Wimala Goonesekere presented the report of the Working Group on contemporary forms of slavery, saying that the major issue of the session had been trafficking in persons, particularly women and children; examination of the issue had shown that the problem was very serious. He said the link between poverty, ignorance, international debt and slavery-like practices had led to the trafficking problem. The Working Group had also addressed issues concerning trafficking in children and in human tissues.

And Subcommission Expert Yozo Yokota presented the report of the sessional Working Group on the administration of justice, saying that the agenda had focused, among other things, on functioning and accountability of United Nations peace-support operations -- a new item; and on deprivation of the right to life, with special reference to imposition of the death penalty and extrajudicial executions. Other agenda items were improvement and effectiveness of judicial mechanisms; the administration of justice through military tribunals and other exceptional arrangements; discrimination within the criminal justice system; and domestic implementation of the obligation to provide domestic remedies.

While the comments concerning terrorism tended to be more broad and general, observations on the other issues were specific, at times targeting certain countries or regions for human rights abuses. Several speakers took the Government of Japan to task for not acknowledging the issue of "comfort women" -- women taken as sexual slaves by the Japanese military during World War II -- and not offering reparations, apologies, or even recognition in its textbooks. Other speakers brought up the traditional problems of female genital mutilation in various parts of the world, and others spoke about the enslavement of people in all areas, including Sudan. The discussion on terrorism, which began at the Subcommission's morning meeting, was less specific, featuring general themes such as defining terrorism and terrorists.

Alternate Expert Kalliopi Koufa, who authored the report on terrorism and human rights, responded to several questions and comments from her colleagues by saying it was difficult to come up with a definition for terrorism, and one would not be found in the report. The United Nations had been trying to define the term since it started considering the issue in 1972, and, she said, it was not likely to be found in this, or subsequent reports. Instead, Mrs. Koufa said, it was perhaps best to leave out the definition, as United Nations bodies had done with the definitions of minority and indigenous peoples.

Non-governmental organizations participating in the debate were: the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers; the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies; Medecins du Monde International; the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations; the World Muslim Congress; Liberation; the International Fellowship of Reconciliation; the World Union for Progressive Judaism; the Asian Women's Human Rights Council; Korean Women's Associations United; Interfaith International; the Minority Rights Group; the Indian Movement Tupaj Amaru; the Tunisian Mothers' Association; the World Organization against Torture; the World Federation of Trade Unions; the International Association of Democratic Lawyers; the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation; Pax Christi International; the Union of Arab Journalists; the World Federation of Mental Health; the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization; the International Movement against all Forms of Discrimination and Racism; and the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace.

Also, the representatives of the following national delegations spoke: Mauritania, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Nepal, and Iraq. In addition, Viet Nam, Japan, and Mauritius took the floor, exercising rights of replies.

The Subcommission will meet at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 15 August to conclude its debate on other human rights issues. During the day, it will start to take action on draft resolutions, measures and decisions.

Other Human Rights Issues

Under this agenda item, the Subcommission has before it a report of the Working Group on contemporary forms of slavery on its twenty-sixth session (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/30) which recommends that all States which are not parties to the Slavery Convention of 1926, or other related conventions, become parties as soon as possible. The report also expresses the hope that the Working Group will receive cooperation from all States, particularly the States most concerned, with regard to the annual issue selected by the Working Group, and invites non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations to provide information and testimonies with regard to the particular issue selected for consideration at the annual session of the Working Group.

The report of the sessional Working Group on the administration of justice (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/7) was not available.

Statements

STEVEN SVOBODA, of the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centres, said progress was being made in the fight against female genital mutilation, but male circumcision also occurred; it took place more than six times for men for every one time it occurred for women; it was also often done at a very young age. Were males not also human beings; did they also not suffer from the removal of healthy human tissue from their bodies without their consent? This, too, was a form of discrimination. Such acts were just as much human rights violations when committed against men. Various human rights conventions barred discrimination on the basis of sex.

If males were included in human rights, why had they been excluded from the mandate given to Special Rapporteur Warzazi, who previously had focused on traditional practices harmful to women and children, but now concentrated on women and the girl child? Male circumcision was not trivial; some boys died in hospital after circumcision; some 35 had died in South Africa so far this year, while others had lost their penises. The procedure was not a small one and was very painful; it interfered with breastfeeding, and there was no medical benefit to circumcision. The Subcommission should study this matter, particularly as it applied to children.

HARISH GUPTA, of the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, said one of the most perplexing paradoxes of both developing and developed societies was that while they professed a profound faith in the right of life for every human being, irrespective of sex and other socio-economic attributes, many social evils were still prevalent in societies and perpetuated practices that were contrary to the human rights commandments on the right to life and other rights pertaining to human dignity. The human rights rhetoric relating to the rights of the weaker and vulnerable sections of the society, especially women and girls, were negated when viewed against the raw and repressive social realities. The twin social evils of female foeticide and female infanticide were a case in point. The persistence of these two evils exposed the hollowness of the contemporary discourse on the human rights of girls. All civilized societies, whether in the Orient or in the Occident, had revered and respected human life, both before and after birth. Accordingly, the codified law in all societies held human life to be sacred. To that end, certain specific legal provisions were devised and developed to protect the life of both the born and unborn in the mother's womb. All religions forbade anything that interfered with procreation. Any interference in procreative functions was treated in all organized religions as abhorrent, immoral, irreligious and contrary to divine law. Abortion was regarded as the willful destruction of life, and as such, foeticide was forbidden and classified as murder.

The blanket ban on abortion had its own ill effects, as it deprived women from an opportunity or right to have or not to have a child. While women organizations were hailing the liberalization of abortion laws, recent advantages in medical technology had opened the road to wide-ranging interventions in the sphere of human reproduction. Medical science had discovered prenatal diagnostic techniques like amniocentesis and ultrasonography which had come to be hailed as the gifts of modern medical science for the betterment of human kind. Unfortunately, misuse of these technologies for the purpose of sex determination was posing a serious challenge in view of the growing problem of female foeticide.

GRACIELA ROBERT, of Medecins du Monde International, said the organization had been in Guinea since January 2001; although the situation had somewhat stabilized, hundreds of thousands had been forced to leave their homes, and many had had to be evacuated from the area near the Sierra Leone border to camps far away. Women in Guinea had been particularly subjected to sexual violence, among other things by the rebel groups; rape as a war activity had been carried out systematically. Pregnancies often resulted. These acts resembled slavery in that there was kidnapping, loss of liberty, and loss of control over one's body.

Massive displacements of people had led to violence against women outside the conflict areas; in transit camps, women were repeatedly raped; security forces carried out many acts of sexual violence against women who were in situations of extreme vulnerability. This occurred frequently, and the women so affected were not able to complain to the authorities. The Subcommission should continue to look into sexual violence against women in times of conflict and should continue to seek justice for the victims of such crimes.

. FISSEHA YIMER, Subcommission Expert, said the study on terrorism reflected excellent work on a complex topic. The structure of the study was interesting, and clearly brought out the various aspects of terrorism and its relationship to human rights. The major issue was the definition of terrorism, and who was a terrorist. It was hard to define many things, like indigenous peoples. However, the work was still able to proceed. The study did not need a definitive definition. With regard to sub-State actors, why was that term used instead of individual terrorists? The use of sub-State actors implied that they were always there -- as if terrorism was the norm of the State. On the manifestations of State terrorism, the most important distinction was between armed conflict and terrorism. It was important to remember, however, that even when there was an armed conflict, there could be instances of terrorism. The report made it sound like if one existed, the other was not present.

Referring to contemporary forms of terrorism, there was reference to the means of terrorism -- biological weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, for example. But if there was no one using the weapons, there was no contemporary form of terrorism. Regarding the impact of terrorism on human rights, the report said there was not a single human right exempt from the impact of terrorism. The question of extradition would hopefully be tackled in a future report. The report also said care should be taken not to legitimize terrorist groups.

RAMANATHAM KUMAR (India) said the debate on terrorism had remained inconclusive partly because of genuine conceptual inadequacies and partly because of misleading propaganda by State and non-State actors who sought to conceal their self-serving violent agendas behind such lofty principles as "self-determination" and "freedom struggle". Ironically the bogey of "State terrorism" was raised in some cases by States which denied even elementary rights, such as representative governance, to their own people. Not a single human right was exempt from terrorism. Studies of terrorism should not get bogged down in a definition; international instruments on various aspects of terrorism gave a clear indication of what it was.

India considered terrorism totally at odds with democratic liberal societies -- indeed, terrorism was an enemy of democracy. There was an urgent need to ensure that non-State actors were accountable for acts of terrorism; India did not agree that only States violated human rights. Terrorism promoted by certain States as an instrument of foreign policy was even greater in its scale and consequences. India had been the victim of some of the most brutal manifestations of such terrorism. India hoped that a comprehensive international convention on terrorism would be completed expeditiously.

FRANCOISE JANE HAMPSON, Subcommission Expert, said the report on terrorism proved that one could survive even when given a poisoned chalice. The report drew a distinction between armed conflicts and terrorist acts, although other speakers were correct to point out that such acts could still take place during armed conflicts. Regardless of the situation, an act against civilian populations could never be tolerated. In future reports, it could be helpful to analyse enforcement of domestic criminal law when what the State considered a terrorist act was committed. To ensure against impunity, what was needed was improved bilateral and multilateral agreements. When other States would not agree to extradition, they should agree to carry out a trial themselves. The State had an obligation to ensure that there was a prompt and thorough investigation into human rights violations, and that the perpetrators were brought to trial. They should not be free to wander around unpunished. In relation to the International Criminal Court, it should be noted that a terrorist act could be considered a war crime. Further, it was agreed that the use of the term "sub-State terrorism" was confusing. There could be individual terrorism acts, but it was more common to see terrorism carried out by groups.

SAFI GHULAM MUHAMMAD, of the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, said people subjected to foreign occupation, alien domination and the colonial yoke were entitled to seek liberation from such suppression and to realize their right to self-determination; they were entitled to wage an armed struggle in response to occupying-power brutalities and violations of human rights, including the right to life. This was a deep concern for the Kashmiri people who were being repressed with impunity by India, the occupying power. The Indian Government not only was carrying out acts of State terrorism against Kashmiri civilians but had organized a "secret army" to defame the Kashmiri struggle.

In Kashmir innocent people were being killed, women were being raped, and civilians were being imprisoned and tortured with impunity; the Indian Government was exploiting international sensitivities about terrorism to justify its repressive policies in Jammu and Kashmir. Domestic laws imposed by India in Kashmir, such as its Public Safety Act and Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act, should be examined in detail as they were discriminatory and conferred impunity on perpetrators of human rights violations. The Subcommission's Special Rapporteur should carry out a case study on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

ASBJORN EIDE, Subcommission Expert, said it was depressing in human rights forums to see that if something was done in the name of self-determination, acts of terror could be justified. That should be made clear after that last intervention.

LEILA ZERROUGUI, Subcommission Expert, said she denounced all violence committed against women and children based on centuries-old traditions and practices; she also denounced such violence in situations of armed conflicts -- in fact this kind of violence seemed to be going on with alarming frequency around the world. Efforts had been made, but progress had been slow and irregular, and much still had to be done. Every year a range of injustice, violence, and crimes against women was revealed -- in armed conflicts, in the workplace, affecting even the family. Traditional practices led to inhuman suffering by women.

Often those who denounced such crimes noted a connection with Islam, Mrs. Zerrougui said. But such abuses occurred around the world. In her own country, it had been difficult at first for juries to convict those who carried out crimes of "honour"; now such perpetrators got no sympathy at all. It was important to continue education and publicity activities so as to make clear that such violence had nothing to do with Islam or any other religion; these were simply inexcusable crimes.

Trafficking in women for prostitution also was an enormous and inexcusable problem, Mrs. Zerrougui said; women in fragile situations were exposed to such trafficking, and they were vulnerable because they were desperate. Much more international cooperation was needed to combat this crime. Current international instruments, including recently adopted ones, did not provide enough protection. Also, victims were too often further abused because they were foreigners in irregular situations. The Subcommission should assign someone to pursue this topic, and should appoint a man to avoid the stereotypical pattern of appointing only women to investigate issues affecting women.

KALLIOPI KOUFA, Special Rapporteur on Terrorism and Subcommission Alternate Expert, said it was difficult to come up with a definition of terrorism, and the reasons for that were spelled out in the report. There were 200 different definitions, and it was not thought that a 201st definition would have been helpful. This definition had not been found in the United Nations since the issue surfaced in 1972, and it was not likely to be found in this, or subsequent, reports. Perhaps it was best to leave it, as the definition had been left for minority people and indigenous people. The report did not refer to country situations because it was important to give a broad overview. The targets were not addressed very much in the report, because it was thought that it would be more important to address the situation of the actors first. Questions on extradition and universal jurisdiction would be further addressed in future reports.

KAUSAR TAQDEES GILLANI, of the World Muslim Congress, said the women of Jammu and Kashmir were subjected every day to rape, sexual abuse, beatings, torture and killings carried out by Indian State agents with the full knowledge and usually under the orders of higher authorities. Women had become a soft target in India's war in occupied Kashmir. Constant disturbances in Kashmir also had changed the entire life pattern of children -- they were increasingly traumatized and often orphaned.

The United States State Department had reported that a pattern of rape by paramilitary personnel allegedly existed in Jammu and Kashmir. In Kashmir, as in many eastern societies, a woman's honour was considered her most sacred possession and any stigma of rape or sexual violence could ruin her reputation forever and render her a psychological wreck; in order to save family "honour", many rape victims took their own lives. The Indian occupation forces were fully aware of this social stigma and were exploiting it for their own political and military objectives. The women of Kashmir were still waiting for international attention to their plight. The Subcommission must call upon India to discontinue this systematic policy directed against Kashmiri women and to end the impunity of its armed forces against prosecution for such crimes.

MOHAMED OULD SIDI HAIBA (Mauritania) said Mrs. Warzazi should be congratulated for her exhaustive report on the health of women and girls, which included an analyse of the situation in Mauritania. It looked at approaches to eliminate practices that had a negative effect on women and girls. Mauritania had worked hard to eliminate all such practices. This was done through modernization of legislation, and setting up bodies to take over this activity. Vast education activities were also undertaken, and international organizations with a know-how in the field were consulted. Parliament adopted a law on personal status, which set up family standards and addressed things like marriage, divorce and inheritance. This would strengthen families -- it eliminated early marriages by setting the minimum age of 18, and allowed women to take steps toward divorce. This was a major innovation in Mauritania's legal landscape. It should be stressed that this law was the product of cooperation between politicians and civil society. Many people had contributed to its drafting and its ratification.

RAJENDRA KALIDAS WIMALA GOONESEKERE, Subcommission Expert, presenting the report of the Working Group on contemporary forms of slavery on its latest session, said the meeting had been attended on its opening day by the High Commissioner for Human Rights; the major issue of the session had been trafficking in persons, particularly women and children; examination of the issue had shown that the problem was very serious. Trafficking of women across borders had not abated, and meanwhile there had been an increase in women trafficked within countries for purposes of prostitution. Women were trafficked from various regions of the world to the amount of 45,000 to 50,000 annually; worse, these women appeared to be becoming younger and younger; often such women were misled and lured into networks by false promises of decent work; once trafficked they were essentially imprisoned in brothels.

The link between poverty, ignorance, international debt and slavery-like practices had led to the trafficking problem, Mr. Goonesekere said. There appeared to be no voluntary choice when such women were so vulnerable and desperate; the Working Group felt that legalization of prostitution would not help. International protocols relevant to the matter had been discussed and were found to be effective in their human rights content; correct and humane treatment of victims was highly important. It also was found to be important to impress upon the media that it should not promote or legitimize the sex industry.

Trafficking in children also went on and was a horrible abuse, Mr. Goonesekere said; often the reason was economic exploitation in domestic service or agriculture, although some children ended up in mining operations. Even legal migrants tended to be improperly treated; often their passports were confiscated and their working conditions were far from acceptable. Bonded labour continued in various countries, in which children worked to pay off the debts of their fathers -- although supposedly bonded labour was abolished, that was not true. Pakistan had abolished bonded labour in 1992, and the Government had shown great will to that end, but there were still cases of such labour in Pakistan and, among other places, in Nepal. Forced labour had been reported in Brazil. Female genital mutilation had been outlawed in the United Kingdom, but it was pointed out at the Working Group that such laws had to be backed up with educational and publicity campaigns.

Atrocious cases had been alleged of trafficking in human tissues, Mr. Goonesekere said, wherein people, including children, were trafficked and then their tissues harvested, leaving nothing but what remained of their lifeless bodies.

Non-governmental organizations had attended the Working Group's session, bringing in some cases victims of trafficking who had explained their ordeals, Mr. Goonesekere said.

HESUK SONG, of Liberation, said systematic rape, sexual slavery and exploitation were still ongoing in many places, even if the forms of such cases were different from those in the past. For example, in Asia, there were increasing incidents of organized and even institutionalized sexual exploitation and violence against women and girls. Bride trafficking, so-called sex tours and child pornography on the Internet constituted forms of contemporary sexual slavery practices. One area of concern was the current issue of the comfort women of Korea, and their calls for justice from the Japanese Government. In an earlier session, one of the members of the Subcommission had expressed the difficulty of teaching the issue of comfort women to young pupils. At the same time, because of the very reason of such difficulty, it was important to have a sincere commitment by Governments to educate with historical accuracy, including on the issue of comfort women.

Recalling the importance of taking responsibility for past colonial policies in order to go forward in the future, Liberation requested the Subcommission to urge the Japanese Government to take the responsibility of its past war crimes very seriously. It had to be sincerely devoted to the fact-finding process and the establishment of a proper reparation system for victims.

JONATHAN SISSON, of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, speaking on behalf of the Japan Fellowship of Reconciliation, said most of the victims of the Japanese military sexual slavery during World War II had not survived the ordeal, but research over the past decade had revealed that some 200,000 women had been forced into such slavery. This Japanese military practice was in clear violation of the International Labour Organization Convention on forced and compulsory labour which was signed by Japan without restriction in 1932, not to mention other norms of international law. The Subcommission noted in 1996 that States must respect their international obligations to prosecute perpetrators and compensate all victims of human rights violations, and that State obligations to compensate victims could not be extinguished by peace treaties or amnesties. Nonetheless a situation of de facto impunity prevailed in relation to Japanese sexual slavery; not a single case pertaining to war crimes had ever been prosecuted in a Japanese court during the post-war period, and Japan claimed that bilateral treaties prevented it from providing compensation to victims.

The Subcommission should adopt a resolution on systematic rape and sexual slavery which could respond both to past and ongoing violations of human rights; and it should explore the possibility of setting up a truth and reconciliation commission to implement the recommendations contained in previous Subcommission reports on wartime sexual slavery.

DAVID LITTMAN, of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, said among those who had seen their dream of freedom come true in these past four months were 6,706 black African slaves freed from bondage in Southern Sudan, both Christians and traditionalists. Since 1995, 10 networks of humane Arab retrievers, working in association with official black Sudanese community leaders and with Christian Solidarity International, had helped in liberating as many as 54,426 slaves. But, tragically, tens of thousands of women and children still remained enslaved in Northern Sudan, according to estimates of the Civil Commissioners of the six counties of Northern Bahr El Ghazal region.

Of the freed Sudanese female slaves interviewed by human rights researchers last month, 82 per cent reported having been repeatedly raped by Arab soldiers following raids on their villages, and 47 per cent stated that they had been gang-raped while being forced to march from their destroyed villages to their Northern masters. Meanwhile, 16 per cent testified that they were subjected to female genital mutilation by their Arab masters during the captivity as slaves.

NORIHIRO YOSHIDA, of the Asian Women's Human Rights Council, said it was vital to end impunity for violence committed against women during armed conflict, and in that context it was important to have historical recognition of sexual slavery carried out by the Japanese army during World War II -- it was one of the most serious cases of violence against women and its solution had been delayed into the new century despite the survivors' struggle for restoration of their dignity. The Japanese Government should respond to the demands of the international community.

Concern also was felt over a recently approved revisionist history textbook to be used in Japan. This had occurred despite recommendations that Japan openly acknowledge and teach accurately its recent history. The textbook should not have been approved. The Subcommission should recommend that Japan admit legal liability for sexual slavery during World War II; investigate the facts of this slavery; reform its historical education, especially in relation to the history of modern Japan; abolish its textbook screening system which had allowed the revisionist history book to be approved; and retract approval of the textbook in question in response to the demands of the people and Governments of its neighbouring countries.

A representative of Korea Women's Associations United, said the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal 2000 for the Trial of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery was established by various Asian women non-governmental organizations, acting on behalf of victims and survivors. The tribunal met in Tokyo last December, and dealt with not only the State responsibility of the Japanese Government, but also those individuals who had committed atrocities against countless women in the Asia-Pacific region during and before World War II. It was regrettable that the Government of Japan had refused to attend. The judges had found the indicted, including Emperor Hirohito, guilty under international law at the time of rape and sexual slavery. Since 1996, the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Committee of Experts had found several times that gross human rights abuses and sexual abuse of women detained in military comfort stations should be characterized as sexual slavery. While requesting the Government to take necessary steps to compensate the victims, the ILO Committee stated the Japanese Government was correct in stating that compensation issues had been settled by treaties. The ILO Committee did not provide any ground or reasoning for this position.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report on rape and sexual slavery, but it did not incorporate information on whether the Government had fulfilled the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on wartime sexual slavery. It was still a fact that the Government of Japan failed to acknowledge its legal responsibility. Domestic remedies sought by victims before Japanese courts had not been effective either. There was also a serious matter over the history textbooks that the Japanese Government had approved as suitable teaching materials for young students. These books did not make any reference to Japanese military sexual slavery.

KIM YONG HO (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) said many cases of past and current slavery practices had drawn international attention. But despite continuous efforts, sexual slavery continued in several parts of the world. Sexual slavery in wartime was a crime against humanity; it caused unbearable and long-lasting suffering. There should be thorough punishment of past offenses of this nature, but Japan had yet to resolve the crimes committed under its system of sexual slavery during World War II. The crime against the "comfort women" was the most serious involving sexual slavery, as it had affected some 200,000 Korean women, as well as thousands of other women.

Subcommission Special Rapporteurs had submitted recommendations on the matter, calling for compensation by the Japanese Government to the victims and for acceptance of historical accountability by Japan. But Japan had not cooperated, even as the few surviving comfort women continued to suffer in the last phases of their lives, when their dignity could be restored by acknowledgement and compensation. Meanwhile, Japanese officials visited and honoured monuments to war criminals. Any country that had violated international law must accept its moral and legal responsibilities. Japan should do so.

BYUNG-SE YUN (the Republic of Korea) said the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on systematic rape and sexual slavery had called such practices a grave breach of international humanitarian law. But that had yet to be recognized by States that had committed the most abominable crimes against humanity. The Special Rapporteur of the Subcommission had called the enslavement and rape of over 200,000 women and girls in comfort stations or rape centres throughout Asia during World War II as the most egregious international crime of slavery, crime against humanity and war crime. Today, there was concern by the glorification and glossing over of past wrongdoings reflected in certain history textbooks in a country responsible for them. Such concealment and abridgement reopened old wounds of the victims of State-sponsored violence, and further dishonoured the dead. Nations had a right to choose their own textbooks, but this did not mean that they were allowed to distort history. Without a correct perception of the past among nations, particularly between neighbours, a genuine friendship could not be cultivated in the truest sense. The Republic of Korea was seeing recognition of past wrongs, not for the sake of revenge, but for genuine reconciliation for the present and future.

NABIN SHRESTHA (Nepal) said the report on contemporary forms of slavery spoke of bonded labour in Nepal, but did not reflect the full situation or the efforts made by the Government to end such practices. A system of bonded labour had been prevalent in five districts in Nepal until it was thoroughly abolished in the year 2000, at which time all persons in such situations were freed and considered to be under no further obligation. There had been some delays in Parliament in relation to steps involving obligations of landlords and the welfare of ex-bonded labourers.

A series of measures had been taken to provide land, education and other services to landless families and ex-bonded labourers. Income-generating schemes were being established to help rehabilitate such workers. All possible efforts were being made, but in view of the magnitude of the problem it was clear that major international economic support was needed. Nepal was also committed to rescuing, rehabilitating and protecting children in unacceptable labour situations. Poverty and problems in providing sufficient education were a serious obstacle to ending child labour, but partnerships with international agencies were being established as part of a major effort to eradicate child labour.

FAN GUOXIANG, Subcommission Expert, asked if there was simply a problem with the history books, or if there was a larger national problem? It was the Japanese Government which had to assume responsibility. Japan, unlike the European countries that tried to find solutions, had actually backtracked with its history about the war. There should be international ramifications on the issue. Japan had actually apologized, but it was not willing to make reparations. It might seem that the textbook issue was a simple issue, but it was a very complicated issue. It had to do with the role of Japan in World War II. Yesterday, the Japanese Prime Minister had visited a national shrine which contained war criminals. This was opposed by the Cabinet members, but the Prime Minister still went to the shrine. That would generally cause diplomatic problems. It was wrong. This was not a problem with only one country; it was a principle. Sexual slavery was a part of armed conflict and war. The Special Rapporteur said that they went together. It was believed that there should be more investigation into this. What if this occurred again in the future? The Subcommission should give due attention to these issues.

IULIA-ANTOANELLA MOTOC, Subcommission Expert, said she hoped the Working Group on contemporary forms of slavery would continue its work, especially on behalf of women who were victims of trafficking. As the years had gone by, in the Subcommission and elsewhere, the question of women had become more and more marginalized; women talked about women; now there was one man who was a member of the Working Group, but still there was a certain marginalization. Everyone kept waiting for anniversaries or some other excuse to discuss the rights of women. Maybe next year the Subcommission should give the topic more room and raise it as the first substantive item on its agenda -- in fact, she wanted to propose that idea.

She felt the same way about traditional practices affecting the health of women; this issue, too, needed more time and attention, and could be included in a separate agenda item on women and raised first at next year's Subcommission session.

SOO GIL PARK, Subcommission Expert, there was agreement that the visit by the Japanese Prime Minister to a shrine featuring war criminals was felt and regretted throughout not just the region, but throughout the world. On a different topic, when people were trafficked, they were completely deprived of basic human rights. There were about one million of these people. They were forced to languish in horrific conditions. Reasons for trafficking ranged from greed to political instability. It could be a high-profit enterprise with relatively low risk. Regarding the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on sexual slavery, it gave an insight into the root causes of sexual violence. It pointed out appropriately that sexual violence in armed conflict stemmed from the low status of women in society, and that showed the necessity for a more fundamental approach to the problem of equal rights of women. Women needed a greater role in economic and social fields in their societies.

YOZO YAKOTA, Subcommission Expert, said a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Governments and Subcommission colleagues had spoken about the "comfort women", and he wished to express his views. Japan had committed a terrible violation of human rights against the victims of the comfort stations system; he considered it a violation of international law. It was difficult to conclude, however, whether individuals had the right to pursue compensation and apologies from the Japanese Government under international law -- the matter was disputed under international law. As to whether compensation issues for the "comfort women" had been settled by treaties after the war, that also was a disputed matter. The reports before the Subcommission in the past had said these compensation demands were not settled by such treaties. Some recent court decisions, however, had ruled that individual victims could not claim compensation from Japan for wartime atrocities.

The International Labour Organization's (ILO) expert committee had decided that the Japanese Government was correct as a matter of law in that it had settled compensation matters through treaties signed. He was not sure if he agreed; he thought the matter was complex and difficult. Linda Chavez, a former Subcommission Expert who had researched the topic, had seen a number of victims; they were getting old; some of them were ill and needed special care; she had appealed to the Government of Japan to do something, and in response the Japanese Government in 1995 had created the Asian Women's Fund, a voluntary fund, which had provided some funds for victims -- some money for atonement, some 2 million yen per person, or US$17,000 per victim, was donated by Japanese citizens; other funds had come from the Japanese Government, of about $10,000 to $25,000 per person; the amount varied. There had been criticism about the system; many victims wanted compensation based on legal rather than moral responsibility, which he thought was correct -- but there had been great difficulty in solving the legal issues, and meanwhile this Fund had been made available to those victims who were willing to accept it. Up to now, 170 women had received the funds.

As a member of the Asian Women's Fund advisory board, Mr. Yokota said, he had insisted that the history of Japanese sexual slavery be set out clearly in Japanese textbooks; as a result most textbook publishers had reflected the comfort women issue, but unfortunately, over time, textbooks had begun to delete their references to this issue. He regretted this, and the advisory board was continuing to pressure publishers to keep this subject in the textbooks.

MR. PARK, Subcommission Expert, said he had not wanted to take the floor, but he had decided to do so when Mr. Yokota had referred to money. This was not about money. It was about whether the Japanese Government would recognize what it had done to the dignity of these human beings. He remembered when an 11-year-old girl had been taken by the Japanese police. When he had been in the United Nations, he had expressed his strong disgust. These women, although they could be called comfort women, were sex slaves in the truest sense of the word. No amount of money could recover their dignity.

MR. YOKOTA, Subcommission Expert, said he was aware of the problem of money mentioned by Mr. Park, and agreed that money was not the issue; he only mentioned it to put the facts before everyone. He also thought the two categories of money were important -- the money of atonement was from the Japanese people, while the money that was not related to atonement was from the Japanese Government. He agreed with Mr. Park, and he felt the Japanese Government should itself provide atonement money.

As for legal responsibility, he had said very clearly that he did not support the conclusion of the International Labour Organization (ILO) expert committee; he had said the legal issue was not easy to answer and it took time to settle, and meanwhile something should be done for the victims who were growing old. That was the reason the Japanese Government had created the Asian Women's Fund. He knew that a great majority of Koreans, and many others, too, rejected the Asian Women's Fund, but the Fund, after all, had been the outcome of the debate in the Subcommission. The Fund was not satisfactory, it was not enough, but it was something, and it had been recognized by various Special Rapporteurs and by the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

HALIMA EMBAREK WARZAZI, Subcommission Expert, said that for seven years, the Subcommission had considered the problem of comfort women. The war had finished in 1945; the colonized countries had received their independence in the 1960s, and they had not received apologies. Everywhere people suffered from colonialism, and there had not yet been a single apology. Apologies were not requested right away -- it was important to study the issue first and to have a true dialogue. It was shocking to see that after all the Subcommission's discussions that this was still being discussed. There would not be a fight between herself and Mr. Joinet because France had occupied Morocco for over 40 years. Who talked about the massive rapes in Bosnia? Were there any discussions about the rapes in Kosovo? The Subcommission should wait and see what happened with the resolution it would adopt this year.

MR. EIDE, Subcommission Expert, said Mr. Yokota had done what was possible for an independent expert to do; it was beside the point for him and Mr. Park to have more discussion on this matter. But he did think the Japanese Government could show the same acknowledgement that the German Government had shown recently in relation to forced labour in Germany during World War II; he hoped Japan might use the German model as something it could emulate.

MR. PARK, Subcommission Expert, said Mrs. Warzazi had asked why this had to keep coming up. It was too bad that this had been addressed for seven years, but the very reason it was here was that people had had their rights violated. This was not just between Japan and Korea. Germany had been able to make amends with its past.

GUL NAWAZ KHAN, of Interfaith International, said democracy was the only form of government which guaranteed such rights as freedom of speech, assembly, and the right to vote. However, democracy and elections had to be truly democratic; the recently held election in the Pakistani-held part of Kashmir had excluded 32 candidates of 12 political parties because they had refused to sign a declaration acknowledging "state accession to Pakistan" of the region; moreover, more than 200 political activists had been beaten and detained for over a month, an event severely criticized by Amnesty International.

The working paper on consolidating democracy submitted to the Subcommission pointed out that there could be problems if there was insufficiency of mechanisms of dialogue and participation within a State -- that the fact that people had no voice in Government often led to conflict; in Pakistani-held Kashmir and in Pakistan's Northern Territories there was an absence of such participatory mechanisms. The democratic process in Pakistan might progress if such people were given their rights. It was to be hoped that certain Governments, in this case Pakistan, would put in practice the conclusions of the working paper.

CHRISTOPHER CHAPMAN, of the Minority Rights Group International, said that in Haiti, democracy was considered by many to be something quite new, and had not yet had time to prove itself by bringing about major changes for the good. For this reason, when something went wrong publicly, people had a habit of writing it off as democracy. It was often said that in every joke there was an element of seriousness. The report on democracy was excellent; it very clearly pointed out that democracy was not just voting every few years. Most States were a composite of diverse ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural or indigenous communities. A democratic system based simply on the rule of the majority was unlikely to create the conditions for these communities to realize the full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. The report stated that democracy should transfer powers, in order to allow the poor and marginalized members of society a status of citizenship, which integrated them fully in the political and economic system, and made them directly responsible actors at the national, regional and local levels. The urgent need to ensure effective participation was evident. Recent events in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had shown that the mere presence of a minority in Government was not enough to ensure the realization of the full range of rights by that minority. Just to give an example, until now, the Albanian language had not been recognized as an official language of the State.

NURGUL YAKISAN, of the Indian Movement Tupaj Amaru, said attention should be paid to the 35 million non-recognized Kurdish people, constantly oppressed and persecuted and divided among four countries; due to certain political and economic interests, people did not wish to hear the Kurds' calls for freedom. That had led to anger among the Kurds, who then became the victims of State terrorism. Because no solutions could be found to the problems of the Kurds, the 15-year-old conflict with Turkey festered. Turkish paramilitary forces had mercilessly executed some 3,000 Kurds, while hundreds of others had disappeared.

Turkey had made a statement about terrorism, but meanwhile it put the Kurds under severe threat from State terrorism. A unilateral cease-fire had been declared by the Kurdish organization PKK, but the Turkish Government had refused any peaceful settlement and continued to deny Kurds their rights to their language, culture, and even existence. Someone had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for talking in Kurdish. How long could this kind of persecution go on? Kurdish regions of the country had been under a state of siege and had been subjected to military rule for 15 years. Kurds should be given their national, legitimate democratic rights. The United Nations should reply to this legitimate appeal, and should adopt specific measures to end discrimination and violence against the Kurdish people.

SAIDA AGHREBI, of the Tunisian Mothers' Association, said there needed to be effective participation of women in all aspects of civil society. In Tunisia, women played a critical role. In the last 14 years, Tunisian women had made great achievements in private enterprises. Today, they invested in technology and other business undertakings. There still needed to be the establishment of a World Solidarity Fund that would help reduce the impact of poverty in the world, especially its impact on women. Women still faced many forms of aggression despite progress in many areas. There could not be human rights promotion in general without legislation and the necessary machinery to promote the rights of women. The contribution of civil society was important because it promoted partnership. Awareness raising was needed to enshrine the role of women in sustainable development. A future could not be built without women.

EL-HADJI GUISSE, Subcommission Expert, said the definition of democracy in current use had been created by developed, well-off countries that had gotten beyond the difficulties of underdevelopment. Unfortunately this view did not mean much in countries where poverty was a problem for 90 per cent of the population. Democracy for these people meant economic democracy, with everyone able to participate in political affairs, in opportunities for economic gain, and with everyone able to enjoy the benefits. Many poor in the world were in such misery that they were in no position to make enlightened choices about who should be elected. In countries of the Third World, in countries of Africa, votes were laundered, were an expense to be met. But a bought vote was not democracy. He would ask Mr. Rodriguez-Cuadros, in his coming study, to impose the parameters of economic democracy, and not just the process of going to vote, upon his material.

What was called democracy in the report was not of importance to the people today who needed democracy to survive. Democracy for all peoples required as well that the international economy be redirected so that all people had the equal opportunity to enjoy it. What was seen today were more the scraps of democracy than true democracy.

LOUIS JOINET, Subcommission Expert, said elections were not pointless. In 1968, they said elections were traps for fools. But that was not the case. People had been killed trying to have elections held. Economic democracy required civil and political democracy. When setting up a union, leaders had to be elected. Elections were in the entire fabric of society.

MRS. WARZAZI, Subcommission Expert, said that in relation to democracy, as she was familiar with it in a country where she went three times a year, someone had said "We have the right to vote, but not the right to choose". In many developed countries, money was the critical factor determining who was elected. Bertrand Russell had said if a man offered you democracy, and another offered you a bag of corn, how hungry did you have to be to prefer the ballot paper?

PAULO SERGIO PINHIERO, Subcommission Expert, said one could not have a political democracy without full exercise of civil and political rights, but economic, social and cultural rights were also of the utmost importance. In Latin America, several countries had seen several thousand people lose their lives in fighting for democracy. There was an entire democratic struggle against dictatorships so they could have free access to the media, and a free right to establish trade unions.

MR. GUOXIANG, Subcommission Expert, said he was glad the issue of democracy had been taken up again by the Subcommission; it was a very very important issue. In Chinese it meant that the people should be master of themselves. Democracy was a good choice for reflecting the will of the people, but not the only choice. A democratic system was created in connection with the history and culture of a State; it grew best out of a situation of peace and good relations among the people of a country. He wanted to ask the question: did democracy have one form or many forms? He thought it had many forms, but that mutual respect was the critical ingredient in any form that was successful.

MR. JOINET, Subcommission Expert, said he agreed with what Mrs. Warzazi had said. She was simply changing the description of the problem. The problem had gone from being a bag of corn to being a bag of rice. Although the substance was agreed upon, perhaps what she said was oversimplified a bit.

CATHERINA BENNINGER-BUDEL, of the World Organization against Torture, said the Subcommission should put women's matters in an integral position in its agenda. The organization was concerned about trafficking in women in Georgia, where poverty and unemployment increasingly forced women and girls to work as prostitutes or unskilled labourers in such countries as Turkey, Israel and Greece. Traffickers in Georgia advertised for "waitresses", but the women hired frequently were forced into prostitution on arrival in foreign countries. The organization was concerned because Georgia had no policy to address the problem nor did it provide any assistance to trafficked women.

An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 women and girls were trafficked from Nepal to India each year for prostitution, domestic servitude, forced labour in sweatshops, organ removal, or forced marriage. The World Organization against Torture was concerned about the impunity enjoyed by traffickers and called upon the Nepalese Government to ensure enforcement of anti-trafficking policies. The organization also was concerned about acid attacks against women in Viet Nam and Bangladesh, and by virginity testing carried out in Turkey by families concerned with family "honour". Family members who killed women or girls in honour crimes in Turkey often received reduced sentences.

SHEIKH KHALID JEHANGIR, of the World Federation of Trade Unions, said the proliferation of small arms and weapons was playing havoc with peace efforts throughout the world. Massive amounts of small weapons had been found in Jammu and Kashmir. The number still in circulation boggled the imagination. This had led to destruction in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as destruction in Afghanistan. There were armed groups in Pakistan waging a jihad against Muslims, Hindus and others in the region. Just a few years ago, tourists could walk around Jammu. Now it looked like an armed camp. There were killings of innocent civilians, and daily human rights abuses. The proliferation of small arms corrupted an entire generation of small children. They were learning to handle weapons. The human rights and lives of the innocent people should be preserved. The international community had to stop the proliferation of small arms, and Pakistan had to stop these groups who had declared holy wars on several groups, and who had been supplying arms to the Taliban.

CRISTINA BIANCHI and PELPINA SAHUREKA, of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, said the Subcommission should set up an ad hoc group to look at the effects of economic sanctions and the time limits applicable to such steps. Individual cases should be analysed by an independent expert; further, the Subcommission should aim to create a mechanism to compensate third party countries for the damages caused by economic embargoes.

For more than 350 years of Dutch colonialism, the Moluccan people of AlifUru descent had systematically been deprived of the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms; more recently the Moluccans' right to self-determination had been disrupted by Indonesian repression. Indonesians had incited a war situation in the Moluccas; there were arbitrary killings, forced marriages, systematic rapes, razing of schools and even villages, deportations, confiscation of lands, and other atrocities committed by death squads. These crimes had been committed with total impunity. The Subcommission should recommend to the Commission on Human Rights the appointment of an international team to investigate the situation in the Moluccas. Direct and immediate assistance should be provided to Moluccans.

KULBHUSHAN WARIKOO, of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, said the plight of internally displaced persons remained one of the serious humanitarian, human rights, political and security concerns confronting the international community today. There were more than 25 million internally displaced persons in over 50 countries spanning all regions of the world, and it was a global problem. Although there was a greater awareness of this issue, the problem continued to afflict parts of South and Central Asia, where atrocities by mercenaries, terrorists and Islamist extremists had caused forced exoduses and internal displacement of several hundred thousand helpless people. Afghanistan presented one of the worst cases, where the situation had further deteriorated under the Taliban. Afghan refugees formed the largest refugee population in the world, with about three million refugees scattered around the globe. Nearly 500,000 Afghans were internally displaced within Afghanistan.

There were also about 400,000 displaced Kashmiri Pandits, who were agonising in their twelfth year of displacement. The forced displacement of the entire Kashmir Pandit indigenous minority, who were terrorized, killed and hounded out of their homes by Islamist terrorists in the name of jihad, presented a classic case of ethnic-religious cleansing with long-term implications for the composite socio-cultural set up and secular polity in Kashmir. Such violent attempts to redraw territorial boundaries through ethnic cleansing and brutal eviction of people belonging to ethnic-religious minorities had become the major cause of displacement in parts of South and Central Asia.

JULIA STUCKEY, of Pax Christi International, said the organization was concerned about the consequences for asylum seekers in Germany which largely ignored the situation of refugees living in the country, including those still in the process of pursuing their claims as asylum seekers and those who could not return to their countries of origin on humanitarian grounds. Developments in Germany raised questions particularly about situations where asylum seekers had been denied economic, social and cultural rights for many years. The Asylum Seekers Welfare Act regulated social benefits for asylum seekers, and Pax Christi could not accept that Germany was denying rights of this kind as a means of deterring refugees.

The German approach to economic, social and cultural rights also was discriminatory, as asylum seekers were not treated equally and legislation was making asylum rules more restrictive. Even when refugees found a vacancy and a work permit could be issued, the permit often was denied. Medical care offered asylum seekers, moreover, was not sufficient. The Subcommission should take seriously the consequences of this situation on the lives of asylum seekers, as their rights were guaranteed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

ELIAS KHOURI, of the Union of Arab Jurists, said the non-governmental organization (NGO) committee against the embargo against Iraq met last week and had talked about the dire situation there. The depleted uranium there had caused a health crisis, and the economic sanctions had led to negative affects on the enjoyment of human rights. There was talk about the manipulation of information on uranium. There should be an immediate lifting of the sanctions against Iraq, and the almost daily bombardment by the American and British troops should stop. These actions violated international law and the United Nations Charter.

On the subject of Palestine, Israel was committing Nazi-type practices. Israelis grabbed land and were occupying it by force. They were killing children, and the violence was provoking counter-violence. There could be no equating the aggressor and the victim. Israel was the aggressor. It continued to build settlements in the West Bank and in the Syrian Golan. People were evicted from their farms, and Israel invited people to build new settlement there, and they armed the people and encouraged them to kill the Palestinians. The Subcommission was asked to do its utmost to ensure that the international community provide protection to the Palestinian people, and to ensure Israel's withdrawal from the occupied territories. This could avoid war.

WILDA SPALDING, of the World Federation of Mental Health, said human rights involved the whole human family; youth were a crucial ingredient of the human family. Earlier in the year, youth had come to the Youth Empowerment Summit in Geneva and had held a round table.

The Summit had passed a resolution which, among other things, requested the Commission on Human Rights to vote to extend the Decade on Human Rights Education for another decade; called for the drafting of a simplified version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, understandable at a rudimentary level; requested the Secretary-General to call a trans-generational meeting in which all nations would discuss how to place the Universal Declaration in a simplified form in their educational curricula; urged the United Nations to create an aggressive multi-media advertising campaign geared towards the youth of the world; urged the establishment of a United Nations Working Group on youth to meet annually in Geneva prior to the Subcommission; and urgently called for the continuation of the United Nations Working Group on indigenous populations, whose mandate was clearly separate from that of the newly created forum for indigenous populations.

AZZA EL-KHAMISSY, of the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization, said it was a matter of great distress that despite the efforts of the United Nations and declarations and covenant adopted by the General Assembly, rampant abuses against women continued to take place and violations of their human rights were ignored in many parts of the world. Experiences of women in many developing countries in particular indicated increasing female poverty, gender inequality, and less access to resources, information and opportunities. Traditional morality attached more value to a son than a daughter. In fact, women were discriminated against and were often made the target of violence, right from the stage when they were in the womb. Ethnic and religious minorities were repeatedly under attack in Afghanistan, and a striking aspect of the Taliban rule was the distress that women had faced since the fundamentalists came to power in 1992. The Taliban had deprived the women of Afghanistan from engaging in any productive activity to benefit Afghan society or economy. The combined capabilities and talents of the Afghan women had been placed in cold storage as a result of some twisted interpretation of the Islam religion. The country could not progress or evolve into a humane society when half of its population was in chains, devoid of the most basic rights and freedoms and having no say in the country's governance. The voice of the Afghan women was the voice of a nation subjected to the most brutal physical, economic, social and spiritual aggression. The voices of the women of Afghanistan, which might have seemed feeble today, had to be empowered and made as loud and strong as possible. Civil society and the Subcommission could play a very important role in ensuring this empowerment.

MR. YOKOTA, Subcommission Expert, presenting the report of the sessional Working Group on the administration of justice, said the document unfortunately was only available in a photocopied, unedited version.

The Working Group had included the participation of several non-governmental organizations, Mr. Yokota said. The agenda had focused, among other things, on functioning and accountability of United Nations peace-support operations -- a new item; and on deprivation of the right to life, with special reference to imposition of the death penalty and extrajudicial executions, for which Mr. Guisse made an eloquent presentation referring in part to the role of mass media in reporting executions. It was strongly felt that media coverage should be controlled, and that imposition of the death penalty against pregnant women was entirely unacceptable and that the issue should be monitored closely. Another agenda item was improvement and effectiveness of judicial mechanisms, on which an oral presentation was made by Mr. Gomez-Robledo on mechanisms for protecting human rights and comparing various efforts made to that end. Also discussed was the administration of justice through military tribunals and other exceptional arrangements, for which Mr. Joinet presented a review of various national systems of jurisprudence; it was decided that Mr. Joinet's next and final report should be submitted to the Subcommission because of the importance of the subject and its interest to the Subcommission. Discrimination within the criminal justice system was debated on the basis of a report provided by Mrs. Zerrougui. After the discussion, the Working Group had called for Mrs. Zerrougui's next report also to be presented to the Subcommission as a whole. Domestic implementation of the obligation to provide domestic remedies was considered, based in part on a short paper provided by Mrs. Hampson; that discussion would be continued next year.

The activities and accountability of military forces, United Nations police forces, and United Nations staff participating in United Nations peace-support activities, which was discussed briefly, would be discussed at greater length next year, Mr. Yokota said. In addition, the Working Group had supported a proposal for Mrs. Hampson to submit a working paper on this subject to the entire Subcommission next year.

APRIL GUILLEN, of the International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, said the question of human trafficking was not new to the United Nations, including the Subcommission. However, there seemed to be a lack of a comprehensive approach to trafficking in persons -- let alone human smuggling -- from a human rights perspective. The international community bore a serious responsibility to promote and protect the rights and dignity of the victims of trafficking, and as pointed out by the Secretary-General, the victims had to receive a well-integrated treatment by the concerned authorities. It was in this connection that a concept developed by the International Labour Organization proved highly useful. The concept of socio-economy security was developed by the ILO recently for the purpose of guaranteeing the global standard of decent work. Decent work was one that guaranteed the security of the workers, which were too often forfeited for the competitiveness of their corporate employers. This concept was also useful when considering the protection and promotion of the rights of the trafficked persons. Often, discussions on the rights violated by trafficking were limited to those that resulted from coercion and exploitation. However, the right to socio-economic security, though often neglected, had to be a primary consideration in the question of trafficked persons.

SYED FAIZ NAQSHBANDI, of Asian Buddhist Council for Peace, said the situation in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir was a negation of the concept of democracy and secularism that India had been credited for. India took great pride in being the "world's largest democracy", but the reality was different and needed to be reflected upon. India had isolated Jammu and Kashmir from the rest of the world. Why? It had something to hide -- systematic human rights violations. The Subcommission should call for free access to the region for human rights Special Rapporteurs. Among other things, there was widespread sexual violence against Kashmiri women by Indian security forces. An Expert of the Subcommission must look into these crimes.

The Indian Government had framed a series of laws that violated international standards and were related to "terrorism", "public safety", the status of Indian army, and the status of the territory of Jammu and Kashmir. These laws allowed the occupation forces to commit human rights violations with complete impunity. As a result, violations had increased considerably, including torture, fake trials, arbitrary arrest and detention. The Subcommission should appoint a Special Rapporteur to visit Jammu and Kahsmir and report on the facts of the situation.

NATALYA TSIKOUNAVA, of Pax Romana, said all human rights should be respected when allowing the right of self-determination. In a recent seminar, Pax Romana had looked at the intrinsic right to self-determination and the advancement of democracy. Self-determination was a right of choice, and a right of participation. Pax Romana proposed that the Subcommission expand its study on the right to self-determination to include other rights on its agenda. It could be looked at how other human rights treaty bodies addressed the right to self-determination. One of the main principles of the United Nations Charter was the principle of non-discrimination. In armed conflicts, innocent civilians were vulnerable groups which needed special assistance. Unfortunately, there were frequent violations of their human rights. The case of Chechen refugees needed particular attention. More than 250,000 people there were forced to leave their homes. They were living in camps, where their lives were unbearable and the camps were in terrible condition. There was a shortage of clothing, and that made these people's lives miserable, especially in cold weather. Pax Romana also wanted the Subcommission to look at the plight of child refugees, in Chechnya and elsewhere.

SAAD HUSSIAN (Iraq) said the use of impoverished uranium weapons led to very harmful health effects; studies had shown that the radioactive material was very heavy and toxic and caused many illnesses in humans, especially cancer. It got into the digestive system and was transmitted through the blood to the thyroid, the skin, the reproductive system; it led to many malformations. The Government of the United States had admitted to using 300 tons of such munitions and the United Kingdom had admitted to using 300 missiles of this kind during the Gulf War. The use of these weapons had caused environmental damage and had led to many illnesses among Iraqis, 50 per cent of them in children. There had been an increase in cancer cases and other health problems, including a notable increase in miscarriages.

Despite these tragic consequences, the United States had not hesitated to use the same weapon in Kosovo in 1999, and Israel had used it against the Palestinians. Iraq called for a study to be carried out on the use of this weapon and its effects on human rights.

MRS. HAMPSON, Subcommission Expert, said that in one of the publications of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, it was alleged by the inhabitants of the island of Kesui, eastern Ceram in the Moluccas that, in November 2000, their villages were attacked by the Indonesian forces and Javanese Laskar mercenaries. The villagers fled and were hunted down over a period of three days. The villagers were only allowed to return to their homes if they converted to Islam. Indonesia had recently passed war crimes legislation to make possible the trial of members of its armed forces for war crimes. This allegation was an opportunity for the Indonesian Government to show that it had turned its back on its past practice of impunity and that it was committed to human rights protection.

Another issue was the problem of the implementation in practice of the right to return of internally displaced people and refugees. A very wide variety of problems occurred in the very different situations which were spread worldwide. Nevertheless, the same underlying issues kept recurring. That was why a detailed draft resolution was before the Subcommission. The problems which the resolution sought to address were specific and, for those affected, very serious. The resolution had been drafted in conjunction with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Rights of Reply

A representative of Viet Nam, speaking in right of reply, said the Transnational Radical Party had fabricated a fantasy in its statement, which had made reference to Viet Nam. Viet Nam wanted to know why such an intervention could even be allowed in this forum.

A representative of Japan, exercising a right of reply, said the authors decided what to put in textbooks. The Government could point out errors, but it had no right to tell authors what to include in textbooks. The Prime Minister's visit to the shrine was undertaken after much thought, and a statement saying that Japan should never go down the path of war again. Japan did establish an Asian Women's Fund, and 185 women had received money. Japan acknowledged its history. A former Prime Minister had said that Japan, through its colonial rule, had created pain and suffering, and had pledged that it would not happen again. The Prime Minister had then apologized and expressed deep remorse.

A representative of Mauritius, speaking in right of reply, said that in reference to the statement by Mrs. Hampson on the draft resolution she had proposed on the right of return of internally displaced persons and refugees, Mauritius wished to state that the archipelago taken from Mauritius always had been an integral part of Mauritius; the archipelago had been excised illegally by the United Kingdom before Mauritius's independence was achieved. Mauritius had never relinquished its sovereignty. The country always had been concerned over how the former inhabitants of the archipelago had been forcibly removed by the colonial power and prevented from returning to their homes. Mauritius continued to call for the return of these people, but any arrangement for their return should not call into question Mauritius's sovereignty over the archipelago.



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