United
Nations Commission on Human Rights
56th Session
Geneva, 20 March - 28 April 2000
In reply please quote:
Circular N° 9(2000)To All Affiliated Organisations
in Member Countries of the UN Commission on Human RightsFor information:
To Other Affiliated Organisations
To All International Trade Secretariats
To Other Interested Organisations4 February 2000
Dear Friends,
UN Commission on Human Rights: ICFTU Briefing Note
The 56th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) will take place in Geneva from 20 March to 28 April 2000.
As usual, the Commission will consider a number of thematic reports and human rights issues which are of direct relevance to the work of the international free and democratic trade union movement. The ICFTU will participate in the work of the Commission, and its representatives will intervene in the debate pertaining to the defence and promotion of trade union and other fundamental human rights. The ICFTU’s main concerns are presented in the enclosed Briefing Note.
As you may be aware, many Governments determine their own position on the various issues on the agenda of the Commission well in advance of the arrival of their delegation in Geneva. The European Union, for instance, is expected to adopt its main position in mid-February. I would therefore urge you to draw the attention of your government to the issues, views and concerns expressed in the enclosed ICFTU position-paper and urge it to support them. You are also requested to inform your governments that the ICFTU delegation in Geneva may approach them in order to obtain their support for the adoption of certain resolutions.
The relevant sector to be approached in national governments is usually, but not always, the Ministry of Foreign (or External) Affairs. Even if your country is not a member of the UNCHR (for an updated list of UNCHR Member countries, see Appendix II to the "position-paper"), it is still important to communicate this ICFTU document to your governement, with a request that it support and promote trade union views through its bi-lateral and multi-lateral diplomatic contacts.
I would very much appreciate your informing me of any action taken in this connection and of any response from your government, immediately upon receipt.
I must insist on this point: in 1999, less than half a dozen affiliates responded to our circular on the UNCHR, most of them from developing countries. One affiliate, from an industrialized country, sent us in June a copy of a letter received from its Government nearly one month (!) after the UNCHR ended, and defending views precisely contrary to those promoted by the ICFTU. I thus urge you to take all the steps necessary to ensure that your government respond before the beginning of the Commission. Please send such indications as to any action taken by your organisation and responses received, as a matter of the highest priority, to the ICFTU Department of Trade Union Rights and/or the ICFTU Geneva Office. Contact details for both are indicated at the top of the Briefing Note.
Subject to relevant developments in this joint lobbying effort, it is also possible that you will receive additional ICFTU correspondence on the subject, either in the run-up to or during the actual session of the Commission, next March or April. I would appreciate your highest attention to it, if such were the case.
Thanking you in advance for your co-operation, I remain at your disposal for any further information you may need concerning the forthcoming Session of the Commission.
Yours sincerely,
Bill Jordan
General Secretary
INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU)
Bld. Du Roi Albert II, n° 5 b. 1, B-1210 Brussels, BelgiumDEPARTMENT OF TRADE UNION RIGHTS
phone: (32.2).224.02.03 fax: (32.2) 224.02.97 E-mail: turights@icftu.orgICFTU GENEVA OFFICE: 46 avenue Blanc, CH- 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
tel. (++) (41.22)738.42.02, 738.42.03, fax 41-22-738.10.82,
E-mail: icftu.ge@geneva.icftu.orgUNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (UNCHR)
56th SESSION (Geneva, 20 March - 28 April 2000)
ICFTU BRIEFING NOTE
This document constitutes an appendix to ICFTU Circular 9 (2000), sent in January 2000 to all ICFTU-affiliated organisations around the world, all International Trade Secretariats (ITS) and other interested organisations. It is designed as a lobbying instrument for the international free trade union movement, aimed at promoting and supporting the movement’s concerns on trade union and other human rights during the 56th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). As is the case each year, the ICFTU will participate in the work of the Commission, and its representatives will intervene in the debate pertaining to the defence and promotion of trade union and other fundamental human rights. This document aims at assisting ICFTU affiliated and friendly organisations in lobbying their national governments, which prepare their position on the different UNCHR agenda items long before leaving for Geneva. As explained in the cover letter, it is of critical importance that you actively promote its contents with your national authorities and report to the ICFTU urgently about their position on these issues, particularly if your country is currently a Member of the UNCHR (a list of Members is enclosed as Appendix II, see below).
The 56th session of the UNCHR will take place in Geneva from 20 March to 28 April 2000, following nine inter-sessional and pre-sessional specific working groups’ meetings. The ICFTU will actively take part in the work of the Commission, and its representatives will intervene in defence and promotion of human rights,: in particular , freedom of association and social and economic rights. The provisional agenda of the 56th Session is enclosed as Appendix I. The composition of the Commission for 2000 is attached as Appendix II (the term of membership of each country expires on 31 December of the year indicated in brackets).
After electing the Chairperson and the Officers, the Commission will hear from the High Commissioner (Mary Robinson) a specific report on the HR situation in Colombia, followed by the general annual report on the activities of the HCHR.
Several Special Rapporteurs, Representatives and Independent Experts were appointed last year or renewed in their appointment (the list, not being officially available at the time, will be circulated as soon as it is availablelater), to investigate those countries where gross violations have taken place. These reports will be considered under different items of the agenda, but in particular under Item 9, dealing with "Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world".
Reports are expected on the following countries: Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Cuba, Afghanistan, Burundi, Southern Lebanon and Western Bekaa, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, MyanmarBurma, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor and Cyprus. Provision has also been made to examine the human rights situations in some countries under the confidential 1503 procedure.
Under Item 19, we will hear the reports of the Board of Trustees of the UN Voluntary Fund for Technical Co-operation in the field of Human Rights. The countries involved in this programme, for which we’ll hear achievements and obstacles encountered, are the following: Somalia, Cambodia, Haiti and Chad.
In its intervention, the ICFTU will draw the attention of the Commission to those countries where we have registered serious trade union rights violations in the past year, among them – in particular – Burma, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malta, Belarus, Kosovo, Serbia, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Colombia, and Guatemala.
China - The ICFTU will use once again this eminent international forum to table the long list of abuses of workers’ and other rights in China, where the situation has markedly deteriorated in 1999. The ICFTU’s top priority remains in particular, the cases of the situation of over 30 independent trade union activists who are currently serving long sentences in Chinese jails, including those who had been sentenced for having co-founded the "Free Labour Union of China", and who have been denied medical attention or even, in some case, tortured in jail. The ICFTU will however also join the expressions of concern formulated by the international community over the arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of a range of labour activists, democratic opposition leaders and members of the Falung Gong, a spiritual movement outlawed by the authorities in July 1999.
At a time when the international community is discussing the possible entry of China into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), it is imperative that for China to agree to abide by the same commitments which it has made to observe core labour standards.
China’s record of violations of its workers’ most basic human rights is impressive: independent trade unions are illegal, suppressed and their leaders imprisoned. The National Security Law and the Regulations on re-education through Labour allow the detention of activists who attempt to organise independent labour action. Re-education through labour is widely increasingly used as a form of administrative detention because it avoids the need for a trial and allows local police to hand out sentences of up to three years in forced labour camps, which may later be increased at will by the prison authorities.
Despite repeated requests from the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association, trade unions and human rights organisations, the Chinese Government has not revised its attitude or behaviour towards independent trade unions, which defies universal, core labour standards.
In this respect, the ICFTU will press the Commission to adopt a Resolution which should urge China’s Government, amongst other things, to ratify, as a matter of utmost priority and without reservations, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both signed by China, to stop executions and other severe human rights violations, including torture, especially in Tibet and Xinjiang but also in other areas, to release all detained trade unionists and other human rights’ or democracy activists, to co-operate fully with the thematic procedures and mechanisms of the Commission, especially the Special Rapporteurs on Torture, on Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary Executions, on Contemporary forms of Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
Hence, the ICFTU will seek to stress that the adoption of a Resolution by the Commission should not be seen neither by the international community not by the PRC government as incompatible with the on-going "human rights’ dialogue", such as, for instance, that presently carried out between China and the European Union . While the ICFTU is not opposed to dialogue with China on human and labour rights’ issue – indeed it is itself taking part in such activities through its contacts with the government-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) - it also is determined to use all available means of pressing the PRC authorities to comply in law and in practice with all relevant international standards, including by pressing the UNCHR to adopt a Resolution on China.
Burma – The ICFTU will point out to the CHR the recent suspension of co-operation with de facto exclusion of Burma (officially called Myanmar) from by the ILO, following a resolution tabled jointly at the June 1999 International Labour Conference by trade unions and employers’ organisations – an unprecedented move in the history of this institution – asking calling on the ILO to refuse Burma all technical assistance and to ban the country’s representatives from attending the meeting, because of the systematic use of forced labour by the ruling military junta. In 1998, the ILO Commission of Inquiry – although refused from entering in the country – had put together more than 6,000 pages of documentation, concluding concluded in its report that "the obligation to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour is violated in Myanmar in national law as well as in actual practice in a widespread and systematic manner, with total disregard for the human dignity, safety and health and the basic needs of the people".
Our estimates show that more thanup to 800,000 Burmaese citizens are subject to forced labour on any single day, withle no one involved in this repulsive practice having ever been prosecuted so far. It should also be recalled Let’s recall that the use of forced or compulsory labour currently puts Burma under an indefinite suspension of EU Generalized System of Preferences’ privileges, following the joint ICFTU-ETUC complaint lodged at the EU Commission in 1995 campaign mounted by the trade union and human rights’ movement against the use of forced and slave labour in the is country.
Beside forced labour, we must also denounce the continuing repression of trade unionists and other dissidents by Burma’s military junta, with hundreds of arrests of students, opposition politicians and activists, as well as trade unionists. The latter, as other democracy activists, are likely to suffer torture or other severe mistreatment in the early stages of their detention, while held in locations controlled by the junta’s Military Intelligence (MI).
who currently in prison face torture and other ill-treatment.
Pakistan - The ICFTU will urge General Perwez Musharraf, who recently led a military coup in of Pakistan, to take urgent steps to ensure a return to constitutional rule in the shortest possible time and to stop the on-going curtail of the legitimate rights of workers and of their representative organizationsorganisations in the country. The ICFTU has for years denounced successive Pakistani governments for condoning multiple violations of workers’ and other fundamental human rights, while promoting a fundamentally corrupt feudal system. During 1999 the ICFTU has in particular condemned the militariszation of the WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority), where union rights were suspended at the beginning of the year. There also been restrictions on the free exercise of trade union rights at major infrastructure projects, including a major building project – carried by an Italian contractor - on the Indus river at Ghazi Barotha.
Bangladesh – The ICFTU will express its grave concern about the continued unlawful detention of brother Nashu Miah, president of the Bangladesh Jatio Sramik League (BJSL), who was arrested and detained by police on October 6, 1999 in relation to his legitimate trade union activities connected with industrial action taken by the workers of three jute mills. The ICFTU has already urged Prime Minister Sheik Hasina to intervene in this matter and unconditionally release brother Miah and the other 30 arrested trade union leaders without any delay and impress upon the employers the need to seek a negotiated settlement of the dispute.
Colombia - Arrests, torture and Systematic repression, including assassinations of leaders and activists of Colombia’s trade unions organizations hasve not slowed down in 1999, showing the complete inability of the government to stop this carnage. A further 30 Colombian unionists were killed between January and July 1999. The year soberly ended with another crime, not yet punished: :on 13 December 1999, Cesar Herrera Torreglosa, General Secretary of the Colombian agricultural workers’ union SINTAINAGRO, was shot while entering the union’s regional office in Cienaga, capital of the Magdalena province. His union represents workers in negotiations with the banana employers organisation AGUARA, wich includes the transnationals Del Monte and Chiquita. Herrera was also the leader of a co-ordinating body for Latin America banana workers. He had complained of repeated death threats prior to his murder, but authorities refused to include his union in a government-sponsored protection scheme. Further death threats were received by the leaders of the ICFTU affiliate in the country, and a number of killings of labour and social activists have been reported in January 2000. Hence, at the
Even in the beginning of this year, trade unionists (among them, Humberto Sarmiento and Federman Montoya from the FEDETRAR and Jairo Espinel fromr the National Savings Fund) continue received ing several death threats and it is therefore urgent that they will be covered by the new government programmes set up to ensure that those who receive death threats receive enjoy proper protection.
The ILO has recently appointed a Direct Contact Mission in order to investigate the situation in the country, prior to the vote on the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry – the harshest measure in this UN agency’s legal arsenal – which will take place during its it’s the June’s 2000 session of the ILO Governing Body. Earlier, however, tThe ICFTU will put strong pressure on the governments’ delegations during the UN Commission on Human Rights in order to build support for the appointment of such a the ILO Commission of Inquiry. After more than 2,500 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia over the last 12 years and hundreds more have disappeared or been forced into exile, the governments must take a clear stand over this unprecedented level of targeted repression against the trade union movement. In its campaign, the ICFTU will seek, amongst other objectives, to call the international community’s attention to the fact that such selective repression of a group of people (in this case, trade union members, activists and leaders) may also bee seen as a ese "crimes against humanity".
, as stipulated on the Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted in Rome in July 1998.
Guatemala - the ICFTU will point out the string of violations of trade union rights in this country, especially against banana workers. A subsidiary of Del Monte, one of the main multinationals in the banana sector, on 27 September 1999 fired nearly 1,000 workers in Morales, violating collective agreements, refusing to negotiate, locking out workers and arranging for the mistreatment of trade unionists. On the evening of October 13th, 200 paramilitaries burst into the trade unionists’ premises, five members of the TU SITRABI trade union’’s executive committee were held at gunpoint and forced to sign resignation letters, then ordered to leave the region under threats of execution. The union leader, Marel Martinez, was beaten in front of his wife and children. SITRABI also denounced the behaviour of the police: the trade union’s premises are just 400 meters from the central police station in Morales, but at no point during the coup de force did the police seek to find out what was happening, even though there were numerous vehicles at the site and armed men were patrolling the vicinity. It is particular noteworthy that, while legal action taken by the trade union has led the courts to issue detention orders against those responsible for these events, no one has yet been detained in connection with the matter.
The ICFTU will request the Commission to put pressure on the government of Guatemala in order that it take all necessary measures to ensure that do do everything possible so that these such barbarous acts will not remain unpunisheesd.
Morocco - the ICFTU will strongly denounce the increasing anti-union repression in Morocco, as it has recently done with Prime Minister El Youssoudi through a report that accuses the Moroccan Government of resorting to or, at the very least, condoning arrests, torture and harsh prison sentences against dozens of trade unionists belonging to its affiliate, the UMT, Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT). According to our knowledge, aAt least 30 trade unionists have been arrested and sentenced or fined since the beginning of September 1999, while hundreds 100s have been sacked for going on strike. Arrests, beatings and torture, as well as multiple sentences – some up to one year imprisonment for going into on strike – were pronounced in an industrial conflict affecting the Trade Union of Fishermen, following a strike in an egg-farm in the Temara province and in a textile factory in the Salee’ region. A specific protest has also been addressed to the Moroccan government by the ICFTU Women’s Committee, condemning the imprisonment of several women activists.
Djibouti: In line with Following the a recent formal complaint lodged by the ICFTU to before the ILO for as a clear contravention breaches of ILO Convention. 87 on Freedom of Association, the ICFTU will denounce the blatant interference of the government of Djibouti in the internal running of the UDT (Union Djiboutienne du Travail) and UGTD (Union Générale des Travailleurs du Djibouti). In July 1999 the Minister of Employment and Solidarity convoked a sham "joint congress" of the two national trade union centres, new elections were held and officers elected, replacing the legitimate ones. The following week the official UDT and UGTD were denied mail deliveries, while in the following months both in the transport sector and in the Ministry of Public Works police officers were sent to conduct sham trade union elections. When the workers walked out in protest, the security forces voted in their place.
Equatorial Guinea - Regarding Equatorial Guinea, the ICFTU will challenge the Government’s claim that the country has moved towards democracy, since our evidence shows how workers have been trying without success for over five years to set up establish independent trade union organizationsorganisations. Official recognition has been consistently denied to two organizationsorganisations: SIS, an independent public services trade union, and UST, the Union Sindical de Trabajadores de Guinea Ecuatorial. The government not only denies the existence of these organizationsorganisations, but also exerts all types of intimidation and coercion – including dismissal of workers who had dared to follow collective strikes - to discourage workers from organizingorganising. The leadership of the SIS and the UST is under constant threat and the recruitment of workers union members has to be done underground.
Swaziland - Massive problems continue to affect unions in Swaziland, where the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU, affiliated to the ICFTU) continues to campaign for demands first raised in 1993. These focus on labour and economic issues as well as demands for a democratic society and the repeal of security laws. A draconian Industrial Relations Act , adopted in 1996, remains in force. The SFTU and its leaders continue to be harassed, intimidated and arrested. In April 1999, the parliament called for the general secretary, Jan Sithole, and the president, Richard Nxumalo, to be deported, on the false allegation that they were not Swazi nationals. This same argument had been used five years previously to intimidate them. Last December, the government broadcasting services banned the SFTU from broadcasting any announcements unless approved beforehand by the police in writing.
Zimbabwe - In Zimbabwe, respect for trade union rights and civil liberties have deteriorated rapidly over the past two years. The government declared national strikes illegal between November 1998 and May 1999. The government’s new draft constitution, which has already been rejected by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and much of civil society, omits the right to strike.
The deputy general secretary of the ICFTU-affiliated ZCTU was beaten up in January 1999 by unknown assailants. A politically motivated attack on the general secretary, Morgan Tsvangirai, had also been made at the end of 1997, just days after the ZCTU had held the country’s biggest ever protest strike against the declining economic situation and its effect on workers’ living standards.
Belarus - The ICFTU will again denounce the a Decree n° 2 issued by President Loukaschenko adopted at the end of January ’99, which gives extraordinary powers to the State bodies for granting or refusing recognition to trade unions and political parties. The presidential decree is in flagrant contraddiction with the BelorussianBelarussian constitution which provides for freedom of association, and it is also a violation of ILO Convention. 87 ratified by this country. The recent questioning of independent trade unions by the police is also in line with the repression meted out to the independent trade union movement whose activities remain severely restricted by the dictatorial regime in place in the country. of President Loukachenko. Moreover, the authorities continue to hamper the free functioning of independent trade unions, creating artificial differences between workers by allocating substantial financial benefits to members of the officially-recognised trade union federation, refusing to transfer union membership dues to trade union structures and, with the help of courts which it closely controls, victimising workers who refuse to work without pay on certain week-ends.
Serbia – The ICFTU will denounce the consistent violations of fundamental human rights, including freedom of association and of expression, by the Government of President Slobodan Milosevic. In particular, we will call the Commission’s attention to the steady imposition of huge financial penalties on independent media and attacks on journalists, as well as continuing interference in the right of independent trade unionists to operate freely. In November 1999 for example, Milisav Vasic, President of the Independent Union of Serbian Police, who had already been detained by police in Uzice the previous month, was again detained on in Novisad (Voïvodina) and questioned after he publicly addressed an opposition rally.
Malta – The ICFTU will strongly protest against the brutal police’s attack on 20 August 1999 during an industrial dispute at Malta International Airport against trade union leaders, officials and members of the General Workers’ Union (GWU), including General Secretary Tony Zarb and President James Pearsall. 36 of the strikers were arrested and dragged into trucks to be taken to police headquarters, without the GWU being allowed to talk to top police officials. Some unionists – who were not allowed immediate medical aid – were later hospitalised as a result of their injuries. All in all, 27 of the arrested strikers were arraigned in court in December 1999 and on December 6th, 17 top leaders of the GWU were charged on counts of disturbing public order, obstructing police, inciting others to commit crimes, etc. The most serious charges carry sentences of up to two years imprisonment. In the meantime, the issue of union recognition at the airport remains unresolved with no union being currently recognised.
Kosovo, East Timor and other post-war situations - The ICFTU will also stress its strong preoccupation about the lack of any genuine social dimension in the international community’s activities aiming at the reconstruction of several war-torn countries, regions or areas, including Kosovo, other areas of the Balkan region and East Timor.
For Kosovo and other areas in the Balkans, we shall plead forcefully for the immediate departure of foreign troops and other international institutions from the large numbers of factories, administration offices and other premises which they are presently occupying, in order to allow the workers concerned to return to their working places. As a first step these multinational military units and civilian institutions should allow representatives of the workforces to examine these places, so as to enable the workers and their representative organisations to design and propose plans for a the resumption of economic activity at the earliest possible date.
Further, the protectorate administration should fully involve trade unions in plans for privatisation and economic development. Unions should take part in decisions affecting the management and ownership of enterprises. The protectorate administrations should support and encourage unions to take part in the general development of civil society, including with respect to access to external financial assistance. For instance the concerned branch unions should be involved in building up a democratic local public administration and police. First steps taken so far and aimed at establishing tripartism (i.e., social dialogue involving public authorities, trade unions and employers), must be intensified.
In addition, protectorate administration must ensure that in all working places the collective and individual rights of workers are respected in practice, in full compliance with the relevant international standards. Unions must also fully be involved in developing an appropriate labour and social legislation and a labour court system. Finally, the international community must conclude collective agreements with the Unions concerning their own employees, which has not been the case so far. Where civil strife, armed operations or other man-made disasters have all but completely destroyed the social fabric of the populations concerned and the union movement is either unable to operate or still remains to be established or developed, it is of the utmost importance that all issues affecting workers, whether staff of international agencies or other workers, be thoroughly discussed with legitimate representative organisations or individuals speaking on behalf of the persons concerned. This should apply, in particular, to respect for core international labour standards, contract compliance, employment of local staff in crisis situations, tendering requirements in reconstruction, adequate and coherent wages and other issues.
Concerning all these contexts, the ICFTU will support all appropriate means, including the establishment of international tribunals if relevant or appropriate, aiming at investigating and bringing to justice any person guilty of serious crimes of international law. The ICFTU will also encourage the Commission to examine in depth ways and means to enhance the promotion of and compliance with fundamental human and workers’ rights through the contract tendering process of the UN and other multilateral agencies, such as the World Bank, in reconstruction programmes which they implement.
Palestine - Finally, as far as country-situations are concerned, the discussion on the conditions of life in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories under the occupation will be pursued under Item 5 ("The right to people for self-determination") and Item 8 ("Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab Territories, including Palestine") of the agenda, following the Report of the newly appointed (Dec. 99) Special Rapporteur Giorgio Giacomelli (Italy). The ICFTU will call for the continuation of the dialogue among all parties concerned for the implementation of the Oslo Peace Accords and will ask for immediate measures to be taken to overcome the discrimination against Palestinian workers, especially allowing them full rights to join trade unions and regularizsing the situation of the large number of illegal migrants.
The theme of "Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and all forms of discrimination" (Item 6) will be of crucial importance this year, since the UN General Assembly nominated the High Commissioner, Mary Robinson, as Secretary General of the World Conference against racism, which will be held in South Africa in 2001. Ms. ary Robinson has already scheduled the first preparatory conference in Geneva for May 2000: more information, including possible regional conferences, will come with her first report to the Commission.
The ICFTU will take a strong stand on a number of issues related to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, examined under Item 10: it will also critically examine the joint report prepared by the Special Rapporteur (Mr. Reinaldo Figueredo, Venezuela) on Foreign Debt and the Independent Expert (Mr. Fantu Cheru, USA) on Structural Adjustment Policies. Under this item, both the High Commissioner and the Secretary General will present reports, following comments by different States, about the draft optional protocol in relation to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Among the thematic reports, under the headline "Civil and political rights" (Item 11), we will follow specifically the themes of Torture and Detention, Disappearance and Summary Executions, Freedom of Expression – on which we will intervene together with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to denounce 1999 as one of the worst years on record for the often unpunished killings and intimidation of journalists all over the world (almost 90 killings of journalists and media staff, with most of the victims cut down in violence in the Balkans, Russia and Sierra Leone) – and Independence of the Judiciary and Administration of Justice. Mr. Charif Bassiouni (Egypt/USA) will provide a revised version of the principles and guidelines on the right to reparation for victims of gross violations of human rights.
The ICFTU will also intervene on the three following items:
Item 12 – "Integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective", presenting our preparatory work for Beijing +5, the special session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the 21st century" which will take place in June 2000;
Item 13 – "Rights of the child", with a particular emphasis on the fight for an effective Elimination of Child Labour and a reference to ILO C. 138 and the newly (June 1999) and unanimously adopted C. 182, for the immediate elimination of the worst forms of child labour;
Item 14 – Under "Specific groups and individuals" we will intervene on sub-item (a): migrant workers, the ICFTU being an active member of the Steering Committee for the promotion and ratification of the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. After several years of pressing this issue (unfortunately, not very popular among most Governmental delegations), we have succeeded in obtaining the nomination of a Special Rapporteur (Gabriela Rodriguez, Costa Rica), who will present her first report to the Commission. The ICFTU will also giver special attention will also be given to sub-item (d) on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, as the ICFTU has serious concerns in a number of countries effectively or potentially affected by this problem, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Sudan and, of course, Burma.. It will under this item remind the Members of the Commission that slavery is a crime of international law, one which the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) qualifies as a crime against humanity. The ICFTU will thus seize this occasion to recall its full commitment to the goal of achieving the number of 60 ratifications of the ICC Statute, necessary for its entry into force. In line with two resolutions about the ICC adopted by its Human and Trade Union Rights (HTUR) Committee and Executive Board (in 1997 and 1998, respectively), the ICFTU will highlight the role of its affiliates world-wide in lobbying their national authorities for early ratification of the Statute adopted in Rome in 1998.
Among the remaining items, those with which the ICFTU is particularly concerned worth following include (a) the report of the working group for the possible establishment of a permanent forum for indigenous people in the UN (re-established last year), (b) the report of the High Commissioner on the achievements and obstacles encountered in the implementation of technical cooperation in the field of human rights, and, finally, (c) the long debated theme of the rationalization of the work of the Commission.
As indicated in the cover letter, it is of crucial importance that your organisation lobby its Government delegation on behalf of both your own members and zICFTU well ahead of its coming to Geneva, and that you let us know as a matter of urgency the orientations of your Government, especially regarding resolutions on specific countries.
We thank you in advance for your co-operation and invite you to seek further information, if needed, either from the ICFTU Dept. of Trade Union Rights, or from the ICFTU Geneva Office (see top of document).
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
PROVISIONAL AGENDA
Fifty-sixth session
20 March-28 April 2000
Note by the Secretary-General
Duration and venue of the session
1. The fifty-sixth session of the Commission on Human Rights will be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 20 March to 28 April 2000. The first meeting will be convened at 10.30 a.m. on Monday, 20 March 2000.
Provisional agenda
2. The provisional agenda, prepared in accordance with rule 5 of the rules of procedure of the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council, is reproduced below.
Inter-sessional and pre-sessional working groups
3. The fifty-sixth session of the Commission is preceded by meetings of nine working groups in connection with the following items:
(a) Item 7: An open-ended working group established to monitor and review progress made in the promotion and implementation of the right to development (Commission resolution1998/72, Economic and Social Council decision 1998/269) is scheduled to meet from 13 to 17 December 1999.
(b) Item 9 (b): The Working Group on Situations, composed of five members of the Commission, is scheduled to meet from 21 to 25 February 2000 to examine situations referred to the Commission by the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 1503 (XLVIII) of 27 May 1970 (Commission resolution 1990/55, Economic and Social Council resolution 1990/41);
(c) Item 10: An open-ended working group established to elaborate policy guidelines on structural adjustment programmes and economic, social and cultural rights (Commission decision 1999/104, Economic and Social Council decision 1999/251) is scheduled to meet from 28 February to 10 March 2000;
(d) Item 11 (a): An open-ended working group established to elaborate a draft optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Commission resolution 1999/30, Economic and Social Council decision 1999/237) met from 4 to 15 October 1999;
(e) Item 13: An open-ended working group for the elaboration of a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on involvement of children in armed conflicts (Commission resolution 1999/80, Economic and Social Council decision 1999/249) is scheduled to meet from 10 to 21 January 2000;
(f) Item 13: An open-ended working group for the elaboration of a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (Commission resolution 1999/80, Economic and Social Council decision 1999/249) is scheduled to meet from 24 January to 4 February 2000;
(g) Item 15: An open-ended working group established to elaborate a draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (Commission resolution 1999/50, Economic and Social Council decision 1999/240) met from 18 to 29 October 1999;
(h) Item 15: An open-ended working group established to elaborate and consider further proposals for the possible establishment of a permanent forum for indigenous people in the United Nations system (Commission resolution 1999/52, Economic and Social Council decision 1999/242) is scheduled to meet from 14 to 23 February 2000;
(i) Item 20: An open-ended working group on enhancing the effectiveness of the mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights (statement made by the Chairperson of the Commission on 29 April 1999; Economic and Social Council decision 1999/256) is scheduled to meet from 27 September to 1 October 1999, from 6 to 10 December 1999 and from 7 to 11 February 2000.
4. Any decisions and resolutions affecting the provisional agenda of the fifty-sixth session of the Commission that may be adopted by the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session will be brought to the attention of the Commission in an addendum to the present document. The annotations to the items listed in the provisional agenda will also be issued in an addendum.Provisional agenda
1. Election of officers.
2. Adoption of the agenda.
3. Organization of the work of the session.
4. Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and follow-up to the World Conference on Human Rights.
5. The right of peoples to self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation.
6. Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and all forms of discrimination.
7. The right to development.
8. Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine.
9. Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world, including:
(a) Question of human rights in Cyprus;
(b) Procedure established in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1503 (XLVIII).
10. Economic, social and cultural rights.
11. Civil and political rights, including the questions of:
(a) Torture and detention;
(b) Disappearances and summary executions;
(c) Freedom of expression;
(d) Independence of the judiciary, administration of justice, impunity;
(e) Religious intolerance;
(f) States of emergency;
(g) Conscientious objection to military service.
12. Integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective:
(a) Violence against women.
13. Rights of the child.
14. Specific groups and individuals:
(a) Migrant workers;
(b) Minorities;
(c) Mass exoduses and displaced persons;
(d) Other vulnerable groups and individuals.
15. Indigenous issues.
16. Report of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights:
(a) Report and draft decisions;
(b) Election of members.
17. Promotion and protection of human rights:
(a) Status of the International Covenants on Human Rights;
(b) Human rights defenders;
(c) Information and education;
(d) Science and environment.
18. Effective functioning of human rights mechanisms:
(a) Treaty bodies;
(b) National institutions and regional arrangements;
(c) Adaptation and strengthening of the United Nations machinery for human rights.
19. Advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights.
20. Rationalization of the work of the Commission.
21. (a) Draft provisional agenda for the fifty-seventh session of the Commission;
(b) Report to the Economic and Social Council on the fifty-sixth session of the Commission.
Membership
United Nations Commission on Human Rights Membership
Membres de la Commission des droits de l'homme
Miembros de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos
(2000)
At its 1999 Organizational Session, held on 6 May 1999, the Economic and Social Council elected the new members of the Commission on Human Rights. The membership of the 56th session (2000) of the Commission on Human Rights will be as follows: 1. Argentina/Argentine/Argentina .................................................................. 2002
2. Bangladesh/Bangladesh/Bangladesh ...................................................... 2000
3. Bhutan/Bouthan/Bhután .............................................................................. 2000
4. Botswana/Bostwana/Bostwana ................................................................ 2000
5. Brazil/Brésil/Brasil ...................................................................................... 2002
6. Burundi/Burundi/Burundi ............................................................................ 2002
7. Canada/Canada/Canada .......................................................................... 2000
8. Chile/Chili/Chile .......................................................................................... 2000
9. China/Chine/China ..................................................................................... 2002
10. Colombia/Colombie/Colombia ................................................................. 2001
11. Congo/Congo/Congo ................................................................................ 2000
12. Cuba/Cuba/Cuba ....................................................................................... 2000
13. Czech Republic/République tchèque/República Checa ........................ 2002
14. Ecuador/Equateur/Ecuador ...................................................................... 2002
15. El Salvador/El Salvador/El Salvador ....................................................... 2000
16. France/France/Francia ............................................................................. 2001
17. Germany/Allemagne/Alemania ................................................................ 2002
18. Guatemala/Guatemala/Guatemala .......................................................... 2000
19. India/Inde/India ........................................................................................... 2000
20. Indonesia/Indonésie/Indonesia ................................................................. 2002
21. Italy/Italie/Italia ............................................................................................. 2002
22. Japan/Japon/Japón ................................................................................... 2002
23. Latvia/Lettonie/Letonia .............................................................................. 2001
24. Liberia/Libéria/Liberia ............................................................................... 2001
25. Luxembourg/Luxembourg/Luxemburgo ................................................... 2000
26. Madagascar/Madagascar/Madagascar .................................................. 2001
27. Mauritius/Maurice/Mauricio ....................................................................... 2001
28. Mexico/Mexique/México ............................................................................ 2001
29. Morocco/Maroc/Marruecos ....................................................................... 2000
30. Nepal/Népal/Nepal ..................................................................................... 2000
31. Niger/Niger/Níger ........................................................................................ 2001
32. Nigeria/Nigéria/Nigeria .............................................................................. 2002
33. Norway/Norvège/Noruega .......................................................................... 2001
34. Pakistan/Pakistan/Pakistán ....................................................................... 2001
35. Peru/Pérou/Perú .......................................................................................... 2000
36. Portugal/Portugal/Portugal ......................................................................... 2002
37. Philippines/Philippines/Filipinas ............................................................... 2000
38. Poland/Pologne/Polonia ............................................................................ 2000
39. Qatar/Qatar/Qatar ....................................................................................... 2001
40. Republic of Korea/République de Corée/República de Corea ............. 2001
41. Romania/Roumanie/Rumania .................................................................... 2001
42. Russian Federation/Fédération de Russie/Federación de Rusia ......... 2000
43. Rwanda/Rwanda/Rwanda .......................................................................... 2000
44. Senegal/Sénégal/Senegal ......................................................................... 2000
45. Spain/Espagne/España ............................................................................. 2002
46. Sri Lanka/Sri Lanka/Sri Lanka .................................................................. 2000
47. Sudan/Soudan/Sudán ................................................................................ 2000
48. Swaziland/Swaziland/Swazilandia ............................................................ 2002
49. Tunisia/Tunisie/Túnez ................................................................................. 2000
50. United Kingdom/Grande Bretagne/Reino Unido ..................................... 2000
51. USA/Etats-Unis d'Amérique/Estados Unidos de América .................... 2001
52. Venezuela/Venezuela/Venezuela .............................................................. 2000
53. Zambia/Zambie/Zambia ............................................................................. 2002
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 5, Bte 1, B - 1210 Bruxelles, Belgique.
For more information please contact: ICFTU Department of Trade Union Rights
Tel. 32.2.224.02.03 Fax: 32.2.224.02.97 E-mail: turights@icftu.org