Forty-ninth session

5 August 1997

The Subcommission needs deeper reforms in its working methods and should try to avoid politicized interventions on country situations, the current Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights said in the morning.

Speaking as the Subcommission opened its yearly debate on human rights violations throughout the world, Miroslav Somol (Czech Republic) said some members of the Commission had questioned the Subcommission's continued existence in light of perceived duplication of work of other UN human- rights bodies. While there was no desire to change its legal mandate, he added, there was a prevailing opinion that the Subcommission should reform to enable it to better fulfil its role as a "think tank" for the Commission.

Reacting to Mr. Somol's statement were the Subcommission members Ioan Maxim, Claire Palley and Asbjorn Eide.

Earlier in the morning, the Subcommission adopted a streamlined agenda for this session. Among the changes to the programme approved were the addition of a sub-item on the right to education to the question of the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, and the addition of a new item on the promotion and protection of human rights of children and youth. Furthermore, members decided to add the following sub-items to the question of the review of developments in fields of concern to the Subcommission: the implications of humanitarian activities for the enjoyment of human rights; gross and massive violations of human rights as an international crime; the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; adverse consequence of transfer of arms and illicit trafficking in arms on the enjoyment of human rights, and arbitrary deprivation of nationality.

Statements:

FAN GUOXIANG, expert from China, said that as human rights were basic components of the superstructure of a society, they could only be acknowledged and protected by the society, by a rule of conduct formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority; in other words, the rule of law. The development of human history eloquently attested to the inadequacy if the greatness of ruling individuals and the guidance of virtuous doctrines in terms of promoting human rights. The rights of members of a community could only be effectively assured and protected through law.

Mr. Guoxiang said that in order to win their independence, oppressed peoples and nations had had to rely on the solidarity of the whole country. Their legal system had been erected not only to protect individual liberty, but also to emphasize, first and foremost, the safeguarding of the national sovereignty and a balanced approach between rights and duties. Deng Hsiaoping, the great Chinese leader, had attached great importance to the rule of law; his basic theory was that democracy constituted the basis of the rule of law, which in turn guaranteed the protection of democracy.

NGAWANT CHOEPHEL of the Society for Threatened Peoples, said the situation in Tibet had deteriorated to the point where there was a consistent pattern of human rights violations. Following a landmark Subcommission resolution on the subject in 1991, Chinese authorities had continued to commit gross and systematic abuses; the alarming situation was solely due to an institutionalized policy carried out by these authorities. The Subcommission must pay more attention to the grave situation of human rights in Tibet.