by Tani Freedman

GENEVA, March 10 (AFP) - The UN Human Rights Commission opened its 53rd session on Monday with China and the war-torn Great Lakes region of Africa set to dominate the six-week agenda.

The human rights situation in about 15 other countries will also be scrutinized by the commission which raised the curtain with a minute of silence for five human rights monitors killed last month in Rwanda.

"The human rights program already has its first martyrs. Five heroic and altruistic colleagues lost their lives on February 4," outgoing UNHRC chief Jose Ayala-Lasso said in a farewell speach.

Three of the victims murdered in an ambush were Rwandan, the other two a Briton and a Cambodian.

Ayala-Lasso leaves his post March 15 to become foreign minister of his native Ecuador.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a speech read out by Ayala-Lasso called for a renewed determination for measures to "give concrete meaning to human rights." He added that as head of the UN, he would be "a champion of human rights and will ensure that human rights are fully integrated in the action of the Organization in all other domains."

The stress on China at the start of the proceedings was underlined by a gathering of several hundred pro-independence Tibetans outside the UN complex in Geneva Monday morning.

The group presented a petition to UNHRC headquarters before heading to China's permanent mission to the UN to deposit a petition demanding civil and religious freedoms.

The action actually began with a colourful demonstration Sunday outside the Palais des Nations.

Tibet staged an abortive uprising against Chinese control 38 years ago which forced its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, into exile in neighbouring India.

China does not come up for formal discussion in the session until around the fifth week, though any one of the roughly 2,000 delegates present can raise Chinese rights before then in the context of other discussions.

A resolution condemning China's human rights violations has been submitted annually since the supression by the army of pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen square in June 1989.

However, China has so far managed to escape official censure by amassing a majority of votes against such a motion.

This year, a resolution may not even be tabled if China shows a willingness to translate words into action.

For the first time, the country has said it plans to adhere to the UN's two human rights conventions and to entertain the notion of allowing Red Cross staff into its prisons.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in Beijing last month "there is still time" for progress on the human rights front. The United States has not decided yet whether or not a resolution will be put forward.

Human rights violations in Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire will come under the spotlight with reports to be given by special rapporteurs who visited the countries.

A UN report on Rwanda published ten days ago stated that more than 400 Rwandans were killed in January amid a sharply deteriorating human rights situation which targets genocide survivors, civilians and foreigners.

Some of the other countries to receive a grilling include Cuba, Afghanistan, Sudan and territory of the former Yugoslavia as well as Nigeria.

The Nigerian government has accused two UN envoys of bias in a report they compiled on the country, saying it was put together without direct feedback from government.

The pair recently cancelled a fact-finding mission to Nigeria after being denied access to political prisoners.

The HRC session, which ends April 18, will also tackle thematic issues, such as racism, summary executions, child prostitution, violence against women and mercenaries.