B3-0694, 0704, 0715, 0716, 0717, 0737, 0738, 0740, 0742 and 0743/93

Resolution on the United Nations World Human Rights Conference in Vienna in June 1993

The European Parliament,

A.whereas it is to send a delegation to the UN World Human Rights Conference, to take place in Vienna in June 1993,

B.stressing the importance of this conference, the first world human rights summit for 25 years, taking place at a time when massive violations of human rights and humanitarian law in different parts of the world have underlined the responsibilities of the international community in the post-cold war era,

C.believing this conference could be a unique opportunity to make UN human rights bodies more effective at a time when human rights issues have become a matter of intense concern to citizens throughout the world,

D.recalling its resolutions and the major decisions and declarations by the Commission, the Council and the EC Member States on human rights during the past two years, which reaffirm that the Community and its Parliament are determined to pursue an active policy on human rights,

E.recalling the proposals made with regard to the World Conference and with regard to the UN in Parliament's resolution of 12 March 1993 on human rights in the world and Community human rights policy for the years 1991-1992,

F.whereas Morocco is due to become vice-chairman of the UN World Conference on Human Rights in June 1993,

G.whereas Morocco's credibility as regards this responsibility is meaningless unless everything is done to ensure that human rights are respected there,

1.Calls on the Twelve to adopt a coordinated and focused approach at the World Human Rights Conference with a view to adapting and improving UN human rights activities and mechanisms to enhance their effectiveness, in particular to deal with emergency situations;

2.Proposes that all intervention, control and prevention mechanisms laid down in international treaties and more particularly by the UN in order to ensure that human rights are respected be considered at this world conference;

3.Calls on the Foreign Ministers of the Twelve to lay stress in their position at Vienna on:

-reform and reinforcement of existing UN human rights instruments, in particular the field mechanisms of the UN Commission on Human Rights and the treaty bodies which monitor the implementation of the international human rights treaties;

-concrete implementation of existing instruments;

-creation of a UN rapid-response system in emergencies;

-new forms of preventive action;

-strengthening the UN Centre for Human Rights in Geneva;

-depoliticization of the Commission on Human Rights and designation of genuinely independent experts to those UN bodies where it is so provided;

-the establishment of a standing criminal tribunal or international human rights court to ensure that perpetrators of human rights violations cannot act with impunity;

-strengthening the methods and impact of the system of country and thematic rapporteurs and working groups within the framework of the Commission on Human Rights, such as those dealing with torture, 'disappearances', extrajudicial executions and arbitrary detention;

-better coordination between different UN bodies and specialized agencies;

-increased funding and resources for the UN's human rights programme, which, despite the lip-service paid to human rights, accounts for less than 1% of the UN budget, in view of the increasing number of mandates the United Nations must discharge in the peace-keeping humanitarian field;

-review and strengthening of the UN's technical cooperation, technical assistance and advisory services;

4.Calls for the right to a healthy environment to form an integral part of the declaration of fundamental rights;

5.Believes that, to achieve these objectives, the UN should appoint a Special Commissioner for Human Rights who would have a flexible mandate covering all areas of human rights and the authority and independence to act effectively in human rights crises, to develop new methods of action-oriented human rights protection and to coordinate and integrate human rights activities into the other areas of the UN's work;

6.Believes that an important issue which must be addressed by the Conference concerns the concepts of the duty/right of interference/humanitarian assistance when states agree to act collectively through the UN;

7.Believes that a further issue which must be addressed is that of minority rights, which is the source of many of the human rights violations currently being committed;

8.Supports the United Nations in its preeminent task of promoting human rights and calls for a strengthening of the regional organizations which defend human rights in Europe, Africa and Latin America and for the establishment of similar organizations in Asia;

9.Calls on the Community and its Member States to urge the Moroccan authorities to make a significant gesture when preparing for the World Conference on Human Rights;

10.Calls on the Twelve and the Member States at the UN to press for a strengthening of the mandate of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, even after the adoption of the Declaration on Indigenous Peoples;

11.Reiterates its appeal to the Commission and the Member States to allocate funds to the UN Voluntary Fund for the International Year to assist with the programmes and activities;

12.Calls upon the World Conference on Human Rights to take into account the work of the UNWGIP (UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples) and the text of the Universal Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, in particular with regard to the question of self-determination, in the adoption of the final declaration of principles;

13.Calls upon the UN to facilitate the participation of indigenous peoples' representatives, particularly from the developing world, in its meetings, where matters affecting them are being discussed, and at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna;

14.Demands that gender violence, a universal phenomenon which takes many forms across culture, race and class, be recognized as a violation of human rights requiring immediate action, and therefore urges the World Conference to recognize specifically that gender violence against women in both the private and public spheres is a violation of human rights and constitutes the gravest form of sexual discrimination;

15.Calls upon all governments who have not yet ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimation against Women (CEDAW) to do so before 1995, and demands the establishment of a working group in the Commission on the Status of Women to outline procedures for drafting an optional protocol establishing an individual complaints procedure under the Convention, and the adoption of such an optional protocol;

16.Calls on the Vienna Conference to resolve that any state which still employs the death penalty should impose a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing all forms of legislation on capital punishment;

17.Calls on the Council, the Commission, the representatives of the Member States to the Vienna Conference and its delegation in Vienna to use all the means at their disposal to affirm the principles in this resolution;

18.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, European Political Cooperation, the Council of Europe, the UN Secretary-General and the Governments of the Member States.