NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ADDRESS COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon held a dialogue with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and then heard statements from representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with respect to the reports of Costa Rica, Belgium, and Paraguay, which it will examine during the current session.
Vladimir Volodin, speaking for UNESCO, said according to the human rights strategy, adopted in 2003, there were four rights within UNESCO’s competence: the right to education, to participate in cultural life, to benefit from scientific advances, and the freedom of information. This explained UNESCO’s great interest in the work of the Committee. Kishore Singh, also speaking for UNESCO, said the organization appreciated the invitation to participate in the meeting of the States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
NGOs, speaking on Costa Rica, said if Costa Rica ratified the Central America Free Trade Agreements, the changes in policy required would have serious effects on the country’s ability to implement its commitments in terms of the Covenant, including negative consequences on the poorest sectors of society of the liberalisation of essential services such as water and education. Costa Rica had ratified practically all international treaties, and was currently discussing 13 complementary pieces of legislation that were linked to the Central American Free Trade Agreements. The country was divided over this issue.
On Belgium, it was hoped that after this session, Belgium would be encouraged to continue the dialogue with the NGOs, and to make it both permanent and structuralised. It was also noted that Belgium did not yet have a commission on fundamental human rights; although there were commissions for certain issues, such as children’s rights, this was not the case for fundamental rights.
With regards to Paraguay, speakers pointed out that the right to adequate food. It was breached or gravely threatened among indigenous and farmer communities, who lived in precarious situations and were vulnerable to crimes against human dignity, including cases of forced expulsion. The Government should implement public policies that guaranteed the rights of farmers and indigenous people, sustaining the highest possible levels of health. There was no national policy for food security, and this was a threat and a violation of the right to food.
The representatives of the following non-governmental organizations took the floor: 3-D-Trade, Asociacion Proyecto Caribe, Social Alert International, FIAN International, Pastoral Social Coronel Oviedo, Coordinadora de Lideres del Bajo Chaco, Mesa Coordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas, Federacion Nacional Campesina, and BASE-IS Paraguay.
After the international organizations and NGOs made their presentations, Committee Experts asked a number of questions which were answered by the representatives.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 6 November, it will begin its consideration of the second to fourth periodic reports of Costa Rica (E/C.12/CRI/4).
Dialogue with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
VLADIMIR VOLODIN, UNESCO, said according to the human rights strategy, adopted in 2003, there were four rights within UNESCO’s competence: the right to education, to participate in cultural life, to benefit from scientific advances, and the freedom of information. This explained UNESCO’s great interest in the work of the Committee. UNESCO was further interested in the elaboration of the right to benefit from scientific progress and its application. The Committee should have a general discussion or general comment on this issue. With regards to the right to participate in cultural life, UNESCO hoped the Committee Members would help with the celebration activities, which should be organised in many regions, and not just at headquarters.
KISHORE SINGH, UNESCO, said since the last session of the Committee, UNESCO had held a Ministerial series of round tables on economic development, the first of which was devoted to the right to education and the right to development. It had also organised an Expert Meeting on the right to constitutional education. UNESCO had recently conducted discussions with several States with regards to the implementation of the right to education. It had also examined the results of the fifth and sixth meetings of the Joint Expert Group, which was devoted to the theme of the right to free primary education for all, and the Group had placed emphasis on the four core provisions in that regard. UNESCO was thankful for the invitation to participate in the meeting of the States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. On the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of UNESCO, it had organised a symposium, and the conclusions of these had been brought out as a volume, which could be useful for Member States, diplomats and researchers with regards to normative implications, among other topics, including the benefits of scientific progress.
In comments, Committee Experts said that UNESCO was doing a great deal to enhance the work of the Committee, as it had done in the past. The Committee would eventually have to embark on the issue of addressing scientific progress, although it had a lot of other work that also needed to be done beforehand. Anniversaries were a great help to focus and highlight the work done, and to clarify the role between the Committee and UNESCO.
Statements by Non-Governmental Organizations
Costa Rica
CAROLINE DOMMEN, of 3-D-Trade, said the concerns of 3-D-Trade raised from the impact of trade agreements and other trade policies on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. The organization worked to ensure that trade rules were implemented in a way that ensured equality, and to ensure that trade and trade-related rules were consistent with human rights. The Committee’s efforts to raise these concerns with States parties were appreciated. Regarding Costa Rica, this country held a referendum on whether to ratify the Central America Free Trade Agreements, and this was an indication of the country’s willingness to take into account the will of the people on such an issue. If Costa Rica did ratify it, the changes in policy required would have serious effects on the country’s ability to implement its commitments in terms of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including negative consequences on the poorest sectors of society of the liberalisation of essential services such as water and education. It would also have a serious impact on the right to health.
The Central America Free Trade Agreements would also require changes in intellectual property measures, Ms. Dommen said. The Committee should ask the Costa Rican delegation what measures it would implement to ensure that medicines remained accessible. The Committee should recommend that the Government undertake an independent assessment of the impact of the Central America Free Trade Agreements on a range of rights, including the right to an adequate standard of living. WIPO had recently adopted a development agenda, and this offered a unique possibility of bringing human rights to the forefront of the discussion of the issue of intellectual property.
In a question, an Expert asked what particular health issues in Costa Rica should be addressed by the Committee in the dialogue with the State party. Responding, Ms. Dommen said the referendum on whether the State party should ratify the agreement had taken place in October. Health concerns were two-fold, and they included health insurance, and the possible privatisation and segmentation of the latter, which would have a negative impact on the more vulnerable elements of the population.
EDLY HALL REID, of Caribbean Project Association, said the Caribbean Project Association wished to comment on a few aspects of the State report. In Costa Rica, there were so many laws that the most predominant feeling was that there were more lawyers than educators. Costa Rica had ratified practically all international treaties, and was currently discussing 13 complementary pieces of legislation that were linked to the Central America Free Trade Agreements, and which had to be adopted at the latest by 8 March 2008, or the Treaty, although approved by referendum, would not be implementable. The social situation was that the country was divided over this issue. The civil and popular organizations did not agree with the referendum process, which had been negatively affected and managed, with negative effects on the people who had raised their voices to defend the achievements of the past. The Afro-Costa Rican community considered itself to be marginalized when it came to taking decisions.
Belgium
JOHAN COTTENIE, of Social Alert International (Belgium), said Belgium had passed a law saying that 0.7 of the GDP should be spent on development aid by 2012. Some of the figures today were not, however, acceptable, as they were distorted. The Committee should support a request to review the export credit of some Belgian companies, where only certain guidelines of the OECD were being applied. It was hoped that after this session, Belgium would be encouraged to continue the dialogue with non-governmental organizations, and to make it both permanent and structuralised. There was no commission on fundamental human rights in Belgium; although there were commissions for certain issues, such as children’s rights, this was not the case for fundamental rights.
Paraguay
JULIE BERGAMIN, of FIAN International, said the Committee should pay attention to the results of an inquiry held in Paraguay on the situation of the agrarian reform as a prerequisite for the right to adequate food. This right was breached or gravely threatened among indigenous and farmer communities, who lived in precarious situations and were vulnerable to crimes against human dignity, including cases of forced expulsion, accompanied by destruction and burning of homes, lands, crops, cattle, and the other goods of the victims. There were no measures taken by the State to recover the land. The growing insecurity and the misuse of land was one of the deleterious effects of the agriculture of soybeans. The Government was not recognising indigenous title to lands in particular in this regard. In order to promote a better implementation, Paraguay should undertake the necessary legal reforms to end forced expulsions of landless families; use the maximum level of resources available to implement a global policy of agrarian reform; and guarantee equal access by indigenous women, as well as launching judicial reforms to acknowledge the importance of ancestral lands.
JUAN BAEZ, of Pastoral Social Coronel Oviedo, said on the indiscriminate use of toxic products in Paraguay for agrarian use, the rights of farmers and indigenous communities had been indiscriminately trampled in this regard, and there had been indiscriminate use of toxic products, which had taken place in many areas, affecting neighbouring regions, and causing deaths, spontaneous abortion and birth defects. Pesticides were contaminating the water which flowed to communities. The corresponding laws and various articles of the Constitution should be implemented and used for the protection of the citizens. Many rural communities and ecosystems were disappearing. The Government should implement public policies that guaranteed the rights of farmers and indigenous people, sustaining the highest possible levels of health. There should be compensation for victims and their families
OSCAR RAMON AYALA AMARILLA, of Coordinadora de Lideres del Bajo Chaco, said the report which the organization had sent to the Committee was centred mainly on the right to food, water, habitation, and indigenous people. The report was the result of a long process and effort which had begun at the end of 2004.
EDGAR RAMON MEDINA VELAZCO, of MESA Coordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas, said rural poverty in Paraguay had deep structural roots, and was associated, historically, with the fact that people had been excluded from land, and that farmers had not been able to hold land, leading to inequalities and conflicts between farmer communities, landholders, and the State. In rural areas, poverty affected 40.1 per cent of the population. In 2000, poverty affected 33.9 per cent of the population. Fighting for land and agrarian reform was a constant factor, which had cost the lives of many farmers. Fighting for land was now part of the cultural substrate. The current capitalist expansion in the field had deleterious effects, imposing an approach which stressed the production of crops for international markets, rather than the production of food. This had meant that 66.4 per cent of the population was in the hands of about 10 per cent of landholders. Indigenous farms were disappearing. State policies aimed at guaranteeing fast advances in single crops.
MARTIAL GOMEZ JIMENEZ, of Federacion Nacional Campesina said the right to work in Paraguay was an important issue. The minimum wage was an indicator of the precarious situation in the labour market. There was a law which was supposed to protect this right, however, it was not usually respected, as the Committee had noted in 2006. Thirty-five per cent of the economically active population was confronted by labour problems, either sub- or under-employment. More women had employment problems than did men. The right to water was not guaranteed nor protected by the State. Deforestation aggravated problems of soil erosion and upset natural cycles. Waste was not properly controlled, which led to a contamination of water ways, and there were significant flaws in the treatment of waste. The quality of water sources for 33 per cent of the population was not ensured. There was no national policy for food security, and this was a threat and a violation of the right to food. There was significant food insecurity. Sanitation was still mainly only available in cities. There was still a need to provide housing in rural areas, and clear discrimination against this sector.
ENRIQUE MARECOS GARCIA, of Coordinadora de Lideres del Bajo Chaco, said the situation of indigenous peoples in Paraguay was of concern. It affected over 89,000 people. The situation of extreme poverty of indigenous peoples could be seen, reflected in the lack of land owned, and there were over 400 indigenous communities, of which 180 did not have legal final settlements.
MARIELLE BEATRIZ PALAU FERNANDEZ, of BASE-IS Paraguay, said the main problem of social inequalities was lack of access to land, and the lack of the Government’s intervention in the situation and to guarantee the exercise of rights. The Government had taken measures to favour the interests of capital, rather than rural and indigenous populations that had lost their lands. Discrimination against rural and indigenous populations had been recurrent in many State actions, including housing and employment policies. The Government needed to implement an agrarian reform policy, to protect agricultural activities, and ensure the indiscriminate access of women to such policies. The indigenous and rural populations should have full enjoyment of their rights. Specific policies should prevent the expansion of mechanised agriculture and single crops, in order to protect indigenous communities.
In questions and comments, Experts asked, among other things, for a clarification as to the identification of indigenous populations in Paraguay; the situation of women in Paraguay, in particular women in rural areas; and to what extent children from very poor families had access to basic education.
Responding, NGO representatives said the information in the civil society report was based on an official document, a Census of 2002. The predominance of Guarani culture appeared to be homogenous, but there were 20 populations which existed, and felt that they were not part of the social stratification of Paraguayan society, and these were the subject of the report. The rural population did not have a different identity from ordinary Paraguayans, and were therefore not considered to be a separate identity. On discrimination against rural women, this was basically linked to their lack of access to agrarian reform, credits and technical support, as well as to exposure to toxic chemicals. There was a formal school system, but there was a high drop-out rate in rural areas.
A further question was asked regarding corroboration of NGO figures and reports on the use of toxic chemicals, and whether additional evidence could be submitted. Responding, NGO representatives said that there was a very close link between the economic and political life in Paraguay. There was a culture of intimidation to protect the spraying of chemicals, to the extent of the employment of the police and army forces to this end. The rule of law did not prevail in this regard. The judiciary did not accept reports of poisoning. For indigenous peoples, not having access to ownership of land meant that they were deprived of both the right to work it, and also of the rights to food and adequate housing. There was a very strong link between access to land and the enjoyment of these rights, both for indigenous peoples and the rest of the rural population. Migration was a consequence of this, with both movement from the country to the cities, and out of the country.
For use of the information media; not an official record
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