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Commonwealth Human Rights
Commonwealth National Human Rights Commission (CNHRC) Project |
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| This
e-Newsletter has been produced for Commonwealth National Human Rights
Institutions (NHRIs) by the British Council, as part of the British
Council's project to support networking and sharing between such NHRIs.
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| Content: | |
1.
Forthcoming Events |
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| FORTHCOMING EVENTS | |
| World
Forum on Human Rights in Nantes, France, 16-19 May 2004 The World Forum on Human Rights is dedicated to the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition And to the memory of Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights killed in Baghdad on 19 August 2003. This will allow an extensive exchange of knowledge, ideas and experiences on how to create global alliances to address today's most pressing challenges, including terrorism, discrimination and poverty, the three main themes of the Forum. The Forum will bring together on an equal footing all the actors involved in the promotion and protection of human rights. It will contribute to strengthen interaction between research and decision-making, with the aim to consolidate a global movement for human rights. Registration and participation are free of charge. |
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| Global
Commission on International Migration: Regional hearing for Asia and
the Pacific- Manila, Philippines from 17 - 19 May 2004 The Commission’s ‘Regional Hearing for Asia and the Pacific’ will take place in Manila on 17 and 18 May 2004, followed by a ‘Commission-only’ meeting on 19 May. The hearing will involve some 20 selected governments from Asia and the Pacific, a number of non-governmental bodies, global and regional organisations, migration experts, private sector representatives, trade unions and the media. The next regional Commission hearing will be organised in the Mediterranean region, in Rabat, Morocco, in September 2004. |
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| International
workshop for Commonwealth National Human Rights Institutions on "Building
an Effective Media and Communication Programme" from 22 to 24 June,
2004 in Accra, Ghana An International workshop on "Building an Effective Media and Communication Programme" for National Human Rights Commissions will be jointly organised by the British Council and the Ghana Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice from 22 to 24 June, 2004 in Accra, Ghana. The workshop will focus on how human rights commissions can work more effectively with the media, and will draw on expert advice provided by the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions. For more information, write to Neena Jacob at neena.jacob@in.britishcouncil.org |
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| Amnesty
International Film Festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,
November 4-7, 2004 Amnesty International Film Festival seeks films with human rights themes for festival that begins in Vancouver and travels across Canada. Entry deadline: May 31, 2004. Entry form at: http://www.amnesty.bc.ca/filmfest/entry.rtf E-mail:dwright@amnesty.ca |
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| REPORTS | |
| Australia | |
| 20
Years On: The Challenges Continue...Sexual harassment in the Australian
workplace Sexual harassment is unlawful and has been for 20 years. However, it is a perennial issue, deeply embedded in many Australian workplace cultures. Recognising this, over the last 20 years the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission ("HREOC") has regularly focussed its public education programs on the issue of sexual harassment. This review examines the way in which HREOC manages complaints, updates the Sexual Harassment: A Code of Practice ("Code of Practice") (which was first developed in 1996) and examines experiences of sexual harassment in the community. The review began with A Bad Business: Review of sexual harassment in employment complaints 2002 ("A Bad Business"), an analysis of the sexual harassment in employment complaints finalised by HREOC in 2002. |
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Commonwealth |
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| The
Abuja Guidelines - National Human Rights Institutions and Legislatures:
Building an Effective Relationship Representatives of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and Parliaments from ten Commonwealth countries came together for an International workshop on "National Human Rights Institutions and Legislatures: Building an Effective Relationship" in Abuja, Nigeria, from 22 to 25 March 2004. The workshop was organised by the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria, the Committee on Human Rights of the Nigerian House of Representatives, The Legal Resources Consortium of Nigeria and the British Council and was supported by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The workshop aimed to explore the ways in which NHRIs and Parliaments can work together, and support each other, for the better protection and promotion of human rights. Building on the Best Practice for NHRIs developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2001, the workshop discussed and agreed The Abuja Guidelines on the Relationship Between Parliaments, Parliamentarians and Commonwealth NHRIs, to provide a suitable basis for the effective development of such relationships. |
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| India | |
| Report
on Emergency Medical Care The group of experts headed by Dr. P.K. Dave, former Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences constituted by National Human Rights Commission to study the existing system for emergency medical care submitted its report to the Chairperson, Dr. Justice A.S. Anand in New Delhi. While pointing out a number of deficiencies in the existing Emergency Medical Care System (EMS) of the country, it has suggested a number of short-term and long-term measures to address the lacunae. |
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| Status
of Widows of Vrindavan and Varanasi: A Comparative Study It is estimated that with 33 million widows India has the largest widow population in the world. Widows in India still undergo ritual humiliations and extreme ostracism. A large number of these widows reside in two holy cities in North India, Vrindavan and Varanasi. The report by Guild of Service and supported by National Commission for Women, India makes an attempt to look at the status of widows in these two cities. The state of widowhood is a great calamity in a patriarchal and traditional society like India and patriarchy has played the biggest role in the total marginalization of widows. |
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| International | |
| Follow-up
to and progress in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session:
Report of the Secretary-General This report responds to General Assembly resolution 57/182. It reviews steps taken by the Assembly and its Main Committees during its fifty-seventh session to promote the achievement of the goal of gender equality through the gender mainstreaming strategy. Particular focus is placed on actions taken in relation to the follow-up to the United Nations Millennium Declaration and at major events during the past year. An assessment of the work of the Economic and Social Council is also provided. Finally, the catalytic role of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women in support of gender mainstreaming in all policies and programmes of the United Nations is addressed. |
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| The
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2003 The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are submitted annually by the U.S. Department of State to the U.S. Congress. On February 25, 2004, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell held a special briefing to announce the release of the 2003 Human Rights Reports. The report entitled "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State in compliance with sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), as amended, and section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. The law provides that the Secretary of State shall transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, by February 25 "a full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognised human rights, within the meaning of subsection (A) in countries that receive assistance under this part, and (B) in all other foreign countries which are members of the United Nations and which are not otherwise the subject of a human rights report under this Act. |
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| Violence
against women and AIDS This fact sheet by UNAIDS analyses the issue of violence against women and its relationship with AIDS. It argues that besides being a major human rights and public health problem world-wide, violence against women increases female vulnerability to HIV. Fear of violence prevents women from accessing HIV/AIDS information, being tested, disclosing their HIV status, accessing services for the prevention of HIV transmission to infants, and receiving treatment and counselling, even when they know they have been infected. This is particularly true where HIV-related stigma remains high. |
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| Protecting
children in armed conflict: Blueprints for compliance, January 2004 This paper by WATCH List on Children and Armed Conflict, is a call to action urging the UN Security Council members, the UN system, regional bodies, civil society, and national governments to respond with the resources and remedies proportionate to the grave state of affairs for children in armed conflicts around the globe. This paper analyses three key strategies to improve the situation of children in armed conflicts. These are: monitoring and reporting violations against children in armed conflicts, focusing on the spectrum of violations against children, and fulfilment of the international obligations. |
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| Five
necessary steps to eliminate racism and xenophobia in education, and
through education recommendations by Katarina Tomasevski, Special Rapporteur
of the Commission on Human Rights on the right to education These recommendations deal jointly with the themes of education and poverty because recent global education strategies and domestic policies have deepened and broadened economic exclusion from education. This prioritises the need to examine the racial and gender profile of poverty-based exclusion from education and its consequences for designing effective human rights strategies today. The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action has followed the global trend of affirming that only primary education should be free by referring in paragraph 121 to "access to free primary education for all children", while the word "free" is not repeated for post-primary education. Access to post-primary education has, indeed, become conditioned by purchasing power since education is increasingly defined as a traded service rather than a human right. This facet requires linking the pattern of economic exclusion from education with the inevitable changes in education stemming from its status as a traded service rather than a human right. |
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| Seeking
Accountability on Women’s Human Rights: Women Debate the Millennium
Development Goals Women's International Coalition for Economic Justice launched its new publication, Seeking Accountability on Women’s Human Rights: Women Debate the Millennium Development Goals, at the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India, in January 2004 and at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March 2004. There is much discussion among women’s organisations about the MDGs-on whether and how to engage. From internet conversations and articles to national and international meetings, women are exploring whether the MDGs are useful tools for advancing their agenda of gender equality, economic justice and peace. This publication brings together a wide range of issues and debates in relation to gender and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This compilation of articles and opinion briefs are presented from different regions and explore diverse issues, all contributing to the debate on gender and MDGs. |
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| Needs
or rights? Education and the working child in South Asia What is the nature of the conflict between the right of the child to education and the economic needs of the family? Which of these concerns should take priority? Should the state mediate in this ‘needs versus rights’ conflict? What is the status of child labour in the context of globalisation and international trade agreements? A book from Sage Publications, the outcome of a DFID-funded workshop in New Delhi, presents a diverse range of perspectives concerning the many causes of, and solutions to, the problem of child labour in South Asia. Indian and Bangladeshi policy-makers, academics, child labour activists and practitioners delivering education to children outside the formal schooling system, reflect on the inter-relationship between needs and rights in societies characterised by extreme poverty and entrenched forms of social exclusion. |
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| Tolerance
Matters: International Educational Approaches Tolerance, diversity and human rights - issues that lie at the very core of democratic societies. Especially in times of conflict the question arises: Is it possible to promote tolerance, democracy and human rights through education? Tolerance Matters" published by Bertelsmann Foundation, Germany, identifies fundamental issues in the field of education for democracy, human rights and tolerance. With contributions from Brazil, Chile, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa and the United States of America, this unique collection of case studies offers a cross- and intercultural approach to the issue of education for democracy. |
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| Nigeria | |
| The
HIV & AIDS Question & Answer Handbook This handbook published by the Johns Hopkins University/ Centre for Communication Programme, presents the most commonly asked questions about HIV, targeted to HIV/AIDS hotline counsellors, teachers, extension workers, radio and television journalists and public speakers. It aims to represent how health care providers can respond to diverse, sensitive and technically detailed topics. |
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| United Kingdom | |
| Reporting
refugee and asylum issues: Information and guidance for the media In order to help the media report asylum issues fairly and accurately, UNHCR in the UK, in co-operation with the National Union of Journalists and the Presswise Trust, UK has published a guidance leaflet for journalists. Asylum and immigration issues are controversial areas of public policy and debate. However, public opinion and policy formations are not well served when media coverage is inaccurate, misleading or unfair. The NUJ/UNHCR leaflet is designed to be of practical assistance to journalists seeking to report on the issues accurately and fairly. In a recent press release the UNHCR noted that hostile and alarmist media coverage of asylum and refugees undermines the lives of those who have had to flee persecution, usually from countries where there is no free press, rather than inform any legitimate public debate on these issues. |
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| Why
migration policies fail? Immigration and asylum are key political issues in Britain and the European Union. Yet the policies of states and supranational bodies seem to have had little success in preventing unwanted flows and effectively managing immigration and integration. This article by Stephen Castles, Professor of Migration and Refugee Studies, and Director of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford, examines three types of reasons for policy failure: factors arising from the social dynamics of the migratory process; factors linked to globalisation and the North-South divide; and factors arising within political systems. Key issues include the role of migrant agency, the way the North-South divide encourages flows, and hidden agendas in national policies. |
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| NEWS STORIES | |
| ASYLUM | |
| Top
UN refugee official issues warning on EU moves on asylum On the eve of a meeting between European Union (EU) ministers about harmonising their asylum laws, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that two draft EU directives on asylum could force genuine refugees back to their home countries and therefore possible persecution. Mr. Ruud Lubbers issued his warning in a statement, saying the number of asylum-seekers entering the EU is falling and there is no need to focus so single-mindedly on reducing standards and trying to deter or deny protection to as many people as possible. He is alarmed by the draft qualification directive, which defines who is a refugee and qualifies for protection, and the draft asylum procedures directive, which determines how that decision is reached in individual cases. |
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| CHILD RIGHTS | |
| U.N.
experts call for more action to protect children's rights Governments are not doing enough to address the exploitation of children and acts of violence against them, two U.N. experts told a meeting of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. Juan Miguel Petit, the special rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, questioned whether countries were committed to establishing a human rights regime that effectively protected children. He said that continued impunity for perpetrators and large gaps in areas such as poverty, hunger and social equality were impeding progress on the issue. In his written report to the commission, Petit called for strengthened political will, a greater knowledge base and stepped-up co-operation among different institutions to crack down on trafficking, abuse and other forms of exploitation of children. |
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| CRIMINAL JUSTICE | |
| Criminal
Justice System "reforms"-India A critique of the process and research used by the Justice Malimath Committee to recommend reforms to the Criminal Justice System. This is the first of a two part series. The Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System, submitted its report in April 2003. It was constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India in November 2000 and headed by former Chief Justice of Kerala and Karnataka, and former member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Justice V.S. Malimath. The two-volume report, over 600 pages in length contained 158 recommendations for ‘reforming’ the Criminal Justice System (CJS). The recommendations of the Committee cover are wide ranging, from making confessions to the police admissible to courts to making matrimonial cruelty a bailable offence; they include placing a police officer as head of the prosecution and adding provisions from the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) into the regular penal law. This article focuses on the manner in which the ‘proposed reforms’ were arrived at, by examining the report’s methodology, interrogating its premises and unravelling its exclusions and silences. |
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| ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS | |
| Is
the future of the welfare state really a human rights issue? Arguments that social and welfare support should be seen as part of the human rights agenda are not backed by popular opinion or the views of those directly involved in this field, according to new research sponsored by the Economic & Social Research Council, UK. A study led by Dr Hartley Dean, at the Universities of Luton and Nottingham, found working-age adults and social services and welfare professionals can be more likely than current New Labour or 'third way' thinkers to acknowledge people's dependency on one another and that certain human rights are not negotiable. The aim of the project was to investigate how, if at all, the introduction in the UK of the Human Rights Act and what has flown from it may change the ways in which the welfare state and its future are envisaged. |
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| NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS | |
| Independent
UN human rights committee examines situations in five countries The United Nations Human Rights Committee, ending its three-week examination of reports from five governments, found violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights governing domestic violence and warned that much counter-terrorism legislation was framed in such a way that it could reduce human rights protections. In their concluding observations on Colombia, Germany, Lithuania, Suriname and Uganda, the committee of 18 independently elected experts, at its 80th session, noted a high incidence of violence against women and children, despite efforts to pass anti-violence laws. |
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| Human
Rights must be made focal point of good governance: NHRC,New Delhi,
India The Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Justice A.S. Anand stressed the need for making human rights the focal point of good governance. He called for greater role for National Human Rights Commissions in the work of United Nations, its treaty bodies and specialised agencies, stressing the need to further develop co-operation between them. He made these observations while delivering a Statement to the 60th Session of the Commission on Human Rights at Geneva on 14th April. In his address, Justice Anand underlined the need to address challenges to the independence of national institutions and also address constraints, which come in the way of their effective operation. He added that all concerned, both in the Government and outside, need to be sensitised about the need to scrupulously adhere to the Paris Principles, which were adopted by the United Nations and which seek to ensure the autonomy and independence of National Institutions. |
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| UK
government accused of 'alarming failures' on human rights
The British government's record on human rights came under fierce attack from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission at the 60th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. Prof. Brice Dickson, Chief Commissioner, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, said it was regrettable that, while in some respects there had been positive progress in establishing systems to protect human rights in Northern Ireland, there had been "alarming failures" by government to introduce measures to address "critical problems". He used the 60th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to accuse the government of failing to support the Commission itself. More than three years after it submitted a report - required by law - making a case for increased powers for the Commission, the Government had still not definitively responded. |
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| MINORITIES | |
| Orissa
Govt. complies with NHRC directive, implements scale of relief as per
SC/ST Act: India Orissa State Government, which so far had not been implementing the scale of relief payable to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) victims as prescribed in the SC&ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and Rules 1995 is now doing so after National Human Rights Commission's intervention. The discrepancy came to light when the Commission took suo-motu cognisance of a media report, which appeared in a national daily on 3 April 2001. The news article alleged that a low caste man was beaten up and fined Rs.4,000/- for entering the 'Kirtanya Mandap' organised by the upper caste at Ganda Turum village in Bhaden block, Orissa. The Commission also directed the State Government to take appropriate remedial measures under the relevant provision of SC & ST Act, 1989 and Rules 1995. Heeding to the Commission's directive, the State Government on 27 February 2004 informed the Commission that it has now implemented the scale of relief payable to the victims of atrocities belonging to SC & ST as prescribed in the schedule of SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and Rules 1995. |
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| TORTURE | |
| The
Center for Victims of Torture While rates of torture vary by country and affected group, studies have found that 5-35% of refugees are survivors of torture. As of 2000, the U.S. Committee on Refugees calculates that there are approximately 14.1 million external refugees. Many of these refugees fled areas of conflict and oppression to relocate in new countries. If you are seeing refugees and immigrants in your workplace, most likely you are also seeing persons who have experienced war trauma or torture. The Center for Victims of Torture has developed this resource list by profession as a means of highlighting information about torture and war trauma survivors that may be pertinent to your work. The resources include articles and publications, links to web sites and a short bibliography for further reading. Each was selected by a CVT clinician trainer from that professional group. |
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| TRAFFICKING | |
| UNODC
launches local Media campaign in over 40 countries to assist victims
of Human Trafficking As part of its global human trafficking awareness campaign, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has joined forces with its partners in over 40 countries to produce customised versions of its latest video spots. Each of the versions includes a local telephone hotline number where victims can receive assistance and concerned citizens can find out what they can do to help. The latest UNODC video spots target countries and victims at the end of the trafficking route. Earlier spots in the campaign were designed to raise awareness about the human trafficking issue by focusing on the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation and on the trafficking of men, women and children for bonded and forced labour. |
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| WOMEN'S RIGHTS | |
| New
strategy promotes partnerships for gender and women's advancement in
Africa UNDP's new strategy promotes partnerships for gender and women's advancement in Africa. Representatives from 26 sub-Saharan African countries launched a four-year strategy to promote partnerships for more equal roles for men and women and support women's advancement and wider participation in development. Despite progress, less than 15 per cent of economic managers in Africa are women, and women account for less than 10 per cent of the parliamentarians and 8 per cent of government ministers. In 14 countries in southern Africa, 59 per cent of adults living with HIV/AIDS are women. Women's higher infection rate is linked to unequal power relations with men, meaning that women are far more likely to live in poverty. |
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| As
of mid-2003, 172 nations had signed the convention on eliminating all
forms of discrimination against women. Has anything really changed as
a result? By Noeline Heyzer At the Millennium Summit in 2000, 172 nations of the world endorsed the need to achieve equality and women’s empowerment as one of eight priority Millennium Development Goals - MDGs. In so doing, they reaffirmed commitments made to the world’s women at a series of international conferences in the 1990s and early 2000s, including the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, 1995 World Summit on Social Development, 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, and United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in 2001. The inclusion of women’s empowerment and gender equality as one of the MDGs is a sign of progress - a recognition that gender equality is important not only as a goal in itself but is also critical to achieving all the other goals. |
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| Copyright © 2004
British Council. Disclaimer: Views expressed in e-newsletter are not necessarily those of the British Council |
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