Day three round-up
Annual report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein was first on the agenda today, presenting his
annual report to the Council, running through a list of the most serious human rights violations that took place last year. The High Commissioner payed particular attention to the ongoing violent persecution of Rohingya people in Myanmar, repeating the observations made in
his office’s report on the issue last month. He went on to discuss extra-judicial killings in the Philippines’ war on drugs, also criticising the government’s moves to lower the country’s minimum age of criminal responsibility and to reintroduce the death penalty. The High Commissioner then turned to China, noting that the State still endorsed intimidation and detention of lawyers and activists, as well as religious oppression in Xinjiang and Tibet.
The High Commissioner also gave special attention to the ongoing refugee crisis, singling out Hungary for its poor treatment of migrants and refugees, and its president’s claims that economic homogeneity was the key to economic success. High Commissioner Zeid also mentioned the United States’ discrimination against people from several majority Muslim countries when implementing its “travel ban”, expressing particular concern for children who may be at risk of being held in immigration detention, or removed from their families during immigration or asylum proceedings. The High Commissioner also touched on violence perpetrated by the so-called Islamic State (IS), highlighting numerous potential crimes against humanity, and urging the armed forces of Iraq to continue to monitor the conduct of their own army as it worked to push back IS militants.
Special rapporteurs on privacy and on the sale of children
Following the presentation of the High Commissioner's report, debate on the reports of the special rapporteurs on privacy and on the sale of children resumed from the day before. The report of the SR on privacy, Joseph Cannataci, prompted comments from a number of States and NGOs expressing dismay about the lack of oversight when it came to surveillance and the effects of the collection of huge amounts of data without regard for national sovereignty.
The European Union delegation highlighted that the right to privacy was vital to exercise a range of other rights, a sentiment echoed by a number of other States and NGOs. Paraguay stressed that the widespread collection of data should respect the right to privacy, and asked for recommendations on how to prevent images of child sexual abuse being shared through digital media. Cuba, a country not renowned for its support of democracy, called for a rejection of the militarisation of cyberspace and for States to support the promotion of democratic development of the internet. Privacy International commented on the crucial need for oversight when it came to surveillance, noting with concern the lack of transparency with regard to intelligence sharing between States, as it likely that the private data of individuals accused of committing no crimes is transferred to authorities overseas. Despite the fact that children born today will likely be victims of State surveillance for their entire lives, very little attention was paid specifically to children’s right to privacy, to freedom from discrimination and access to information, or any others, with statements mentioning children tending to focus solely on protection from sexual exploitation.
The interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children also continued at the same time. In her report, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio highlighted that her study focuses on illegal adoptions and the sale of children that occurred at the national and international levels through the commission of illegal acts and illicit practices. She noted four elements which enable illegal adoption, including the pressure of demand, financial transactions, the role of intermediaries, and the recourse to countries of origin that had not ratified the 1993 Hague Convention. During the discussion, many States congratulated her on her report and presented the measures they have taken to end illegal adoptions, as well as the measures of assistance to victims that were adopted in countries where large-scale violations occurred, such as Australia or Spain.
A call was made to States to adopt the Hague Convention, as well as incorporating the 2009 Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children into national legislation. The SR recommended the adoption of preventive measures and strategies at national level, and stressed the need to criminalise as a separate offence illegal adoption resulting from crimes such as abduction and sale of and trafficking in children, fraud in the declaration of adoptability, falsification of official documents or coercion, and any illicit activity or practice, such as lack of proper consent by biological parents, improper financial gain by intermediaries and related corruption. The SR also highlighted the importance of transitional justice, saying: “victims are entitled to the truth, to reparation, to redress and to the guarantees of non recurrence”. While replying to a question on engaging other mandate holders in addressing the issue of illegal adoption, Boer-Buquicchio suggested that the SR on trafficking in persons could be of assistance. In her concluding remarks, the SR announced that international commercial surrogacy, which has links to the report under discussion, will be the focus of her thematic report next year.
Special rapporteurs on human rights and the environment and on the rights to food
The latest report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment was dedicated to biodiversity. John Knox opened his presentation today by arguing that the full enjoyment of human rights depends on healthy ecosystems and by noting that many antibiotics and cancer treatments - including successful treatments for childhood leukaemia - were developed from chemicals found naturally in plants. The SR added that his recommendations did not require the areas to be left untouched, but simply for ecosystems to be protected.
Special Rapporteur on the right to food Hilal Elver dedicated her annual report to the global use of pesticides and its effect on human rights, developing the report alongside the SR on human rights and toxics. Elver reported that 200,000 people die of acute poisoning every year - 99 percent in developing countries - and that child labourers are particularly at risk. Highlighting the failure of non-binding mechanisms, the SR called for an international treaty on the use of pesticides. A number of delegations expressed interest in a treaty, including that of the European Union and Tunisia on behalf of the African Group, while South Africa called for increased cooperation to hold private enterprises responsible for violations of human rights resulting from the irresponsible use of pesticides. Indonesia discussed its experiences of requiring risk assessments for the effects of business on the environment and biodiversity and commented on how local communities often had unique knowledge of how best to preserve and protect their land.
Panel discussion: access to medicines
The final panel discussion of the day focused on access to medicines, as one of the fundamental elements of the right to health. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kate Gilmore, opened the discussion by outlining that 50 percent of those living with HIV do not have access to antiretroviral therapy, and that it is often women and girls who suffer most from a lack of access to medicines. Gilmore also noted that steps must be taken to shift away from relying on market-based approaches to access to medicines, and that intellectual property rights should not trump the right to health. Meanwhile Michael Kirby, a retired justice of the High Court of Australia, explained that policy incoherence and the weakness of markets in stimulating invention has been a major barrier to realising the right to health, which was echoed by many States in their interventions. Other panellists noted that there is a need to look at intellectual property protection standards, which can be revised if there is the will to do so.
In the ensuing discussion, the African group and other States highlighted the scale of the challenge with hundreds of millions of people, particularly women and children, lacking the appropriate access to medicine. Several States and panellists mentioned the skyrocketing costs of certain medicines and the need to consider new solutions to address examples of market failure. The representative of the United States used his statement to accuse the panel of addressing the wrong questions, but Kirby quickly dismissed his comments with evidence from the High-Level Panel’s reporting, urging delegates to read reports in future before criticising them.
Side events
Implementation of the Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty
On the fringes of the Council this afternoon, a side event got under way on implementing the Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty. The study will assess the scale of the phenomenon of children detained in all settings, whether prisons, immigration facilities, for national security, as a result of armed conflict, or in care institutions. Manfred Nowak, who was appointed in October last year to lead the study, set out his vision for how the process will unfold and what it will address. Work is already under way to collect the data that will form the backbone of the study, but panellists universally called for States to fund the study to ensure that it is able to complete the necessary work. Panellists were also united in noting the harm that detention causes children and, in the view that, the study can act as a catalyst to protect the rights of children who are detained. The Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on Violence against Children highlighted the violence children experience in detention, while Nowak labelled detention itself as a form of “structural violence”. The SRSG on Children and Armed Conflict explained how children impacted by armed conflict can be deprived of their liberty, either as they are recruited by armed groups or armed forces or because of their parents’ involvement with armed groups. Ben Lewis, of the International Detention Coalition, closed the panel, speaking of the way children in detention have been viewed as disposal and noting the irreparable damage the practice can cause.
Tackling illegal adoption and responding to demands of victims
The side event was held by the SR on the sale of children, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, in partnership with Uruguay and the European Union. Kristen E. Cheney from the International Institute of Social Studies presented how the existence of an “Orphan Industrial Complex” was enabling illegal adoptions. In particular, she highlighted that it was not just illegal acts and illicit practices that resulted in illegal adoptions, but also those acts that come from the best intentions. She also explained how the monetisation of “everything orphan”, from ‘orphan tourism’ to the establishment of new orphanages was creating a climate of criminality in which illegal adoptions flourish. Joëlle Schickel, Head of the Swiss Federal Central Authority for international adoptions, centred her presentation around three key words: “regulation”, presenting the concrete measures that States should take to combat illegal adoptions; “transparency”, especially in regards to the costs of the adoptions; and “co-responsibility” of both receiving country and country of origin with the aim of protecting children, emphasising that dialogue was key in preventing these practices. Finally Patricia Lundy, Professor of Sociology from Ulster University, shared her research on transitional Justice in Northern Ireland in cases of large-scale and systemic abuses, giving examples including the so-called “mother and baby homes” in Ireland. These homes were managed by Catholic organisations to deal with unmarried pregnant women and girls until the 1990s. Lundy explained that it was vital to give victims and survivors a meaningful participatory role in the redress process.
Children and terrorism
The treatment of children involved with terrorist groups was addressed by an afternoon side event, with the majority of the discussion led by Fabrice Cregut, a lawyer working for Terre des hommes (TDH). Cregut discussed the variety of countries where children were being recruited by extremist groups, noting that Turkey, France, Pakistan and others were increasingly seeing young people travelling to fight for armed groups such as the so-called Islamic State. Cregut stressed that even when children were involved in terrorist attacks they needed to be treated as children first and foremost, with consideration given to their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to help them to recover from the rights violations they will have inevitably suffered themselves. Cregut also discussed the moves in Latin America to classify gangs as terrorists organisations, presenting a threat to many children’s fundamental rights. The discussion also turned to definitions, asking whether ‘radicalisation’, a term which provokes much debate, should refer to thought or action. Evidence from the research of TDH indicated that despite a dearth of reliable evidence there were trends suggesting that people with a lack of access to employment and those who feel socially excluded are more vulnerable to extremist ideologies.
The impact on children of attacks on health care in situations of armed conflict
Ricardo González Arenas, Permanent Representative of Uruguay, introduced a side event on the impact on children of attacks on health care in situations of armed conflict. The event highlighted how the best interests of the child in situations of armed conflict are rarely a primary and permanent consideration. Leila Zerrougui, SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict provided the keynote statement explaining that a number of current examples showed how attacks on health care in armed conflicts, including in Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria, are having a significant impact on the rights of children. The long-term impact of these attacks was discussed, noting that hospitals are rarely rebuilt, doctors often relocate, and children ultimately suffer the most. The SRSG noted that Security Council resolutions 1998 and 2268 continue to be vital tools in bringing attention to this issue and are mechanisms through which States can be challenged on this issue. From the World Health Organization, Dr Rudi Coninx provided a global overview of recent attacks on health care, examining the effects on long term health and the wellbeing of children. This was followed by a presentation by the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict which included a report telling the stories of children impacted by damaged health care systems, and demonstrating how targeted attacks on medical facilities have decimated Afghanistan’s fragile health services, leading to extensive suffering and child malnutrition.
Tomorrow at the Human Rights Council
Tomorrow the Human Rights Council will see an interactive dialogue with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, continued discussion of reports by special rapporteurs, and a panel discussion on maternal mortality. The side event below will also take place in the afternoon and CRIN will check in to provide a summary of the discussions.
Side events:
Child victims of terrorism
12-1.30pm
Room XXVI, Palais des Nations
