From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 07 Sep 92 12:52 PDT
Subject: NON-ALIGNED: Draft declaration hit
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700424:000:5026
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Sep  7 12:52:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: NON-ALIGNED: Draft declaration hit 

/* Written 12:13 am  Sep  4, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: NON-ALIGNED: Draft declaration hit by U.S. human rights


washington, sep 1 (ips) -- the draft declaration of the leaders of
the non-aligned movement (nam), currently meeting in jakarta,
incorrectly stresses economic and social rights at the expense of
civil and political rights, says a u.s. human rights group.

in a report timed to coincide with tuesday's opening of the
jakarta summit, the new york-based 'human rights watch' challenged
the principle espoused by many non-aligned governments and by the
draft declaration, that economic development and ensuring freedom
from hunger must precede the enjoyment of political and civil
rights.

''subsistence, indeed survival, often depends on the existence
of political and civil rights, especially those related to
democratic accountability,'' according to the report by human
rights watch -- the umbrella for africa watch, americas watch,
asia watch, helsinki watch, and middle east watch.

titled, 'indivisible human rights: the relationship of
political and civil rights to survival and subsistence', the
report says that ''the enjoyment of the most basic social and
economic rights are indivisible from the enjoyment of civil and
political liberties''.

the report took as a starting point a paragraph in the draft
final declaration, which asserts that many countries, by focusing
on political and civil rights, neglect social and economic rights
''which relate more immediately to mankind's needs for food,
shelter and health care''.

the paragraph in question -- number 61 -- also stresses that
human rights have an ''indivisible nature ...comprising civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights''.

despite that caveat, the report charges that many governments
defend their poor civil and political rights record by citing what
they call the overriding importance of meeting the basic economic
needs of their citizenry.

last year, for example, the chinese government asserted, ''it
is a simple truth that, for any country or nation, the right to
subsistence is the most important of all human rights, without
which the other rights are out of the question.'' (more/ips)

non-aligned: draft declaration hit by u.s. human rights group/rel(2-e)

non-aligned: draft (2)

but the enjoyment of basic economic rights is often dependent
on respect for political and civil rights, the report argues.

it cites four issues -- famine, land, environmental protection
and labour -- as examples where civil rights abuses led to
impoverishment of large groups of people.

famines are not caused by drought or crop failure alone,
according to the report, which cited famines in china (1958-61),
ethiopia (1973 and 1983-85), and sudan (1984-85 and 1990-91).

the report said aid could be mobilised if ''people could get
information about shortages to a government and governments are
obliged to act responsibily'' through systems that make them
accountable.

''it is no coincidence that a country like india, which
generally enjoys a high level of freedom of expression and
democratic accountability, has succeeded in preventing famine,
whereas ethiopia and the sudan have not,'' the report said.

the selective eviction of urban squatters suspected of anti-
government affiliations in kenya and burma led to their
impoverishment, while denying freedom of movement to pastoral
nomads or migrant workers in ethiopia, mali and south africa have
made these sectors more susceptible to famine.

governments have long found it easier to deprive a community of
land and violate its right to subsistence when few, if any, checks
on executive authority exist and when freedom of expression and
association is curbed.

many of these evictions are justified in the name of the
greater good of development when they actually mask ''less noble
reasons,'' such as removing an eyesore, targetting a suspect
population, or serving the business interests of the political or
military elite, says the report.

on the labour front, the report insists that the right to
organise may often be the only way rural and urban workers can
press for a safe working environment and living wages for them and
their families.

in addition to their intrinsic value, civil and political
rights ''are an essential means of allowing people in all
countries to obtain the food they need to suvive, to keep the land
they need for subsistence, to organise with others to promote
their own economic betterment and to resist environmental damage
that poses severe threats to health worldwide,'' according to the
report.

''political rights are not a luxury,'' says mike jendrzejcyk, a
watch committee spokesperson.  ''they can be the difference
between life and death.'' (end/ips/hr/jl/yjc/92)


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