From: lang@igc.apc.org (Andrew Lang)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: human rights conference #5
Date: 21 Jan 93 17:08:25 GMT
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Organization: ?
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu

/* Written  5:58 pm  Jan 20, 1993 by codehuca@nicarao.apc.org in igc:carnet.alerts */
/* ---------- "human rights conference #5" ---------- */
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA - PRESS RELEASE 5
January 20, 1993, San Jose, Costa Rica
     In this communique, the Commission for the Defence of Human
Rights in Central America (CODEHUCA) presents its position on theme
9 of the agenda being addressed here at the United Nations Regional
Pre-Conference ("Pre-Con"), 18-22 January, leading up to the U.N.
World Conference on Human Rights, that will take place in Vienna,
in June, 1993. 
     N.B.#1 - SHORT WAVE RADIO LISTENERS - you can listen to live
coverage of the Pre-Con on short wave radio on the frequencies of:
i- 7375 khz, in the 41 metre band; ii- 7385 khz, usb, in the 41
metre band; 13630 khz, usb, in the 22 metre band; and 15030 khz in
the 19 metre band. The human rights Pre-Con will be broadcast
between 0000 - 0400 u.t.c.
     N.B.#2 - Feel free to copy, reproduce and publish these
CODEHUCA materials, properly citing the source. Thank-you.

     This position paper was presented to the "Pre-Con", on
Wednesday, January 20, by a CODEHUCA delegate.

Point 9 on the Agenda: Examen the relation that exists between
development, democracy and universal guarantee of all human rights,
taking into account the interdependence and indivisibility of
economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights.

Dear Friends,
     The Centre for Social Training of Panama, a member of
CODEHUCA, presents this document with respect to point 9 on the
Agenda. It is only by understanding the relation that exists
between development, democracy and universal guarantee of all human
rights, will it be possible to come up with strategies that allow
us to achieve universal guarantee of all human rights.

     Human rights must not only focus on the simultaneous
implementation and guarantee of all human rights, including the
rights of peoples, but also take into account the perspective of
different sectors, such as women, indigenous peoples, ethnic groups
and children, who often suffer triple or double violations of their
rights for reasons of generalized discrimination and subordination.

     The reason that the vision of human rights must be broadened
is to respond to the actual needs and living conditions of all
members of our societies. 

     "Democracy", if we measure it by the holding of elections
every four or five years (in this way being its own proof of the
existence of "democracy"), is insufficient to promote, and
guarantee full respect for all human rights. In Central America we
are witnesses to the fact that even under governments that are
formally democratic, the full range of human rights often are
systematically violated.

     The relation that exists between democracy and human rights is
up to a certain point circular. Democracy is the mechanism to watch
over and guarantee the proper functioning of democratic
institutions in the society, institutions that themselves work to
promote and guarantee human rights (for example the Ministries of
Justice, Health, Education, Social Welfare, Work, etc).

     In this way democracy is and must be the mechanism to ensure
that the elected government is prioritizing (as demanded by
international law) in all of its actions the realization of human
rights.

     However, the measures that all governments must "immediately"
take (according to the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights), with the objective promoting and guaranteeing
human rights, are de facto limited by the actual and historical
models of development.

     'The increasing disparity between the economically developed
     and the developing nations is an obstacle to the realization
     of human rights in the international community. ... (Art.12,
     Proclamacion de Teheran)

     To understand the non-realization of human rights in many
countries it is necessary to analyze it from the point of view of
these "actual and historical development models" and not from the
point of view of the legal fiction of the equality of the Member
States of the UN. It is not possible to achieve development if we
do not transform the relations of inequality and of historical
dependence that have existed between many countries of the south
and the north.

     In this regard the objective of achieving development models
in the 'third world' that fully respect all human rights, implies
certain transformations in the actions of all 'actors' in the
international economic order, including such actors as the
international financial institutions and the first world states.

     Moreover, the objective of development demands that the United
Nations and the Member States give much more attention to the
implementation of their obligations with respect to economic,
social and cultural rights. Ignoring these rights almost logically
will lead to a repetition of the vicious cycle of poverty, misery,
protest, and then violence on behalf of the State and of para-
military groups that represent and defend the status quo.

     The most powerful member states of the United Nations, and the
IFIs that are 'de facto' under their control, must transform their
actions so that they comply with the demands of the principles of
the Charter of the United Nations, including the principles of
self-determination and sovereignty.

     For the above mentioned reasons, it is unacceptable that the
only criteria used to define development are criteria associated
with the free market place and neo-liberal economic analysis.

     It is not enough that the United Nations 'encourage' member
states to comply with their human rights obligations. Much more
forceful decisions must be taken so that member states and IFIs
comply with the demands of human rights, and that they implement
immediately programs to guarantee full respect for all human
rights.

     Another certain impediment to the creation of development
models that fully guarantee respect for all human rights is the of
foreign military and economic power to influence and change
policies, governments, etc, in other countries. In Central America,
one cannot avoid talking about the role that the U.S. has and
continues to play.

     For example, the U.S. "Just Cause" invasion of Panama, in
December, 1989, had a devastating impact on all human rights in
Panama, without even addressing the direct losses (civilian deaths
and material destruction) caused by this invasion\massacre.

     Another form of intervention that has been used many times by
the U.S. in Central America, is that of commercial and financial
blockades that easily cripple the small and dependent economies,
impacting directly and negatively on economic, social and cultural
rights of the majorities of our populations; the most recent
examples being Panama (leading up to the invasion), Nicaragua (in
the 1980s), Cuba (since the 1960s), and Costa Rica, recently with
the U.S. using its voting influence in the Inter-American
Development Bank, to influence an expropriation issue in Costa
Rica.

     These interventions, plus the above discussion concerning the
relation between human rights and the reigning development models,
must be seriously discussed and questioned by the United Nations
and the Members States, if we are to succeed in the creation of
development models, in all countries, that respect and guarantee
all human rights.

     End of Communique #5
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive