From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 20 Jul 92 07:34 PDT
Subject: HUMAN RIGHTS: Third World accuses U
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700235:000:5001
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jul 20 07:34:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: HUMAN RIGHTS: Third World accuses U

/* Written 12:34 am  Jul 20, 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: HUMAN RIGHTS: Third World accuses U.N. of double standards


new york jul 17 (ips/thalif deen) -- the united nations was
accused this week of employing different political yardsticks to
measure human rights in developing and developed countries.

unleashing a barrage of criticism against the world body,
speaker after speaker told a meeting of the economic and social
council (ecosoc) that human rights abuses were not the ''political
prerogative'' of third world nations alone.

''why are inter-ethnic conflicts, racial discrimination and
indiscriminate use of violence in industrialised countries ignored
by the u.n.?'' asked jorge montano of mexico.

singling out another shortcoming, ruth s. limjuco of the
philippines asked: ''why hasn't the world body helped hapless
women migrant workers subject to physical, psychological and
sexual abuse by their employers?''

she specifically raised the issue of young girls from
developing nations who went overseas in search of a better life
and found themselves at the mercy of their employers.

these women, she said, were subject to conditions akin to
slavery, and were frequently beaten and assaulted. those who tried
to escape and were unfortunate enough to be caught were maimed,
and in some cases, even killed, she told ecosoc.

''what had the special rapporteurs and independent experts, all
busily monitoring the world's human rights situation, done to help
these women?'' asked limjuco.

currently, there are hundreds and thousands of women, mostly
from the philippines, india, pakistan, bangladesh and sri lanka,
employed as maids in the middle east. from the philippines alone,
more than 60,000 women workers remitted over 1.3 billion dollars
to their home country in 1990.

focusing on the human rights situation in the west bank and
gaza, egypt's mootaz khalil asked: ''why isn't the u.n.
investigating the inhuman treatment meted out to palestinians in
israeli-occupied territory?''

''we cannot accept double standards where some rights are given
priority over others, or some states are singled out for
condemnation while others are excluded from scrutiny,'' khalil
told ecosoc wednesday. (more/ips)

human rights: third world accuses u.n. of double standards(2-e)

human rights: third world (2)

currently, there are about 10 u.n. working groups and
committees dealing with human rights issues, including the
commission on human rights, the committee against torture, the sub-
commission on prevention of discrimination and protection of
minorities and the human rights committee.

the issue of rights abuses has become increasingly political
since several western countries are conditioning development aid
on human rights.

several donor nations, including sweden, norway, the
netherlands, germany and the united states, have either suspended
or cut off development aid to several third world nations such as
indonesia, malawi, sri lanka, zaire and and sudan.

the united nations, which is scheduled to hold a world
conference on human rights in austria next year, continues to be
heavily criticised for its lopsided treatment of human rights
abuses.

montano told ecosoc he could not agree that tolerance and good
faith applied only to geopolitics. neither could he agree that
only in developing countries were human fights violated. that
impression, he said, ''contributed to the discrediting of united
nations bodies involved in human rights monitoring''.

ambassador jin yongjian of china said he could well understand
why many countries call for an end to the use of the commission on
human rights for ''political recrimination and confrontation''.

a few countries, he pointed out, ''should not try to push their
own values, ideologies and social systems, under the guise of
human rights''. he said the work of the commission had long been
hampered because of ''double standards, politicisation and
selectivity''.

luis fernando jaramillo of colombia said that economic and
social rights were as important as political and civil rights. the
united nations, he said, had not devoted as much attention to the
promotion of social, cultural and economic rights as it had to
civil and political rights.

''that imbalance should be redressed and human rights dealt
with as an indivisible whole. the right to development should be
equally emphasised,'' he added.

he also said that the developed countries preached market
economy and democracy, but often violated that code themselves by
placing restrictions on trade that threatened the new democracies
in developing countries.

''the international community should move towards true
universality in the respect for human rights, '' he added.
(end/ips/dp/td/yjc/92)


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