The first four countries are scheduled to come before the Committee in the next two weeks to explain how they apply the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In reports submitted beforehand, all five countries detail measures taken to implement the treaty.
But this afternoon a representative of Food First International Action charged that the Government of Sri Lanka used food as a weapon against the Tamil population and Tamil refugees, and that authorities greatly restricted essential supplies such as medicine and fertilizers. A representative of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights said the report presented by the Government of Sri Lanka ignored the condition of Tamils, their subjugation, suffering and starvation.
Speaking on the situation of economic, social and cultural rights in Nigeria, the representative of Shelter Rights Initiative spoke of 'a gale of forced evictions in the past five years'. The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions and Food First International Action also addressed this issue.
Women in Poland suffered from discrimination concerning participation in decision-making and salaries, and the Government was not giving adequate attention to health and family planning services, a representative of the Polish Federation of Women and Family Planning said.
With regards to the Netherlands, representatives of the Dutch National Student Organization spoke of the progressive introduction of more expensive higher education in the country, saying that in the past few years tuition fees had increased by 30 per cent while student grants had decreased by 25 per cent. A representative of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom raised, among other issues, the question of access to the labour market for non-national members of ethnic minorities.
Meanwhile, Food First International Action also urged the Committee to express concern about German draft legislation which would reportedly withdraw the legal guarantee of social services for certain groups of refugees.
The Committee will reconvene on Tuesday, 28 April at 10 a.m. to take up the report of Sri Lanka on how it implements the Covenant.
Statements by Non-Governmental Organizations and Discussion
A representative of Food First International Action said a study by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had concluded that the bottom 30 per cent of the population of Sri Lanka had suffered an uninterrupted decline in calorie consumption since 1969/1970. Food was used as a weapon against the Tamil population and Tamil refugees, with the Government greatly restricting essential supplies such as food, medicine and fertilizers. There were forcible evictions from arable land and houses to establish and extend military camps. Under the current policy of privatization of Government holdings, such as the handing over of several tea estates to private companies, access to land as a productive resource became difficult to poor farmers and threatened their right to food. Moreover, the Government failed to respect, protect and fulfil the right of plantation workers to food, work, housing and health. Government policies also violated the right of fishermen families to feed themselves.
A representative of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights said the report presented by the Government of Sri Lanka (document E/1990/5/Add.32) did not cover the true situation of economic, social and cultural rights in the north and east of Sri Lanka, the traditional homeland of the Tamils. For example, the report excluded figures on unemployment in those areas; the report ignored the condition of Tamils, their subjugation, suffering and starvation. Freedom of movement was hindered by the blockade enforced by the army; hospitals in the north and east were neglected and there were insufficient supplies of medicine; the Government restricted the Tamil population from cultivating and fishing, their main vocations, so the people were almost starving. The cultural rights of the Tamils were also breached by the Government, and the process of cultural genocide continued. Tamils were discriminated against and were denied their right to self determination.
Asked how agricultural expropriation took place and how the Committee could distinguish which problems concerning economic, social and cultural rights were affected by discrimination and which were caused by the political and armed conflict, the representative of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights said that for the past ten years, there had been no proper agriculture in the north and east of Sri Lanka. He noted that the armed conflict had started because the economic, social and cultural rights of the Tamils were being completely ignored by the Government.
Concerning the situation in Nigeria, a representative of Shelter Rights Initiative said the Nigerian State apparatus lacked democracy, good governance and accountability. Due to the undemocratic nature of governance, all human rights were violated through the inherent nature of authoritarian leadership. Within the last three years, the standard of living of Nigerians had plummeted to the lowest levels ever recorded. A major factor in that decline was the collapse of over 20 banks and the loss of more than 50 billion NAIA of depositors funds; thousands of jobs had also been lost in the banks liquidation exercise. Furthermore, Nigeria had witnessed a gale of forced evictions in the past five years, while the right to health could simply be described as precarious and abused. The Committee was urged to initiate steps and measures to make the Government of Nigeria take concrete action for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights for all Nigerians.
A representative of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions said he had recently been released following his detention for having said that it was important for the Nigerian Government to live up to its obligations and responsibilities. Nigerian people had boycotted the elections for the National Assembly last Saturday because they were tired of the results of elections not being respected; tired of watching loved ones die in hospital because of lack of medicine and equipment; tired of watching labour leaders go to jail, and tired of watching their ancestral homes demolished by Government bulldozers without discussions. What could the Committee do to help ease the pain of more than 100 million Nigerians and free them from oppression, not only of a political nature but also economic, social and cultural.
A representative of Food First International Action said accurate information on Nigeria showed gross violations of the right to feed oneself for parts of the population. The report presented by the Government (document E/1990/5/Add.31) completely neglected economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to food. The Government of Nigeria failed to protect, respect, and fulfil the right to feed the population by maintaining a lack of access to productive lands, the denial of access to markets, the destruction of traditional means of subsistence and the destruction of livelihoods. For example, when the Educate steel complex was being built in 1976, the local population was forcibly evicted and had never been properly resettled. Those evicted still lived in shanty settlements without any infrastructure, electricity or access to primary medical treatment. They had not received any equivalent land for the land they had lost, nor had they been given any financial compensation. In another case, in 1996, 250,000 traders who had been using bridges and flyovers as places of business or shelter had been forcibly evicted -- that represented a gross violation of the access to markets as a productive resource for the informal sector. A final example concerned the exploitation of the Ogoni land. Because of oil spills, the environment of many communities had been destroyed.
In response to queries from Committee experts regarding the sources of the charges made and figures quoted, and in particular about forced evictions, the NGO representatives said that Nigeria had no policy for resettling those who were forcibly evicted. They said that in many cases, there were no figures to quote, and several of their figures came from newspaper compilations. NAOS also faced dangers when seeking figures.
Concerning the situation in Poland, a representative of the Federation of Women and Family Planning said the political and economic transformation in her country had brought democratic changes, but had also had negative effects on women. Women were under-represented in decision-making, and there was a lack of gender perspective. Women were also discriminated against when it came to salaries, earning only about 70 per cent of what their male counterparts were paid. In addition, abortion on social grounds had been made illegal in 1993, a measure that rather than stopping abortions had only pushed women to seek back alley operations or to travel abroad. Also, the Government was not addressing the growing number of teenage pregnancies. At the same time, health services and family planning services were not receiving adequate attention, nor was the issue of violence against women.
In response to questions from Committee members regarding figures quoted by the NGO and claims that there was no Government body in charge of women, the representative of the Federation said she had used and analyzed official figures. Regarding discrimination against women, it was more a matter or practice than of laws per se. The new Government had closed down the main official body for the family and women and created another body headed by a person who belonged to a Catholic association and who was against women's equality. Domestic violence was an issue everywhere, but the problem was that in Poland, it had not been recognized by the Government as a serious issue. No statistics were available, but opinion polls showed that 20 to 30 percent of women had been involved in domestic violence.
Two representatives of the National Student Organization of the Netherlands said the country had witnessed the progressive introduction of more expensive education. The report of the Government (document E/1990/6/Add.11, 12, 13) was sometimes incomplete or wrong because it was based on two-year old figures. Moreover, the Dutch Minister of Education had told Parliament that the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was no longer important because it had been signed a long time ago under circumstances which had changed. Regarding financial assistance provided to students, the grants given out were actually, except under limited circumstances, repayable student loans. In the past few years, tuition fees had increased by 30 per cent, while student grants had decreased by 25 per cent. the number of students had decreased dramatically, and the expectation was that in the year 2001, there would be 20 per cent fewer students than in 1993. This was because of student financing, and not because of any other reason, such as a drop in the population. Furthermore, only 2 per cent of ethnic minorities were represented in higher education.
Regarding the question of access to the labour market for non-national members of ethnic minorities in the Netherlands, a representative of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom said that although undocumented inhabitants did not have legal access to the labour market, most of them found a job in the illegal circuit. This issue had come to the fore last year when a Turkish undocumented inhabitant had bee refused citizenship because he could not prove that he had been working legally for six years. On the issue of the legal status of homosexual couples, it was a good sign that the Government was willing to regard homosexual couples on the same basis as heterosexual couples with regard to adoption. Concerning education, the policy of the Government to keep children with special educational needs within the mainstream primary school system had been developed with good intentions, but it did not seem to work well.
Committee experts said it was not clear what the National Student Organization wanted and asked whether the 2 per cent of ethnic minority students in higher education implied forms of discrimination because of economic prejudice.
The representatives of the National Student Organization said accessibility to higher education in the Netherlands was in danger. Increasing costs affected accessibility. The high amount of loans required stopped ethnic minorities pursuing higher education, which was a kind of discrimination; students with rich parents worried less about the student loans.
Finally, a representative of Food First International Action said the group was calling on the Committee to, as a matter of urgency, express concern about German draft legislation, to be voted on May 8, which violated the right to food by withdrawing the legal guarantee of social services for certain groups of refugees. The proposed measure would affect an estimated 250,000 persons; the aim of the draft law was to exert pressure on those people to leave Germany. As refugees in Germany were not allowed to feed themselves through work, it was not clear how the authorities expected them to eat other than through private charity, crime or prostitution. The legislation was a breach of the Covenant.
Committee Chairman Philip Alston said that in a similar situation concerning Canadian NAOS protesting draft legislation, the Committee had concluded that it was not appropriate for it to respond to draft measures. That did not preclude the Committee from addressing the situation as soon as the legislation was adopted, however.
