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The Fifty-second Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Michael J . Dennis
Michael J . Dennis*
Affiliation:
Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State.
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Type
Current Developments
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 167 - 177
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1997

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References

1 The Report of the Commission on Human Rights on its fifty-second session, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/177 [hereinafter Report], contains the resolutions and decisions of the Commission.

2 Closing remarks of UN Assistant Secretary-General Fall, at 9 (1996) (on file with author); Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-second Session, Final List of Attendance, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/INF.1.

3 Assistant Secretary-General Fall, supra note 2, at 2, 9.

4 The number represents a slight reduction from 1995, when the Commission adopted 93 resolutions and 15 decisions. See UN Doc. E/CN.4/1995/176.

5 The earlier articles were prepared by Department of State Assistant Legal Adviser for United Nations Affairs John R. Crook. See The Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, 88 AJIL 806 (1994) [hereinafter Crook, 50th Session]; The Fifty-first Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, 90 AJIL 126 (1996) [hereinafter Crook, 51st Session].

6 See Theodor Meron, On the Inadequate Reach of Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and the Need for a New Instrument, 77 AJIL 589, 602 (1983).

7 Crook, 50th Session, supra note 5, at 814–15.

8 Id. at 815.

9 UN Comm’n on Human Rights [CHR] Res. 1996/68 (Apr. 23), adopted by 50-1 (United States) -2.

10 CHR Res. 1996/27 (Apr. 19) (persons with disabilities), 1996/54 (Apr. 19) (situation in Cambodia), 1996/73 (Apr. 23) (situation in the Sudan), and 1996/85 (Apr. 24) (the child).

11 Her report is UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/53, and Adds. 1 and 2.

12 Views of the Government of Japan on the addendum 1 to the report presented by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women (on file with author). At the August 1996 meeting of the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities (Sub-Commission), Japan announced that the Asian Women’s Fund had offered atonement money in the amount of approximately 20 thousand dollars to the former comfort women of the Philippines. Those applying for compensation also received a letter of apology and remorse from Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. Statement by Japan (Aug. 14, 1996) (on file with author).

13 CHR Res. 1996/49 (Apr. 19).

14 CHR Dec. 1996/107 (Apr. 19). The Sub-Commission is a body of independent experts, subordinate to the Commission. The Sub-Commission does not have authority to approve studies or take other actions having resource implications.

15 CHR Res. 1996/26 (Apr. 19). The workshop was organized by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and South Africa and took place in Capetown on September 27–29, 1996.

16 CHR Res. 1993/46 (Mar. 8), UN Comm’n on Human Rights, Report on the Forty-ninth Session, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1993/122.

17 CHR Res. 1996/53 (Apr. 19).

18 See CHR Res. 1996/17 (Apr. 11) and 1996/24 (Apr. 19), respectively.

19 Comm’n on the Status of Women, Res. 40/4 (Mar. 20) (traffic in women and girls) and 40/6 (Mar. 21) (violence against women migrant workers), in Report on the Fortieth Session (11–22 March 1996), UN Doc. E/CN.6/1996/15, at 23 and 27, respectively, and GA Res. 50/167, UN GAOR, 50th Sess., Supp. No. 49, Vol. 1, at 227, UN Doc. A/50/49 (1995) (traffic in women and girls), and 50/168, id. at 229 (violence against women migrant workers).

20 One possible solution would be simply to combine the various separate women’s resolutions into one omnibus resolution and take note of developments elsewhere, without repeating verbatim the text of each resolution from other fora.

21 See Crook, 50th Session, supra note 5, at 814.

22 See the Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism, GA Res. 49/60, UN GAOR, 49th Sess., Supp. No. 49, Vol. 1, at 303, UN Doc. A/49/49 (1994), adopted on the report of the Sixth (Legal) Committee.

23 CHR Res. 1994/46 (Mar. 4), 1995/43 (Mar. 3) and 1996/47 (Apr. 19); and GA Res. 48/122, UN GAOR, 48th Sess., Supp. No. 49, Vol. 1, at 241, UN Doc. A/48/49 (1993), 49/185, Supp. No. 49, supra note 22, Vol. 1, at 203, and 50/186, Supp. No. 49, supra note 19, Vol. 1, at 248.

24 See Rosalyn Higgins, Problems and Process 98–99 (1994).

25 Statement of Ambassador Geraldine Ferraro (Apr. 23, 1996) (on file with author).

26 The only other standard-setting activity currendy engaged in by the Commission concerns the draft optional protocol to the Torture Convention. A working group established by the Commission met for two weeks again in 1996. See CHR Res. 1996/37 (Apr. 19). The working group continued to consider a draft text diat would establish a preventive system of regular visits to places of detention. See Report of the working group, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/28. The results of the working group’s meetings, however, have been disappointing, since several states have insisted that all visits be made with the case-by-case consent of the visited state.

The Commission on the Status of Women has been involved in standard-setting activities concerning the draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. See Res. 40/8 (Mar. 21), Report on the Fortieth Session, supra note 19, at 30–31 (renewing the mandate of the working group). See also text at notes 16–17 supra.

27 CHR Res. 1996/85, supra note 10.

28 For the Convention, see GA Res. 44/25, annex, UN GAOR, 44th Sess., Supp. No. 49, at 166, 167, UN Doc. A/44/49 (1989). The working group’s report for the 1996 session is UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/102. The 26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, in December 1995, in Resolution 2C, also recommended that parties to conflicts take every feasible step to ensure that children under the age of 18 do not take part in hostilities. See 26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Resolutions 5 (Geneva, Jan. 1996).

29 Article 77(2) of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, Dec. 12, 1977, 1125 UNTS 3, like Article 38(3) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, supra note 28, provides that states shall refrain from recruiting any person who has not attained the age of 15 into their armed forces. United States law specifies a minimum age of 17 for enlistment as well as for admission to West Point and other U.S. military academies. See 10 U.S.C. §§505(a), 4346(a) (1994).

30 The working group’s report for the 1996 session is UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/101.

31 CHRDec. 1996/102 (Apr. 1).

32 CHRRes. 1996/38, 1996/40, 1996/41, and 1996/39 (all Apr. 19), respectively.

33 For the working group’s reports for the 1995 and 1996 sessions, see UN Docs. E/CN.4/1996/84 and E/CN.4/1996/WG.15/CRP.7.

34 The report of the working group for the 1996 session is UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/97.

35 CHR Res. 1996/81 (Apr. 23).

36 See CHR Res. 1996/53 (Apr. 19) (right to freedom of opinion and expression) and 1996/74 (Apr. 23) (extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions).

37 See CHR Res. 1996/69 (Cuba) and 1996/80 (Myanmar) (both Apr. 23).

38 CHR Res. 1996/15 (Apr. 11). The United States did not participate in the vote on the right to development resolution in 1990. UN Comm’n on Human Rights, Report on the Forty-sixth Session, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1990/94, at 200.

39 CHR Res. 1996/53 and 1996/21 (both Apr. 19).

40 See Report, supra note 1, at 369–70.

41 CHR Res. 1996/28 (Apr. 19). Cuba and France initially submitted competing texts on the subject. After long negotiations, the French text was amended (inter alia, by drawing a distinction between detention and imprisonment) and adopted by consensus. See Report, supra note 1, at 322–24.

42 A U.S.-sponsored resolution on workers’ rights under this agenda item was also adopted by consensus, after two postponements and several last-minute amendments. CHR Res. 1996/60 (Apr. 23).

43 The Commission adopted a Gabonese/Sierra Club text on human rights and the environment, again calling on the Secretary-General to report at the next session of the Commission on the opinions of governments and other organizations on the final report of the special rapporteur on this issue. CHR Res. 1996/13 (Apr. 11). The Special Rapporteur on the environment had recommended in 1994 that the Commission adopt a draft declaration elaborating a right to a satisfactory environment and that it establish a thematic special rapporteur on the same subject. The text of her report is in UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1994/9.

44 The Commission adopted a relatively balanced text referring to the issue as part of the right to an adequate standard of living in its omnibus economic and social rights resolution. CHR Res. 1996/11 (Apr. 11). The Commission also recognized with interest the final report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing. The special rapporteur recommended that the Commission consider a draft convention on the right to adequate housing. The text of his report is in UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/12.

45 CHR Res. 1996/14 (Apr. 11).

46 CHR Res. 1996/12 (Apr. 11).

47 CHR Dec. 1996/104 (Apr. 11).

48 Report, supra note 1, at 312.

49 CHR Res. 1996/9 (Apr. 11).

50 CHR Dec. 1996/103 (Apr. 11).

51 CHR Res. 1996/75 (Apr. 23), 1996/1 (Mar. 27), 1996/80 (Apr. 23), 1996/76 (Apr. 23), 1996/73 (Apr. 23), 1996/71 (Apr. 23), 1996/77 (Apr. 23), and 1996/66 (Apr. 23), respectively.

52 CHR Res. 1996/69 (Apr. 23), 1996/72 (Apr. 23), and 1996/84 (Apr. 24), respectively.

53 CHR Res. 1996/79 (Apr. 23).

54 CHR Res. 1996/54, 1996/59, and 1996/57 (all Apr. 19), respectively.

55 CHR Res. 1996/58 (Apr. 19).

56 CHR Res. 1996/67 (Apr. 23).

57 Report, supra note 1, at 365.

58 The text of the Chairman’s statements is in id. at 297–99, 361–63.

59 The text of the unsuccessful resolution is in id. at 352–55.

60 In 1990 the no-action motion carried by 17-15-11; in 1992, by 27-15-10; in 1993, by 22-17-12; and in 1994, by 20-16-17. No China resolution was submitted in 1991. The 1995 resolution ultimately failed by a vote of 20-21-12.

61 Six of the seven new members on the Commission voted in favor of China’s no-action motion.

62 As one commentator observed, “[W]hen the West shouts about human rights in China, the Chinese quite often buckle.” The Changing China, Economist, Mar. 23, 1996, at 14, 14.

63 The Middle East resolutions critical of Israel included (1) an annual Syrian resolution on human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights (CHR Res. 1996/2 (Apr. 11)), adopted by 22-1-29; (2) a Mauritanian resolution on human rights in the occupied territories, including Palestine (CHR Res. 1996/3 (Apr. 11)), adopted by 27-2 (United States and Russia) -23; (3) an Egyptian text on the situation in occupied Palestine (CHR Res. 1996/5 (Apr. 11)), adopted by 28-1-23; (4) another Egyptian text on the situation of human rights in southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa, supra note 9; and (5) a European Union text on Israeli settlements in the occupied territories (CHR Res. 1996/4 (Apr. 11)), adopted by 49-1-3.

64 CHR Res. 1996/7 (Apr. 11).

65 Report, supra note 1, at 295.

65 A nonexhaustive list of the issues of possible reform is contained in UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/CRP.1.

67 For a second year, the U.S. delegation continued its practice of sponsoring roundtable discussions, utilizing interactive satellite links connecting participants in Geneva with experts elsewhere. The discussion again generated lively substantive exchanges, demonstrating that this practice offers another possibility of Commission reform through modern communication technologies. See Crook, 51st Session, supra note 5, at 132–33.

68 UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/L.100 (Apr. 23).

69 Report, supra note 1, at 296.

70 For Chairman Saboia’s statement, see id. at 296–97.