The Commission on Human Rights is a unique world forum for the public discussion of important human rights issues between Governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations. Over the years the Commission has created numerous human rights fact-finding mechanisms charged with reporting on various human rights situations or types of serious violations, dealing with individual appeals and making suggestions for action to improve respect for human rights. The human rights situation in 12 countries is under review by these procedures. In addition, 14 thematic mandates have been established dealing with particularly serious violations, wherever they may occur, running from arbitrary executions, torture, disappearances, exploitation and sale of children, to violence against women and racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. This year saw the appointment of a special rapporteur on Burundi and one on the adverse effects on human rights of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic waste and dangerous products. Each year thousands of urgent individual cases are transmitted to Governments and some 40 field missions are carried out. In May a special meeting on these procedures took place to improve their operation, to seek ways of integrating women's human rights into their work and to decide on their contribution to the Fourth World Conference on Women.
The Commission on Human Rights, through various working groups, also pursued the adoption of a declaration on the rights and responsibilities of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms; a draft optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment concerning visits to prisons or places of detention; and a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on involvement of children in armed conflicts. Work is also under way on guidelines for a possible optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as well as the basic measures needed for the prevention and eradication of those practices.
The Commission has given close attention to the equal status and human rights of women. The Commission's Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, submitted her preliminary report to the Commission at its last session. The document deals with the different forms of violence that occur in the family and the community and are perpetrated or condoned by the State, and sets out the framework for the future work of the Special Rapporteur. The Special Rapporteur has also been actively involved in the integration of women's rights into the mainstream of United Nations activities in the field of human rights, as called for in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. The High Commissioner and the Centre for Human Rights have been helping to focus the attention of the various human rights organs and bodies on the human rights input to the Fourth World Conference on Women and on the preparation of parallel human rights activities.
The United Nations has continued to work for the protection of the rights of indigenous people. The Working Group on Indigenous Populations is the main forum for interaction between human rights experts, Governments and representatives of indigenous people; some 400 representatives of indigenous people take part each year. The General Assembly has proclaimed the period 1995-2004 as the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People and the Commission on Human Rights is studying the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous people. Work continues towards the establishment of a permanent forum for indigenous people, as called for by the Vienna Declaration.
Minorities are another especially vulnerable group often needing international action to help protect their rights. A new body, the Working Group on Minorities, has been set up with a wide mandate aimed at promoting respect for the 1992 Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities and examining possible solutions to problems involving minorities. Further, the General Assembly has asked the High Commissioner to promote the implementation of the principles contained in that Declaration.
The programme of action for the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination is a key element in promoting equality. The General Assembly has recommended that various measures and actions be taken on the national, regional and international levels. High priority is to be given to providing assistance and relief to victims of racism and all forms of racial discrimination. The possibility of convening a world conference on the elimination of racism, racial and ethnic discrimination, xenophobia and other related contemporary forms of intolerance is being studied.
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