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Date
: 19/03/2003
Source: Department of Foreign Affairs
Title: Dlamini Zuma: UN Human Rights Commission
STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DR N DLAMINI ZUMA, AT
THE 59th SESSION OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, Geneva, 19 March
2003
Madame Chairperson
High Commissioner for Human Rights
Distinguished members
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my great pleasure, to congratulate you on your election to
preside over our deliberations during the 59th Session of the
Commission on Human Rights. I also extend my congratulations to all
the Members of your Expanded Bureau. The collective leadership,
wisdom and general stewardship of this Commission by both you and
members of your Expanded Bureau will lead us to a successful
conclusion of this important session of the Commission.
My delegation wishes to extend its sincere appreciation to
Ambassador Jakubowski of Poland and members of his Bureau for the
excellent guidance of the 58th session of the Commission under very
difficult circumstances largely due to the UN budgetary
constraints.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr Sergio
Vieira de Mello on his appointment as the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights. I wish you a successful tenure and
pledge a co-operative and constructive relationship with your
office. I would also like to acknowledge Ms Mary Robinson's
leadership during her tenure.
The current political tensions affecting the international system
should strengthen our solidarity and our resolve to deal with
current challenges in a fair and transparent manner. Our collective
focus should be aimed at advancing the vision and founding
principles of the United Nations. As we know, the United Nations
was founded on the ashes of the most devastating war our planet has
known. The UN Charter in its very first paragraph explicitly states
that it was created to "preserve succeeding generations from the
scourge of war". To its credit the United Nations, no world war,
which would surely spell the extermination of humanity, has taken
place since it's founding. As regards lesser conflicts, however, it
is clear that we are still confronted with significant
challenges.
One of the first and most significant actions of the United Nations
was the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as "a
common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations".
This unprecedented acknowledgement of the validity of the concept
of human rights at the highest international level provided the
basis for the establishment of the UN Commission on Human Rights.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights taken together with the
two International Covenants on Human Rights constitute the
International Bill of Human Rights whose realisation should be the
challenge for all of us within a framework of this Commission. My
Government's position is that the International Dialogue on Human
Rights can no longer take place in abstract terms. The enjoyment of
human rights including the operationalisation of the right to
development has to be practicalised and should find expression in
the political and economic empowerment of individuals and
societies. The existing international consensus on the Agenda for
Development as reflected in the outcomes of all the major United
Nations Summits and Conferences in the economic and social
development fields should encourage all of us to find practical
solutions to the perennial issues of poverty, underdevelopment,
marginalisation, economic disparities, social exclusion,
instability and insecurity.
The Johannesburg Plan of Action adopted by the recent World Summit
on Sustainable Development underlined the importance of
international co-operation and commitment to meet all the
challenges of sustainable development with the view to achieving
concrete and practical results in our global fight against poverty
and under-development. Despite five decades of the promotion of
Human Rights by this body, much remains to be done to secure their
effective implementation. We, like many other Member States of the
United Nations, are convinced that the combating of racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance represented a
major unfinished business of the international community. Not only
is racism still prevalent in many parts of the world, but also it
is constantly mutating into new insidious forms requiring constant
vigilance by the international community. The Third World
Conference against Racism was thus both timely and essential. Many
of the delegates present here today were with us in Durban. They
will know that we did not achieve all that we had hoped for, but we
were heartened by the important compromises achieved. South Africa
will continue to strive for the effective implementation of the
Durban Declaration and Programme of Action by all Member States. In
this regard, allow me to share with you the steps that South Africa
has taken to implement the Programme of Action. Government has
established a mechanism for domestic follow-up, which includes
various stakeholders such as Labour Unions, Non-Governmental
Organisations, Government Departments, and Civil Society. The
National Consultative Forum against Racism will take into
consideration the Programme of Action and the African regional
seminar on follow-up to the WCAR. We are ready to play a leadership
role and work jointly with all the United Nations member States
that actively seek the implementation of the commitments undertaken
in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.
Chairperson
South Africa continues to prioritise the protection of the rights
of the most vulnerable in our society, especially those affecting
women and children. My Government is paying particular attention to
the advancement and improvement of the quality of life of all women
especially in our rural areas. We have adopted measures that
address the previous deficiencies in respect to people with
disabilities in our society. We are currently playing a leadership
role within the framework of the General Assembly's Ad Hoc
Committee on the elaboration of a legally binding instrument on the
rights and dignity of people with disabilities.
Chairperson
Our Government is committed to the promotion and protection of the
rights of women and children. Our national legislation in these
areas takes into account the provisions of international law. The
elimination of violence against women and children remains a
priority area for our country. The South African Government has,
consistent with our commitment to advance the rights and interests
of women and children, adopted a number of relevant measures to
empower these vulnerable sectors of societies and to allow them to
play a meaningful role in all the facets of our society. It should
be emphasised that such measures have been adopted bearing in mind
the provisions of international human rights law and treaties that
we have internalised in our domestic law and ratified. We have also
introduced a system of multi-disciplinary service centres as a
means of responding effectively and promptly to the needs of women
and children, who are normally victims of domestic and other forms
of violence.
Chairperson
On the question of Palestine, there can be no doubting that the
human rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, which
includes the issue of statehood, has been denied for too long. It
is unacceptable that after fifty years of successive United Nations
General Assembly and Security Council Resolutions, the inalienable
right of Palestinians to self-determination has not yet been
realised. The apparent lack of commitment towards honouring the
implementation of all the United Nations resolutions on Palestine
is a cause of great concern to my Government and we call on the
International Community to co-operate towards meeting this
legitimate struggle for statehood by Palestinians. The situation of
the Palestinian people has not improved but deteriorated over the
years. A just and sustainable settlement that recognises the right
of Palestinians to statehood and the right of Israel to exist
within secure borders would bring lasting peace to both nations. We
are of the view that the international community must do everything
possible to contribute to ending this ongoing tragedy. For this
reason, South Africa has been hosting a series of meetings between
Palestinian and Israeli opinion-makers. We did this in the
conviction that through sustained dialogue between the parties
concerned the barriers of mistrust would begin to erode, thereby
strengthening processes to secure peace and security. As a country,
which voluntarily disarmed itself of weapons of mass destruction,
South Africa strongly believes in a world free of all weapons of
mass destruction. Ideally, no member state of the United Nations
should possess such weapons. Our collective vision for making the
world safe for democracy and for preserving international peace and
security is predicated on the core principles and purposes of the
Charter of the United Nations. Acting outside the provisions of the
Charter of the United Nations will in variably erode into the
legitimacy of our organisation and such actions cannot inspire
confidence amongst its general membership. To ignore the views of
the majority of the members of the United Nations, including those
of the Security Council itself on fundamental questions of
international peace and security and its concomitant disarmament
programmes is a development of major concern to my government. The
growing pattern and practice of regime changes in various parts of
the world undermines everything that the United Nations stands for.
This practice also ushers in new concerns about the nature of the
current international political system, which is seemingly being
evolved outside of the parameters of the United Nations. It was
with serious concern that we watched the United Nations inspectors
depart Iraq, thus closing the possibility of the completion of the
peaceful disarmament of that country.
The peoples of the world have recently expressed their opposition
to war through mass protests in various cities across the world. To
ignore this massive public opinion is in itself hardly democratic.
These peoples of the world oppose the extreme measures being
resorted to by some, which have the potential to precipitate yet
another war with all its pains and suffering, culminating in
massive humanitarian disaster and destruction. In recent times we
have witnessed the horror of terrorism that threatens to become a
permanent feature of this millennium. Such acts challenge our
determination to maintain peace, stability and security. We
therefore, have to respond collectively with determination against
the perpetrators of such wanton acts of indiscriminate brutality
that violate all basic tenets of human rights, including the right
to life itself. It is important that in our collective efforts to
implement measures countering terrorism, we should uphold the
principles and norms provided for in international law, especially
human rights and humanitarian law.
Chairperson
We are also aware that the immense challenges of conflict
resolution cannot be fully met if we fail to make drastic inroads
in the reduction of poverty and underdevelopment. For this reason
South Africa reiterates its call for this body to adopt the
necessary steps to address these issues, including the
concretisation and operationalisation of the right to development.
The Monterrey Consensus and the Johannesburg Plan of Action
furthermore underline the importance the international community
attaches to the need to restructure present patterns of
globalisation in order to facilitate sustainable development. We
should also strive to place the interests of the developing
countries at the heart of the current round of negotiations of the
World Trade Organisation.
The inaugural Summit of the African Union in Durban July 2002
emphasised the importance of mainstreaming social and developmental
agenda including human rights and good governance on the entire
continent's development programmes. The African Commission on Human
and Peoples Rights continues to play a meaningful role in the
promotion and protection of human rights in Africa and has become
an important partner in the realisation of the goals and objectives
of the African Union. The African Union has adopted the New
Partnership for Africa's Development as a macro-economic recovery
programme for sustainable development on our continent.
Chairperson,
In two days from now South Africans will celebrate Human Rights
Day, as the international community will also be celebrating the
international day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and
in their celebration will also remember the lives of those whose
human rights were grossly violated during our struggle for a free
and democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa. Our
celebrations will coincide with the international community's
celebration of 21 March as an international day for the elimination
for racial discrimination.
Finally Madam Chairperson
In order to effectively address the complex challenges facing us,
the need for states to act collectively for the common good of
humankind is now more urgent than ever before. Only through our
concerted efforts can we hope to ensure a better life for
all.
I thank you.
Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs
19 March 2003
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