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Human Rights Council
20 September 2007
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives Urges Council to
Hold a Debate on the Effect of Climate Change on Human Rights
The Human Rights Council this afternoon discussed
mainstreaming the gender perspective in the work of the Human Rights Council,
a debate aimed at building a platform for the long-term process of
integration of the issue in the Council's work programme.
Maria Nzomo, Permanent Representative of Kenya to the
United Nations Office at Geneva and Moderator of the panel discussion, said
despite gender and gender mainstreaming being an old concept, sometimes it
was misunderstood. Gender was not about women - it was about social relations
between men and women, boys and girls, indeed entire humanity. The Council should
systematically integrate a gender perspective into all its work, the mandate
holders, Special Procedures and other elements of the institution-building
process. The Council already had a mandate to address this issue: the General
Assembly had called on the Council to integrate attention to gender
perspectives into its consideration of all issues in its respective agenda,
including the development of its methods of work.
Kyung–wha Kang, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner
for Human Rights, said that integrating women's rights and the gender
dimension into the work of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) was a key priority for the High Commissioner and OHCHR. This
was particularly important as the Council finalized its institution-building
exercise and embarked upon its next phase with much promise for strengthening
the universality of human rights. With a new unit on women's rights and
gender issues, OHCHR greatly looked forward to assisting in this endeavour.
The purpose of today's discussion was not to address the human rights of
women and gender-related violations but the process and approach.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said it was clear that normative
frameworks of protection of women's rights had to be succeeded by a
monitoring phase. It was also time for implementation; time to translate
realities in daily life into real change on the ground. Other areas of
concern had to be brought into the picture too: women and girls in armed
conflict situations; improved economic and social rights of women; and
greater recognition of reproductive rights. In the women's agenda it was time
to move beyond promises and turn to action.
Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on the right to
adequate housing, said applying gender perspectives meant making a particular
examination of situations where women, girls, men or boys experienced
specific issues with respect to the enjoyment of their human rights on the
basis of gender. Gender perspectives were critical for a comprehensive
understanding of the right to adequate housing and land. The insights that he
and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women had gained with respect
to economic and social policies and their impact on violence against women
underscored, in particular, that women's poverty, together with a lack of
alternative housing options, made it difficult for women to leave violent
family situations, and reaffirmed that forced relocation and forced eviction
from home and land had a disproportionately severe impact on women, and made
them more vulnerable to violence.
Charlotte Bunch, Founder and Executive Director of the
Centre for Women's Global Leadership, said nothing could be more urgent than
improving women's access to human rights at the local level. The persistence
of gross violations of women's rights was shockingly visible in the world
today, and the lack of remedies for most of the women and girls facing them
posed a challenge to all. The Human Rights Council, as the United Nations'
premier human rights body, was in an unparalleled position to address this
both by building on the previous success of addressing gender and women's
experience within the Commission, and by continuing to rectify a history of
shortcomings regarding gender as well.
In the general debate following the panellists'
statements, delegates raised numerous points. They welcomed the discussion on
how gender issues could be reflected in the Universal Periodic Review
process. They said the Council and its mechanisms should pay more attention
to women human rights defenders, and should ensure that the United Nations as
a whole continued to include gender-mainstreaming in all programmes and
operations. Novel, pro-active strategies to promote gender equality in the
economic and social spheres should be developed. A need for specific
provisions on gender in resolutions was identified. There were questions on
how Special Procedures might systematise gender perspectives in their work,
and how progress in gender equality issues might be monitored in the
reporting for the Universal Periodic Review process.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Council heard a
statement by Abdulla Shahid, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives. He
highlighted the issue of climate change and how low-lying States like the
Maldives were at severe risk. Global warming would have an impact on human
rights – rights to self-determination, to life, to water, to cultural life,
to property, to health and others were directly implicated. The Maldives
called on the Human Rights Council to convene a debate on human rights and
climate change during 2008.
The Council heard Israel, Palestine and Egypt speak in
right of reply in relation to the morning discussion on the human rights
situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.
Speaking in the interactive debate were the
representatives of Slovenia, New Zealand on behalf of Norway, Sweden,
Philippines, Morocco, Portugal on behalf of the European Union, Tunisia,
Chile, Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference,
Turkey, Mexico and Canada.
Also speaking were representatives of International
Federation of University Women, speaking on behalf of several NGOs1, and
International Women's Rights Action Watch, on behalf of International
Movement against all Forms of Discrimination and Racism; Asian Forum for
Human Rights and Development; and Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and
Development.
The Human Rights Council will meet at 10 a.m. on Friday,
21 September to conclude its debate on gender mainstreaming.
Statement by Foreign Minister of the Maldives
ABDULLA SHAHID, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Maldives, said the Maldives had enjoyed rapid economic growth and social
development over the past two decades. The Government was engaged in a
sweeping programme of constitutional and democratic reform to guarantee full
and effective protection of human rights. The momentum behind the reform was
unstoppable. The August referendum on choosing between a parliamentary or
presidential form of Government had represented a major step forward towards
the completion of the revised Constitution. Voter turnout had been high.
Foreign relations, notably those with international organizations, donor States
and non-governmental organizations,
had a vital supporting role to play in helping the
Maldives complete the reform programme and bolster respect for human rights.
The Maldives had engaged in the reform agenda through the ratification of
core Covenants, invitations to Special Procedures, and appointment of a
national human rights adviser. The Government would sign the Declaration on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities next month.
Mr. Shahid highlighted the issue of climate change:
low-lying States like the Maldives were at severe risk. The UN Security
Council-sponsored debate on climate change was a bold step, but it was time
to put words into deeds. Global warming would have an impact on human rights
– rights to self-determination, to life, to water, to cultural life, to
property, to health and others were directly implicated. It was imperative
not to lose sight of the human rights implications of global warming. The
Maldives called on the Human Rights Council to convene a debate on human
rights and climate change during 2008.
Introductory Statements to Panel Discussion on
Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in the Work of the Human Rights Council
MARIA NZOMO, Permanent Representative of Kenya to the
United Nations Office at Geneva and Moderator of the Panel Discussion,
said despite gender and gender mainstreaming being an old concept, sometimes
it was misunderstood. Gender was not about women - it was about social
relations between men and women, boys and girls, indeed entire humanity. It
was a fundamental core of the work of the Human Rights Council. Today, there
would be no focus mainly on issues of gender as it related to specifics of
violations or other definite concerns, but rather on how to begin to hold a
discussion on how to move forward on this issue, on how to address it. There
was no lacking of commitment at the legal level. The Council, being in the
early stages of developing its work, should examine how it could integrate
gender concerns and the rights of all in a manner that was equitable and
just.
Gender was not about women, but there was a relationship
between gender integration and the human rights of women. The Council should
systematically integrate a gender perspective into all its work, the mandate
holders, procedures, Special Procedures and other elements of the
institution-building process. The Council already had a mandate to address
this issue: the General Assembly had called on the Council to integrate
attention to gender perspectives into its consideration of all issues in its
respective agenda, including the development of its methods of work.
KYUNG-WHA KANG, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner
for Human Rights, said that integrating women's rights and the gender
dimension into the work of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) was a key priority for the High Commissioner and OHCHR. This
was particularly important as the Council finalized its institution-building
exercise and embarked upon its next phase with much promise for strengthening
the universality of human rights. With a new unit on women's rights and
gender issues, OHCHR greatly looked forward to assisting in this endeavour.
The purpose of today's discussion, Ms. Kang said, was not
to address the human rights of women and gender-related violations but the
process and approach. The term gender referred to the socially constructed
roles between women and men and the social differences that were learned.
Despite progress made in achieving gender equality, women continued to be
amongst the poorest and most marginalized segments of the population
throughout the world. Gender equality referred to the equal enjoyment by
women and men of rights, opportunities, resources and rewards.
A decade after its formal introduction by the Economic and
Social Council, the gender mainstreaming strategy remained largely on paper,
superficially understood and ineffectually implemented, Ms. Kang said. In
order to aim for results, the work needed to go along a two-track approach
for the UN system: redoubling the mainstreaming effort throughout the system
and rallying around the entities in the system in charge of gender issues.
Much expectation was put in the establishment of an enhanced, consolidated
gender architecture that was taking shape at UN Headquarters. The Human
Rights Council needed to incorporate gender analysis throughout its work.
Also, promoting and strengthening legal frameworks that clearly prescribed
gender equality was believed to be a key task for the Council.
RADHIKA COOMARASWAMY, Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said the issue of
gender needed mainstreaming into the whole system, but also needed special,
detailed focus. The old Human Rights Commission had dealt with the issue
under the mandate of violence against women. The issue had since been studied
throughout the world and was seen as an example of how grass roots women's
movements brought their issues to the United Nations under the framework of
violence against women with successful results. Effective pressure on a
number of gender issues had been brought to bear, and legislation improved as
a result.
In reviewing progress, it was now clear, firstly, that
normative frameworks had to be succeeded by a monitoring phase. It was also
time for implementation, time to translate realities in daily life into real
change on the ground. Secondly, other areas of concern had to be brought into
the picture. Among them were the issue of the girl child, such as those who
were victims in armed conflict situations; improved economic and social
rights of women; and greater recognition of reproductive rights. In the
women's agenda it was time to move beyond promises and begin to bring about
change to the everyday lives of women.
MILOON KOTHARI, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing
as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, said his
fellow Special Procedure mandate holders and he attached great importance to
integrating gender perspectives into the work of the Council. Several
resolutions of the former Commission called on Special Procedures in general
to ensure gender perspectives were fully integrated into their work. Some
thematic mandates had been specifically tasked with integrating gender
perspectives into their work. Applying gender perspectives did not simply
imply focusing on women and girls, but rather to particularly examine
situations where women, girls, men or boys experienced specific issues with
respect to the enjoyment of their human rights on the basis of gender. Several
mandates had taken important initiatives to integrate gender perspectives
into their work.
In applying his own mandate, Mr. Kothari said, he had
found that applying gender perspectives was critical for a comprehensive
understanding of the right to adequate housing and land. The insights that he
and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women had gained with respect
to economic and social policies and their impact on violence against women
underscored, in particular, that women's poverty, together with a lack of
alternative housing options, made it difficult for women to leave violent
family situations, and reaffirmed that forced relocation and forced eviction
from home and land had a disproportionately severe impact on women, and made
them more vulnerable to violence.
Concerning the review of mandates, this was an important
occasion to highlight the gender aspects of human rights violations, and
assess the degree to which mandates had taken up these issues. As the Council
considered the overall system of Special Procedures, and identified
protection gaps, it should be noted that full consideration of the gender
aspects of human rights violations was a serious protection gap. The work of
the Council to identify protection gaps should include gender analysis to
ensure more comprehensive treatment of this issue in future.
CHARLOTTE BUNCH, Executive Director, Center for Women's
Global Leadership of Rutgers University, New Jersey, said this was not an
academic exercise. Gender integration into human rights work could have a
significant impact on the life and death of women and girls everyday in every
part of the world. Nothing could be more urgent than improving women's access
to human rights at the local level, as could be seen from the many reports of
atrocities that women still suffered in conflicts and in daily life in all
too many places. The effort to achieve universal access to the enjoyment of
human rights by all required a consideration of the diversity of experiences
that made up our lives.
Ms. Bunch said the persistence of gross violations of
women's rights was shockingly visible in the world today, and the lack of
remedies for most of the women and girls facing them posed a challenge to
all. The Human Rights Council, as the United Nations' premier human rights
body, was in an unparalleled position to address this both by building on the
previous success of addressing gender and women's experience within the
Commission, and by continuing to rectify a history of shortcomings regarding
gender as well.
A gender perspective in the work of the Special Procedures
had included creation of women-specific mandates such as the Special
Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, but also
the integration of women's experience in relation to country and thematic
reporting of procedures. Rapporteurs should integrate work on gender by
exploring how the particular theme of their work affected women specifically,
and should engage in research and investigation that facilitated this goal, including
visits with a range of women's organizations. Reviews, rationalisation and
improvement of mandates should encourage discussion of the human rights of
women, and should identify areas of gaps and overlaps in order to strengthen
protections against gender-related violations.
Discussion
ANDREJ LOGAR (Slovenia) recalled that the Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action signalled that the equal status and human
rights of women should be integrated into the mainstream of UN system-wide
activities. Slovenia fully supported the work of the Women's Rights and
Gender Unit. While it was important to fully address gender integration in
the ongoing process of review of Special Procedures' mandates, gender
integration into the long-term work of the mandate holders had to be ensured.
How could the gender perspective be systematically integrated into the
long-term work of Special Procedures? How would it be ensured that all gender
protection gaps would be sufficiently covered?
DON MACKAY (New Zealand), speaking also on behalf
of Norway, said New Zealand and Norway commended the majority of
Special Rapporteurs on the integration of gender into their work. The
perspective should be evident in all Special Procedures and not only those
concerned with women's rights. New Zealand and Norway also welcomed
discussion on how gender issues could be reflected in the Universal Periodic
Review process, such as in consultation with non-governmental organizations
and interest groups, sex-aggregated data, and normative frameworks on States'
efforts to ensure women's representations in decision-making roles. New
Zealand and Norway requested practical advice on tabling resolutions and
initiatives with reference to their impact on men, women, boys and girls.
HANS DAHLGREN (Sweden) said promoting gender
equality and women's rights through mainstreaming and integrating gender
perspectives throughout the work of the Council continued to be of prime
importance. The important work done by the Commission and by the Committee on
the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to protect and promote
women's rights had had an impact, and the Council should reinforce these
efforts, accelerating progress in the field of gender mainstreaming,
including in the Universal Periodic Review. Gender issues should also be
highlighted through specific agenda issues. The Council and its mechanisms
should pay more attention to women human rights defenders, and should ensure
that the United Nations as a whole continued to include gender-mainstreaming
in all programmes and operations. In a question to Ms. Koomeraswamy, Sweden
asked what she thought the Council could do to raise the issue as part of
conflict prevention.
ERLINDA F. BASILIO (Philippines) said that while striving
for gender balance, the Council should also seek that relevant mandate
holders had the best experience possible. More had to be done to address the
issue of sexual exploitation of girls. The feminisation of poverty should be
avoided. In which mandates should the Council make the relevant work to
tackle the gender issue?
MOHAMMED LOULICHKI (Morocco) said gender
integration was a long-term effort, and results should be strengthened and
consolidated. The Council should coordinate with other agencies to ensure
gender integration. The issue had been incorporated into the Universal
Periodic Review and streamlining and improvement of mandates under Special
Procedures should also strive to integrate the gender perspective. It was
important to have specific provisions on gender in resolutions. Morocco asked
whether there could be guidelines to help States in their efforts to
integrate the gender perspective, and on operationalization.
CARLA CASTELO (Portugal), speaking on behalf of the
European Union, said the gender perspective needed to be integrated
into the Council's work in a systematic and meaningful manner. Gender
mainstreaming/integration was by its truly inter-related nature permeating
all human rights topics, and it was thus distinct from women's substantive
rights, also to be addressed by the Council in its future work. Both
substantive human rights of women and the institutional gender integration
approach deserved specific and regular slots in the Council's work. The
Council needed to operationalise effectively the principle of gender
perspective into its substantive work, in particular in the process of review
and work of the Special Procedures and the Universal Periodic Review.
Among questions asked by the European Union were: how
could the Council systematically and most effectively conduct a regular and
effective assessment of the gender integration in its work; how could the
Special Procedures better systematise gender perspectives in the conduct of
their work; how to best approach the systematisation of gender perspectives
in the assessment-review of the Special Procedures during the current
Council's cycle; and whether there were specific issues that could be
included in Universal Periodic Review reporting that could indicate the level
of equality achieved in practice.
SAMIR LABIDI (Tunisia) said that Tunisia attached
much importance to the question of gender equality. The Human Rights Council
was also the proper forum for the promotion of gender equality and it had to
carry out greater efforts. A consistent process to introduce gender issues
into all activities and all decision procedures should be implemented. The
international community was today agreeing to the importance of promotion of
equality to achieve a balanced society. Equality of women was enshrined in
the Tunisian Constitution. Various components of the Tunisian society had
taken steps to further parity.
JUAN MARTABIT (Chile) said Chile had presented a
draft resolution on the integration of the gender perspective. Chile hoped
the dialogue would produce concrete applications. It was imperative to
evaluate implications across both genders, and to ensure the process was
effective across the United Nations as a whole. The draft resolution
contained paragraphs aimed at reaffirming the Council's commitment to gender
equality.
TEHMINA JANJUA (Pakistan), speaking on behalf of
the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said gender
mainstreaming, as it was a long-term process, required the constant attention
and commitment of the Council. Some progress had been made since the Beijing
Conference. There was a need for gender mainstreaming in all human resources
development policies, including programmes design, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation. Mainstreaming also required a gender-balanced Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights Secretariat, with the broadest
participation of women at all levels of decision making.
Human rights issues that disproportionately affected women
and girls should be fully addressed by the Human Rights Council. The
institution-building package recognised gender balance among the principles
for the agenda and programme of work, and stressed the importance of having a
gender balance in the sub-structures of the Council. Governments should make
a deliberate effort to present women candidates for the Human Rights
Council's Advisory Committee and the Consultative Committee. The database to
be developed for Special Procedures should have more women candidates.
CONCHITA PONCINI, of International Federation of
University Women, speaking on behalf of several NGOs1, said that there
was a dearth of information on national legislation and practices that had
gender based discrimination because of the use of wrong terminologies or
simple manipulation of language. A gender equal perspective in the Universal
Periodic Review should be scrupulously respected by a systemic method of
gathering and reviewing data and information disaggregated by sex and age. It
was not enough to have a gender balance composition in the Special
Procedures, Expert Advisory Services or the Universal Periodic Review and
Complaints Procedure. Technical gender awareness and sensitivity training had
to be provided to mandate holders.
SUNILA ABEYSEKERA, of International Women's Rights
Action Watch, on behalf of International Movement against all Forms of
Discrimination and Racism; Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development; and
Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, said institutional
commitments for mainstreaming a gender perspective from the Council, Member
States and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights were needed.
Integration should follow the rights-based framework of the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which contained principles of
substantive equality and non-discrimination. The perspective should be
reflected in the proposed Universal Periodic Review structure, including
suitable expertise in reviewing teams.
KYUNG-WHA KANG, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner
for Human Rights, responding to the questions and comments made, said
there was apparently a perception that after 25 years of the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as far as laws were
concerned, there was success, but these needed to be examined with regards to
the situation of implementation and whether women were getting the rights
they were entitled to through laws and statutes - and if not, what were their
recourses. It was the poorest and more marginalized women who were the most
cut off with regards to access to justice. This aspect had to be more
carefully examined.
There were also explicit elements of discrimination that
continued to remain in many laws that were implemented. The legal set-up
needed to be given greater focus. In this regard, the Human Rights Council
could set up various kinds of machinery such as an Expert Group, and
legal/institutional arrangements could be examined further for gender
arrangements. On how the Council could conduct gender integration, this was a
broad question, and had to do with the process, i.e. keeping the gender item
constantly and routinely in the work of the Council, but also to do with the
produce, i.e. what came of the work of the Council, and this included dealing
with discriminatory laws.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' new
body worked closely with the Department for the Advancement of Women, and
participated in inter-agency set-ups that dealt with women's issues. There
should be seamless servicing for CEDAW when it moved to Geneva in 2008.
RADHIKA COOMARASWAMY, Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, answering the first
questions, said with regard to multiple forms of discrimination, the
socio-economic cultural rights of women should also be taken into account.
Provisions for women and children were being implemented in war recovering
regions.
Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on the
right to adequate housing, responding, said the first step on integrating
the issue of gender mainstreaming into Special Procedures would be for the
resolutions governing the mandates to have more specific provisions –
specific studies, tasks, standard-setting etc. On monitoring, he said that
during visits, there had been initiatives such as separately interviewing men
and women.
CHARLOTTE BUNCH, Founder and Executive Director of the
Centre for Women's Global Leadership, responding to the questions and
comments made earlier, said with regards to the comments made by the non-governmental
organizations, the first point on gender integration and the relationship to
women-specific programmes was very important, and was the basis of the work
many were doing on gender-equality architecture. Women-specific programming
was essential to drive gender-specific architecture. On indicators and
accountability, there was a need to examine the Universal Periodic Review to
systematise some indicators and guidelines for what could be seen as
determining the success of gender integration. There was the material to
establish these guidelines.
TUGBA ETENSEL (Turkey) said that gender equality
issues should be put at the centre of policy planning. The Human Rights
Council should play a leading role in the mainstreaming strategy. The Council
should develop a strategy in accordance with its own working methods. The
Universal Periodic Review would be a good tool to revise the States'
legislation to protect gender equality.
MABEL GOMEZ OLIVER (Mexico) said the Mexican
delegation was still convinced of the usefulness of the exchange on this
subject. Proposals would have to be thought out carefully, and it would be
essential to make sure each State included a gender perspective. Focus on
legislation first and foremost was crucial, and the Universal Periodic Review
should consider to what extent frameworks guaranteed rights of women in the
letter and spirit and application of the law. Migrants and indigenous peoples
were other subjects where a gender perspective would be useful. States needed
to make special efforts to provide a gender perspective in the information
submitted under the Universal Periodic Review. Novel, pro-active strategies
to promote gender equality in the economic and social spheres should be
developed.
NADIA STUEWER (Canada) said this discussion was the
first in a series of steps necessary to strengthen the integration of the
gender perspectives into the work of the Council. It was important to
integrate a gender perspective into the Universal Periodic Review process,
and States should report thoroughly on the gender perspectives, and include
gender perspectives in all matters under review. How could States ensure that
the gender perspective would be integrated into the Universal Periodic
Review, the speaker wondered, also asking how to ensure that all protection
gaps were covered through the work of the Special Procedures. Canada appealed
for the Council to evaluate its own work, and try to make equality among men
and women a major point therein. Time should be allocated for an annual debate
to examine the progress made by the Council in this regard. At least one day
every year should be reserved for the debate on the rights of women,
including States and other interested parties.
Right of Reply
ITZHAK LEVANON (Israel), speaking in a right of
reply, said with regards to the freedom of worship and access in Jerusalem,
Israel had always been committed to the safeguarding of sites which had
cultural, religious or historical significance. Israel was waiting for the
day when the Palestinians and the Arab States would have the courage to adopt
a law to protect all holy places in their midst, as Israel had done more than
40 years ago. Regarding Reverend Tutu, he did not need to the permission of
Israel to go to Beit Hanoun - the latter was in the Palestinian Territories,
under the control of the Hamas terrorists. Anyone could, and still could go
to Beit Hanoun through the Egyptian border. Reverend Tutu was offered this
possibility but declined it for personal reasons.
As for the Israeli Cabinet's decision to declare Gaza a
hostile territory: every Israeli action was subject to humanitarian
considerations, and Israel was committed as ever to abide by its humanitarian
obligations. But no country in the world would consent to maintain normal
commercial and economic relations with a territory controlled by a terrorist
entity which regularly shelled and indiscriminately targeted innocent
civilians in a neighbouring State.
MOHAMMED ABU-KOASH (Palestine), speaking in a right
of reply, said the Beit Hanoun Mission had not been able to visit the area.
The reasons had been made clear. Had the visit been approved, there would
have been a letter to this effect. Concerning the holy places, he said
Palestine and the Palestinian people respected all three religions present in
the area. Israeli practices against the Palestinian faithful had been
reflected in Israeli newspapers. Had Israel forgotten the Al-Aqsa mosque? The
incursions in Jerusalem?
AMR ROSHDY (Egypt) referring to the letter send by
Archbishop Desmond Tutu about his inability to carry out the Mission to Beit
Hanoun, said Egypt wished formally, through the President, to know the
reasons for which this Mission could not be carried out.
DORU ROMULUS COSTEA, President of the Human Rights
Council, said that Archbishop Desmond Tutu had in his first letter
referred to the refusal of the Israeli authorities to authorize his access to
the territory. At a later stage, he said that because of previous
commitments, the members of the Mission had not been able to carry out the
Mission before the present session of the Council.
__________
1Joint statement on behalf of: International
Federation of University Women; Pan Pacific and South East Asia Women's
Association; Women's International Zionist Organization; Women's Federation
for World Peace International; Worldwide Organization for Women; Anglican
Consultative Council; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom;
International Federation of Business and Professional women; Movement against
Racism and for Friendship among Peoples; International Council of Women;
United Towns Agency For North-South Cooperation; Zonta International; and
Women's World Summit Foundation.
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