Committee concludes debate on Human Rights Education and Training
The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee this afternoon started its discussion on the right to food, hearing from members of its drafting group on recommendations for possible further measures to enhance the realization of the right to food. The Committee also concluded its debate on human rights education and training.
Mona Zulficar, member of the drafting group on the right to food, said that in resolution 7/4 on the right to food, the Human Rights Council recommended that the Advisory Committee consider potential recommendations for approval by the Council on possible further measures to enhance the realization of the right to food, bearing in mind the priority importance of promoting the existing standards. In response, in August 2008, the Advisory Committee established a Working Group on the right to food to address this request. A number of meetings of the Working Group had taken place since then.
Jean Ziegler, member of the drafting group, introducing the draft recommendations on the right to food, said there were two kinds of hunger: there was structural hunger which was a daily massacre and implicit in underdevelopment; and there was sudden hunger, for example as a result of a sudden disaster. Mr. Ziegler also addressed the extreme volatility of food prices and said that it was a result of excessive speculation and the processing of staple foods to turn them into bio-fuels. Mr. Ziegler drew the Committee's attention to the fact that hunger refugees that crossed the Mediterranean and came to the shores of Italy did not have international protection because the Geneva Convention did not cover hunger as grounds for refugee status.
Jose Antonio Bengoa, member of the drafting group on the right to food, said a short and concise paper was drafted from the initial paper. This document aimed to summarize the recommendations in the form of nine core recommendations. For example, the first recommendation referred to speculation on food, which was a very complex subject area. The second recommendation focused on the processing of staple foods into bio fuels. The third recommendation addressed the violations of the human rights of poor peasants, particularly of the right to food, which included the consideration of the adoption of an international convention on the rights of peasants.
In the general debate on human rights education and training, which started in the morning meeting, speakers said that the right to education guaranteed the enjoyment of other rights as the right to freedom of expression. A good education based on human rights eliminated all kinds of racism that had been transmitted from generation to generation. Education in human rights was of great significance. The universal nature of human rights was not a dictate from one nation to one another, but rather a mutual understanding between all nations. Significant room should be given to the historic context when discussing education as a human right.
The Committee also heard from the Secretariat which was responding to an allegation from a representative of a non-governmental organization during the morning meeting that UN security officers had discriminated against him during a security check. The Secretariat said the UN security officers implemented the rules set by the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, and security checks for all meetings were the same.
Advisory Committee Experts speaking this afternoon included Miguel Alfonso Martinez, Emmanuel Decaux, Mona Zulficar, Jean Ziegler and Jose Antonio Bengoa.
Also speaking on human rights education were the non-governmental organizations Arab Commission for Human Rights and the Federation of Associations for the Defence and Promotion of Human Rights.
The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 29 January to continue its discussion on the right to food. It is also scheduled to discuss rules of procedures and methods of work.
General Debate on Human Rights Education and Training
DAVID FERNANDEZ PUYANA, of Federacion de Asociaciones de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos, said that the right to education guaranteed the enjoyment of other rights as the right to freedom of expression. A good education based on human rights eliminated all kinds of racism that had been transmitted from generation to generation. Education should also provide all children to acquire basic knowledge. Schools had to be identified as neutral areas and be protected. Education and education towards peace and human rights had to be a clear priority for all United Nations agencies. Empathy, tolerance, diversity and peace should be the underlying principles of education. Regarding informal and non-formal education of women, the organization said that the participation of women had to be increased.
ABDELWAHAB HANI, of the Arab Commission for Human Rights, said that from the point of view of normative work the draft declaration should include international law and the work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Education in human rights was of great significance. It was necessary to pay attention to the cultural wealth of humanity, taking into consideration all cultures and religions. The universal nature of human rights was not a dictate from one nation to one another, but rather a mutual understanding between all nations. Significant room should be given to the historic context when discussing education as a human right. It was also important that the draft declaration did not only look at human rights education in general, but it should look at specific cases. Furthermore, particular attention should be paid to minorities, girls, prisoners, and other marginalized groups which had been deprived of their right to education.
MIGUEL ALFONSO MARTINEZ, Advisory Committee Chairperson, said that in Cuba there had been a decision for the development of training in human rights at the university level. For the first time, there was enough funding for such a measure. In the setting up of the programme, questions could be contemplated such as what knowledge someone should have with a view to later work for example in journalism. Not only had a programme of lectures been developed but also seminars at the university level had been developed which proved to be extraordinarily useful. With this personal experience, the Chairperson wanted to emphasize the importance of the topic and the possibilities that existed.
EMMANUEL DECAUX, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for the draft declaration on human rights education and training, in concluding remarks, thanked all who contributed to the discussion. He said that the representative of the Arab Commission for Human Rights had set the benchmark very high. All of the ideas presented needed to be considered, but the work must be kept simple. The Committee needed to take the time to formulate decisions, and it was difficult to see what the future would bring. It was important that all the working papers were made available to all stakeholders and observers. With regard to substance, the link between human rights and humanitarian law in the Geneva Conventions outlined specific conditions where States Parties were obligated to provide education on human rights. The State was the main body responsible for human rights education via curricula. It was important for projects for training and education in human rights to be developed. Going beyond the responsibilities of the State, individuals were also responsible for this training, as well as the family.
He stressed that it was important to adapt education to tackle the issue of relativism, drawing upon traditions and practices which were just as important as institutional monitoring. With the help of the Secretariat, he had complied a list of recommendations made by States on the right to education during the Universal Periodic Review. It was the hope that there could one day be a more systematic process to compiling that information. He welcomed all additional information pertinent to the topic to be submitted for consideration.
JOSE BENGOA, Advisory Committee Expert, said he wished to explain that he had been absent from meetings of the Committee because of other ongoing meetings.
MIGUEL ALFONSO MARTINEZ, Advisory Committee Chairperson, regretted that there was a considerable overlap of meetings. Several Experts could not take part in meetings of the Committee because they were participating in other meetings. The Chairperson would bring this fact to the attention of the Human Rights Council.
Document
The Advisory Committee has before it document A/HRC/AC/2/CRP.2 which is a preliminary report from Jean Ziegler to the drafting group of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on the right to food. The report states that in its resolution 7/14, the Human Rights Council requested the Advisory Committee to consider potential recommendations on possible further measures to enhance the realization of the right to food. The preliminary report presents, among other things, the causes and figures of structural hunger, the consequences of the rise of hunger due to the recent world food crisis, the States' legal obligations and recommendations on measures to be taken by States and the Human Rights Council. The report notes that in the last decade global hunger continued to increase. Structural hunger, like poverty, is still a predominantly rural problem. The current world food crisis is characterized by a rapid increase in food prices, but in fact the causes of the current food crisis are multiple, and include among others, speculation on food and agricultural commodities, and the production of agrofuels. The rapid increase in the prices of food crops also intensified competition over land and other natural resources.
General Discussion on the Right to Food
MONA ZULFICAR, Advisory Committee Expert, introducing the update on the work of the drafting group on the right to food, said that in resolution 7/4 on the right to food, the Human Rights Council recommended that the Advisory Committee consider potential recommendations for approval by the Council on possible further measures to enhance the realization of the right to food, bearing in mind the priority importance of promoting the existing standards. In response, in August 2008, the Advisory Committee established a Working Group on the right to food to address this request. The Advisory Committee outlined the structure for the report to be followed by the Working Group on the right to food. A number of meetings of the Working Group had taken place since then. Furthermore, the United Nations Refugee Agency and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development were invited to contribute to the work of the Working Group in completing its task to draft recommendations.
JEAN ZIEGLER, Advisory Committee Expert, presenting the analytical paper that would be sent to the Human Rights Council, said that there were two kinds of hunger. There was structural hunger which was a daily massacre and implicit in underdevelopment. Secondly, there was the sudden hunger, for example as a result of a sudden disaster. Every five seconds a child under 10 died of hunger. Agriculture would technically be able to feed many more people than there actually were. Mr. Ziegler explained that there were persons who produced food and those that bought food. Both groups suffered from different kinds of disasters. Those who produced food suffered from extreme external debt. There was no possibility for investment in poor countries, for example in fertilizers or irrigation. Further, the International Monetary Fund imposed policies that were designed to pay back debt that hurt the local producers. Mr. Ziegler also mentioned agricultural food dumping which was caused by internal agricultural subsidies by the European Union for example.
Mr. Ziegler addressed the extreme volatility of food prices and said that it was a result of excessive speculation. Why had the prices gone up? This was due to an illegal speculation and enormous profits. A second reason was the processing of staple foods to turn them into bio-fuels. Mr. Ziegler specified that the North-American situation was under discussion right now, not the Brazilian situation, since in Brazil sugar cane was used to produce bio-fuel. Sugar cane was not a staple food.
Mr. Ziegler drew the Committee's attention to the fact that hunger refugees that crossed the Mediterranean and came to the shores of Italy did not have international protection because the Geneva Convention did not cover hunger as grounds for refugee status. In the refugee camps that had the obligation to feed and protect refugees and internally displaced persons, insufficient food rations with less calories than recommended had to be distributed. This was due to insufficient funding for the World Food Programme and other aid agencies.
JOSE BENGOA, Advisory Committee Expert, also introducing the draft recommendation document of the drafting group of the Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Council on the right to food, said that the Working Group worked together and there was no Rapporteur of the group per se. The list of co-authors included Committee Expert Ms. Zulficar, Mr. Zeilgler, Mr. Huseynov, Mr. Mudho, and Ms. Chung. The Food and Agriculture Organization also helped greatly in drafting the paper. As a result a short and concise paper was drafted from the initial paper. This document aimed to summarize the recommendations in the form of nine core recommendations. For example, the first recommendation referred to speculation on foods, which was a very complex subject area. There were many organizations working on speculation of foods, specifically in Europe. The second recommendation focused on the processing of staple foods into bio fuels; and the third recommendation addressed the violations of the human rights of poor peasants, particularly the right to food, which included the consideration of the adoption of an international convention on the rights of peasants.
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