Mr Chairman, let me first express my delegation's appreciation for the introductory statement by Mr Lubbers this morning. New Zealand welcomes the High Commissioner's report, which, sadly, highlights the increasing extent of the refugee problem around the world. The problem has been brought into even sharper focus by the tragic events of 11 September, which have not only galvanised efforts to combat terrorism on a global scale, but have also focussed our collective attention on the situation in Afghanistan and, particularly, the plight of Afghan refugees.
Prior to 11 September, there were already an estimated 3.6 million refugees who had fled Afghanistan to camps in Pakistan and Iran. Their physical protection, protection of their human rights, and the provision of food and other humanitarian assistance must now be a paramount and urgent concern for the international community.
Although our attention and sympathy is caught at the moment by the plight of Afghanistan's refugees, we must not forget the no less tragic situations of the more than 6 million people of concern to UNHCR in Africa, or the other 13 million refugees worldwide. People flee their homelands through fear of death or persecution, or because of poverty and lack of opportunity. Addressing the root causes of these problems is fundamental to solving the growing global refugee crisis.
The failure to achieve durable solutions to problems which drive people out of their home countries has created a strong demand for illegal migration which criminal groups, seeking to make money from the smuggling of migrants and trafficking of people, have exploited. The recent Tampa incident in the West Pacific brought home sharply to New Zealand and other countries in our region that even relative geographic isolation does not make us immune to the problems of people smugglers and illegal migration. The activities of these criminals has pushed the issues of irregular and illegal migration to new levels of exploitation, conflict and, often, human tragedy. And they are putting the international refugee protection framework under increasing stress.
Migration has long been a source of international and domestic tensions. The increasing incidence of "mixed flows" of genuine asylum seekers and economic migrants has led to tougher immigration laws and increasingly harsh border regimes and has blurred the line between compassionate offers of asylum and the need to take tough deterrent action. Exploitation of legal systems by human smugglers creates huge costs for destination countries and puts pressure on their refugee determination procedures. This can result in increased incidence of prolonged detention of asylum-seekers, and in criticism by destination countries of the application of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
The 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees has been the cornerstone of the international community's efforts to protect refugees. We applaud the efforts of the States party to this Convention, and of the UNHCR, during the last fifty years. We look forward to the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Convention during the Ministerial Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in December, and hope that this will be an opportunity for States Parties to reaffirm their commitment to the core principles of the Convention, and to its effective implementation.
The burgeoning refugee problem that the world faces today reflects all too clearly the inadequacies of the current international refugee protection system. We live in a very different world than that of 1951, when countries first gathered to design a global approach to refugee issues.
Clearly a comprehensive and concerted global approach is necessary to create an environment which offers protection to those genuinely fleeing persecution, to tackle push and pull factors contributing to the refugee problem, and to cripple the criminal groups involved in illegal migration. All countries must be willing to contribute to global burden-sharing both domestically and internationally. More support needs to be provided to countries facing protracted refugee situations, for example the countries bordering Afghanistan and other countries hosting large refugee populations, including those in our own region, such as Indonesia. The situation of people living in refugee camps without any hope of a durable solution to their plight feeds the activities of people smugglers, and places an unfair burden on the host countries.
UNHCR is funded from an ever-decreasing pool of voluntary contributions. The new measures introduced by the High Commissioner are welcome first steps to address this budgetary crisis. However the international community must be prepared to address UNHCR's serious funding problems.
For its part, New Zealand contributes to global burden-sharing through our annual intake of refugees from UNHCR and by our funding of UN refugee programmes. We responded to the immediate humanitarian crisis in the wake of the Tampa incident by taking 131 of these asylum seekers for processing and potential settlement in New Zealand.
We are working as fast as we can to ratify the Protocols on smuggling and trafficking under the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. We will be looking to work cooperatively and constructively with other countries, whether they are involved as source, transit or destination countries, to end this trade. We have provided and remain willing to provide information, model legislation, technical expertise and training to assist other countries - particularly those in our region - to develop their own capacity to deal with issues relating to refugees and illegal migration, for example by assisting them to develop robust refugee determination procedures.
In conclusion, Mr Chairman, New Zealand is ready and willing to participate actively in bilateral, regional and international efforts to find solutions to the global refugee crisis and to combat the growing incidence of illegal migration. We hope all States will support our call for strengthened international efforts and contribute to the development of long-term, comprehensive solutions to these increasingly pressing problems.
Mr Chair, the protection and promotion of human rights is a major priority for the New Zealand Government, and our focus on this issue has been sharpened by the tragedies of 11 September and the resulting intense concern about global security. The recent events have underlined the even greater responsibility that we all have to promote universal and indivisible standards of human rights.
Our joint efforts within the United Nations have led to the development of a fairly comprehensive system of human rights protections, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and subsequently elaborated in the core human rights treaties and other instruments. We call on all States, no matter what their political, economic, religious or cultural background, to work together to ensure that these human rights standards are not only universally accepted, but universally implemented. A commitment to improve the global situation of human rights may be one of the most effective means for us all to support peace, security and development.
In New Zealand's view, good governance, in its broadest sense, provides a sound foundation for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. We urge States to support democratic practices that allow for the participation of all their citizens in the decision making processes, including through the conduct of regular, free and fair elections. Good governance should also include the development of a strong range of public institutions run on principles of justice, accountability and transparency. We have welcomed the efforts of the UN to facilitate genuine democratic processes in those countries undergoing political transition.
In recognition of New Zealand's commitment to the values of good governance, we have dedicated a sector of New Zealand Official Development Assistance to this purpose. This has enabled us to make a meaningful contribution to the support of relevant institutions and programmes in our Asia Pacific region.
An independent judiciary, free from nefarious influence, is a particularly crucial element of good governance and the protection of human rights. New Zealand places great importance on the rule of law and the role of the justice system in ensuring its equitable application as well as the right of all to a fair hearing in any trial. We also applaud international efforts to end impunity with respect to crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. New Zealand was pleased to ratify the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court and we call on all states that have not yet done so to ratify it as soon as possible.
New Zealand is particularly concerned about the continued use of the death penalty and urges those States that have not yet abolished the death penalty to do so. We find it especially distressing that some countries impose the death penalty on young people below the age of eighteen. Our hope is that States will strive to ensure that justice is delivered in a manner consistent with the principles elaborated by the full range of international standards in this area.
The continued occurrence of acts of torture is abhorrent to New Zealand. We urge states to redouble their efforts to conclude the Optional Protocol under the Convention Against Torture, establishing a robust international mechanism focused on prevention.
In order to promote awareness of human rights and to provide support and protection for these rights, New Zealand encourages the establishment of National Human Rights Institutions. In this regard, we wish to record our appreciation for the role in our region of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions, which held its annual meeting in Sri Lanka in September, as well as the National Institutions Team of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. This year, we were pleased to welcome the new membership of Mongolia, and look forward to other national human rights institutions of countries in the region joining the Asia Pacific Forum family. New Zealand continues to support the Asia Pacific Forum's activities through contributions from our development assistance programme.
Mr Chair, having outlined some of the key human rights standards that we are addressing under this Item, we note that some countries still fall short of meeting these standards. We acknowledge that fulfilling the goals of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms is no small task. Indeed, it is an on-going responsibility for all States to monitor constantly the application of our universally agreed human rights standards. No country is perfect in this respect and we must all be held to account. New Zealand considers it important, however, to speak out when it recognizes that human rights abuses are occurring in other States. It is also important to acknowledge progress and improvement in the application of human rights standards.
The human rights situation in Afghanistan, the policies and practices of the Taliban, have greatly concerned New Zealand for some time. The most recent reports of a recurring pattern of massacres of civilians, involving reprisal killings and summary executions, and of the torture of civilians and combatants alike, are particularly disturbing. We strongly condemn the actions of the Taliban in depriving the Afghan people, particularly women and girls, of their fundamental human rights.
New Zealand raises with concern the situation in Iraq. It is particularly regrettable that the Government of Iraq continues to prevent the Special Rapporteur's access to the country, in view of the continuing reports of unexplained disappearances, the repression of ethnic minorities, arbitrary executions, and ill treatment, including torture, during questioning.
New Zealand remains concerned about the impact of the ongoing armed conflict on human rights in Sudan. The report of the Special Rapporteur confirms that there has been a deterioration in this situation over the last year, with particular areas of concern including the bombing of civilian targets, the summary and arbitrary executions, the use of torture, the employment of children as soldiers, and the abduction of women and children for forced labour. We continue to urge all parties to the civil war to observe international laws aimed at protecting civilians during armed conflict, to respect fundamental human rights and to work towards a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
In Iran, while there has been encouraging progress in a number of areas, we are disappointed that the promise shown in others has not been borne out by recent developments. It is encouraging, for example, to note the increasing participation of Iranians in political affairs as was the case with the June 2001 Presidential elections. The UN Special Representative also notes positive developments in other areas such as child welfare, juvenile justice, and the work of the Islamic Human Rights Commission in monitoring human rights abuses. There are areas, however, that still require urgent attention. This includes the reform of the judiciary, the administration of justice, freedom of expression and association, the status of women, and of minorities - both religious and ethnic. New Zealand urges the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to take all possible steps to ensure full respect for the human rights of all.
It is encouraging to hear that the requests by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and the Special Representative for children in armed conflict to visit Chechnya have been granted by the Russian Federation Government. We hope that similar opportunities could also be extended to the Representative for Internally Displaced Persons, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions, and the Special Rapporteur against torture. We reaffirm our support for the call by the Commission on Human Rights for the establishment of a national independent commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of serious human rights abuses. New Zealand remains concerned about these allegations of human rights abuses against both sides as well as the humanitarian situation facing those displaced as a result of the conflict. In our view, a political settlement is the only means to resolve these problems.
We have watched with dismay as violence has continued in the Occupied Territories over the past year, and reiterate our call for restraint on both sides. New Zealand welcomed the release of the Mitchell Report, which offered the parties a constructive way forward, and has been disappointed by the lack of progress on its recommendations. We note the comments of the Special Rapporteur on the indiscriminate use of force and the violation of human rights. It is especially disturbing to witness the impact of this ongoing violence on civilians, including children. We call once again on both sides to demonstrate flexibility and a willingness to negotiate.
New Zealand is concerned that human rights abuses continue in Zimbabwe. Particular areas of concern include politically motivated killings; the torture of opponents of the government; suppression of freedom of expression through intimidation of members of political parties and the media, as well as intimidation of the Judiciary. My government urges the Government of Zimbabwe to comply with the rule of law and cease all human rights violations.
With regard to Myanmar, we urge all parties to engage in political dialogue and reform in order to facilitate the transition to democracy. We welcome the efforts of the Secretary-General's Special Representative and commend the evidence of incremental progress, such as the emerging dialogue between Aung San Suu Kyi and the Myanmar authorities, the release of a number of political prisoners and moves to allow the National League for Democracy (NLD) to re-open some of its offices. The interaction between the ILO and the Myanmar authorities, including the recent high level ILO mission to Myanmar, was also a sign of positive movement on the issue of forced labour. But New Zealand remains concerned about the level of fundamental human rights violations, such as arbitrary arrests, harassment, large numbers of political prisoners, restrictions on freedom of association and expression, treatment of ethnic minorities and inhumane prison conditions. We call on Myanmar to take note of the Special Representative's recommendations and continue to work towards compliance with the full range of international human rights standards. We welcome the cooperation extended by Myanmar to the Special Rapporteur who visited Myanmar twice this year and encourage Myanmar to invite him for a further visit as soon as possible so that he can complete a more detailed report of the situation for consideration by the Commission of Human Rights in March.
We acknowledge China's efforts to improve its human rights record and the progress that has been made, particularly on the economic and social fronts. We are encouraged by China's ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights earlier this year and hope China will give similar attention to civil and political rights and freedoms. China's commitment to developing a society under the rule of law is welcome and the significant reforms to China's legal and judicial systems are encouraging. In a number of areas, however, China's human rights practice falls short of accepted international standards. New Zealanders are particularly concerned about restrictions on freedom of expression and religion, including the reported ill-treatment of Falun Gong practitioners and political dissidents in China. With regard to Tibet, we continue to urge the Chinese Government to involve the Tibetan people more fully and directly in decisions regarding their development.
Mr Chair, further good progress has been made to promote human rights in East Timor. We hope the international community will continue to support consolidation of these gains beyond independence. New Zealand welcomes the recent increase in refugee returns and appreciates the constructive role that the Indonesian Government and the authorities in East Timor have played in this process. We look forward to continued efforts on both sides of the border to enable the quick repatriation or resettlement of the refugees who remain in West Timor. New Zealand is encouraged by recent prosecutions in East Timor and moves by Indonesia to establish a human rights tribunal for East Timor. We remain very concerned, however, that few of those responsible for human rights abuses committed in East Timor during 1999 have been brought to justice. We urge intensified efforts to secure a comprehensive and credible judicial outcome for the victims of these crimes. The international community must remain closely engaged on this issue. We must not lose sight either, of the need to secure justice for UN personnel killed in East Timor and West Timor.
We welcome the first Commune elections in Cambodia, due to take place in February next year in accordance with the constitution. It is hoped that these elections will help further embed democratic institutions in Cambodia. We urge the Cambodian authorities to respect and further consolidate Cambodia's fledgling multi-party democracy and permit greater freedom of the media. We also urge Cambodia to work with the United Nations to finalise a Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a Special Tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.
In conclusion, Mr Chair, we emphasize that the promotion and protection of human rights depends on continued vigilance by both states and civil society. In this regard, we urge States to ensure that the full range of groups and individuals that dedicate their efforts towards the defence of human rights are given the freedom to do so.
Mr Chairman
I have the honour to speak today on behalf of the member states of the CANZ group, namely Canada, Australia and New Zealand on item 119(a), Implementation of Human Rights Instruments. The delegations of Norway and Chile also wish to associate themselves with this statement.
The treaty body system is central to the UN's efforts to ensure universal respect for, and enjoyment of, fundamental human rights. It needs and deserves the strong support of all states.
This commitment to a robust and effective treaty body system underlies our concern at the problems and challenges it faces. The most serious of these are the backlog and delays in consideration of periodic reports and communications by the treaty bodies; overdue or non-reporting by states; and the lack of resources to service the treaty bodies.
Tackling these problems requires a partnership approach between states, treaty bodies and the OHCHR; each have important roles to play. There are a number of areas in which we consider practical steps could be taken to help bring about significant improvements in the short-to-medium term.
Firstly, there is scope to reduce the burden of reporting on states, by streamlining periodic reporting requirements and reducing duplication. Reports should be shorter and more focussed, concentrating on areas of interest and concern already identified by the treaty bodies and other special mechanisms. This would ease the administrative burden on both states, especially small ones, and treaty bodies alike. We welcome steps already taken in this direction by the treaty bodies, such as agreeing to the presentation of consolidated reports and flexibility on time-periods covered by reports. We also welcome the efforts of some states to present timely and short thematic reports.
Secondly we encourage the treaty bodies to intensify efforts to improve the efficiency of their working methods and the productiveness of their dialogue with states. More extensive use of pre-sessional working groups and of panels or chambers to expedite consideration of periodic reports and individual communications, and the adoption of harmonised rules of procedure would be useful.
Thirdly, we need to ensure the treaty bodies are properly resourced to do their work. It is important that sufficient regular budget resources are allocated to this core function of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. We encourage the High Commissioner to continue efforts to improve the servicing of the treaty body system, and urge states to support these efforts.
Fourthly, it is important to expand and better coordinate technical assistance by states and multilateral and regional agencies to help states, especially smaller ones, fully understand their obligations, and to help them meet their periodic reporting requirements. States should also be encouraged to approach the periodic reporting requirement in a positive and forward-looking way, as complementing and informing domestic policy development and implementation.
Finally, we would urge greater cooperation among the treaty bodies themselves, and with other parts of the UN system. The annual coordinating meetings of the treaty body chairs are useful in this regard. We encourage the treaty bodies, supported by OHCHR, to use these meetings, and other suitable opportunities, to share information and good practices, and to identify areas of complementarity and reduce duplication. In addition, we would strongly support the proposed meeting of members of all the treaty bodies to examine the issue of coordination with respect to cross-cutting issues.
Over recent times, we have engaged in more focussed dialogue with states sharing our commitment to strengthening the treaty body system, as well as with members of the treaty bodies themselves and the OHCHR, to consider practical ways of promoting this objective. We look forward to continuing and intensifying this work in the period ahead.
In conclusion let me reiterate that, in seeking to encourage early and practical action to improve the functioning of the treaty body system, our concern is to ensure its continuing effectiveness as a cornerstone of the international community's framework for protecting and promoting fundamental human rights.
Mr Chairman
New Zealand welcomes the reports prepared for our consideration under Items 112 and 113. The Beijing+5 review last year called for an intensification of our efforts to achieve gender equality, which was further supported by the Millennium Summit Declaration adopted by all our Heads of State and Government. We had expressed the hope that these new commitments would provide renewed impetus, particularly when it has been recognised that gender equality is intrinsically linked to effectively addressing global problems, like HIV/AIDS, poverty and development, peace and security. The importance of applying a gender perspective, recognising the multiple forms of discrimination women may face, was also rightly highlighted by the recent World Conference against Racism in Durban.
However, while there has been progress, the persistent gap between words and action remains.
We look to the United Nations for leadership in the global pursuit of the goals set at Beijing in 1995. The Commission on the Status of Women has a key role to play, and it is therefore imperative that the Commission consider at its next session taking concrete steps to improve its working methods in order to continue to produce outcomes that are credible and add value to the ongoing international dialogue on the advancement of women.
New Zealand has taken steps to meet the commitments entered into last year at the five year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. In our region we hosted a UN workshop on reporting to the CEDAW Committee for countries of the South Pacific. This reflects our continued support for CEDAW as the fundamental legal framework for eliminating gender discrimination. The call for its universal acceptance is one we have repeated every year. We do so again this year. We will do so again next year. New Zealand has also ratified the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, giving women the means to better fulfil their rights under the Convention, and call on all states to do the same.
New Zealand also contributed NZ$100,000 to the Beijing Trust Fund to support work in the UN to promote implementation of CEDAW and the Optional Protocol, and work on women, peace and security. The adoption of Resolution 1325 by the Security Council provides a good platform for mainstreaming gender into the UN's work on peace and security. We hope that the recommendations for implementation of the Brahimi Report by creating new positions in DPKO for gender experts will be endorsed by the Fifth Committee this year.
The UN's policy for mainstreaming gender in all its work has been significantly progressed by the work of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancment of Women and her office. We hope this work will also be boosted by ECOSOC's decision this year to specifically include gender mainstreaming on it's agenda and to review and appraise the system-wide implementation of it's Agreed Conclusions on gender mainstreaming by 2005. We call on all bodies of the UN system to make mainstreaming gender a priority.
Effective gender mainstreaming is a key strategy for achieving gender equality. In the spirit of sharing best practices, my delegation wishes to advise the Committee that the New Zealand government has this year taken further steps to ensure that a gender perspective is incorporated into the policy making process, by requiring policy proposals affecting social equity to include gender analysis and a gender impact statement. To assist this, gender training, tools for gender analysis, improved data on women and a means of measuring progress are being provided across government.
Finally, Mr Chairman, we are pleased this year to again join with our CANZ partners in presenting the resolution on improving the situation of women in the UN system, which Australia will run this year. It is disappointing that our consideration of this issue this year has been hampered by the lateness of the Secretary-General's report. It is also disappointing to see that in the larger population of staff with appointments of one year or more the representation of women has actually declined over the last year. However, what the report highlights is that small, incremental steps are still being taken towards achieving the goal of 50/50 gender balance in the UN, with 14 departments and offices meeting this goal in the past year and the 40% mark being reached in respect of geographic appointments. The goal is in sight, and we urge the Secretary-General to continue in his efforts to cross the remaining ground in order to reach it.
My delegation would like to express its appreciation to the Secretary-General for his comprehensive ‘We the children' end-decade report. We are also grateful to UNICEF and the Bureau for their work in preparing for the Special Session, including the production of a draft outcome document which, in our view, is an excellent basis for our discussions.
New Zealand's main objective at this preparatory meeting is to contribute to sound progress on a concise and action oriented outcome document. We should ensure that this document effectively establishes a plan of action to mobilise global efforts to improve the lives of children. We note the enthusiasm with which many governments have embraced this opportunity to highlight areas of concern to them and we hope that it will be possible to achieve a workable consensus. We are bound to have numerous and diverse perspectives, but we hope that we can all work together constructively to improve the world for children. If the implementation of the resulting Plan of Action is embraced with as much energy and good will as we have seen in our discussions, then progress for children is assured.
We would like to take this opportunity to stress again two key issues that we have raised in previous meetings of the Preparatory Committee. These are areas of particular priority for New Zealand and we hope they can be appropriately reflected in the outcome document.
The first is that the Convention on the Rights of the Child should be the basis for all our efforts in respect of children. We do not need to reinvent the wheel here. The Convention's ideals and objectives are universal. Unfortunately, ratification of the Convention is not yet so. In our view, the Convention has more than proven its durability and worth, both as a binding international legal commitment on Governments to act in the best interests of children, and as a focal point for raising awareness of their rights. We believe that explicitly recognising the rights of the child can make a difference to their welfare. The Secretary-General's report clearly endorses the important role of the Convention and we believe that the outcome document should draw on the principles espoused in the Convention. For us, the main purpose of the UN Special Session on Children is to build on the Convention and help Governments, in partnership with other agencies and each other, to implement it.
Our second comment is on the specific issue of indigenous children. The Secretary-General's report highlights the disparities that exist between indigenous children and other children. We want to ensure that the outcome document matches this evidence with new or stronger commitments to address the issues for indigenous children where they occur. We are particularly interested to promote references to the specific education and health needs of indigenous peoples. The United Nations has long recognised the unique status of indigenous people and the special obligations of the international community towards them. It is therefore important to our delegation, as it is to many others, that this document reflects the importance of promoting and protecting the rights of indigenous children to live successfully and safely in their own social context.
We fully concur with the Secretary-General that the special needs of children should be seen in the context of the broader framework of human rights. In this respect, gender equality is an important aspect of human rights and has particular significance for the lives of children. Also the role of transparent and accountable government in securing the rights and development of children cannot be understated.
There are other areas that the New Zealand delegation will want to focus on this week as we work together on the outcome document. These include adequate references to adolescents as a distinct group of children; issues for migrant children; sexual and reproductive health issues - particularly where appropriate knowledge can be of benefit to the welfare of children; the rights and special needs of disabled children; and also issues related to juvenile justice and inter-agency coordination in addressing children's issues.
The Secretary-General's report cannot, of course, provide in depth information on each region, and does not focus on the Pacific specifically. But the Pacific region, predominantly made up of small island developing states, has its own particular concerns and unique perspectives on the global issues before us. The outcome document will therefore be as much a blueprint for action for children in our region, as it is for the children of other regions.
This Commission has reached something of a watershed this year, following the five-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2000. We now have a fairly clear and comprehensive agenda for the advancement of women in all fields.
This year the Commission on the Status of Women has elected to focus on two themes, which will themselves be the topics of UN Meetings later this year.
The theme of the HIV/AIDs pandemic and its gender implications is a particularly poignant one as we face the reality that this tragedy has a profound impact on the lives of women and girls. Nowhere is this more true than in Africa, where HIV/AIDs has been described as nothing short of an unprecedented human disaster. We are also concerned about the problems of the HIV/AIDs in our own Pacific region.
HIV/AIDs prevention is a priority. In New Zealand, like other countries, we have focussed on widespread education campaigns, including the promotion of safe sexual practices, voluntary and confidential testing and counselling, needle exchange programmes, and rigorous standards of blood testing. This is a sensible plan of action, but careful attention is necessary to ensure that such services are equally available to all and that the human rights of persons with HIV/AIDs are fully respected.
Protection and promotion of human rights and gender equality is, in fact, an important aspect of combating this pandemic. We are conscious, for example, that in societies where the status of women is relatively low, they are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDs, including through sexual violence, and that their access to education, medical assistance and other support is more limited, thus compounding the problems of the HIV/AIDs pandemic.
The need for further action to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women is also sharply highlighted by the other thematic issue before the Commission this year, ‘Gender and all forms of discrimination, in particular racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance'.
New Zealand is particularly aware of the intersection between gender and race. We are currently analysing the situation and status of Maori women and girls relative to other groups of society in order to identify disparities and measure the progress towards achieving New Zealand's goals for women. Such a study, by augmenting the quality of information available for policy development, will help enable the various government agencies to focus on areas where improvements can be made.
We might also note the reference under this theme to "related intolerance". In this context, we would like to point out that, in terms of New Zealand's human rights commitments, discrimination on the grounds of marital status and sexual orientation are both prohibited by law in New Zealand. At last year's Beijing + 5, we highlighted this aspect of discrimination. New Zealand looks forward to the United Nations recognising that discrimination on the grounds of marital status or sexual orientation is a human rights violation, in contravention of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Madame Chair
The goal of gender mainstreaming in the UN system is a particular priority for New Zealand. We are pleased to join with our partners, Canada and Australia, in presenting a resolution that aims to strengthen the monitoring and implementation of the Agreed Conclusions adopted by ECOSOC in 1997 to ensure that a gender perspective is incorporated into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system. This resolution backs up the important work of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, Angela King, and the Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality.
As an illustration of gender mainstreaming, New Zealand government policy papers relating to the reduction of social inequalities must now include a statement on the gender implications to ensure that appropriate assessment is given to the impact of proposed and existing policies and programmes on women and men.
New Zealand also remains especially concerned about the gender imbalance in UN recruitment and employment, particularly as evident in the areas of peacekeeping and other specialised areas of UN work.
Madame Chair
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women remains a fundamental charter for the achievement of gender equality. We reiterate our call for the universal ratification of the Convention as soon as possible. We also urge all states to become party to the Optional Protocol, as New Zealand has, in order to strengthen implementation of the Convention and provide greater protection for women's rights.
To conclude Madame Chair, we would also like to report that New Zealand has made a further practical contribution to strengthening implementation of the Convention in our own region of the Pacific. We recently hosted, in collaboration with the Division for the Advancement of Women, a very successful training workshop for officials and NGOs from some of the Pacific Island small developing states. We appreciate the leadership of the Division for the Advancement of Women in undertaking such practical regional initiatives.
Madame Chair
My delegation wishes to thank you and the Bureau, and UNICEF as this Prepcom's Secretariat, for preparing the draft provisional outcome document before us. The useful statements we have already heard testify to your hard work, and to the work that lies ahead. My delegation shares many of the views expressed for strengthening and focusing the document. We have circulated a full statement outlining our views and also fully associate ourselves with the statement made by Tonga this morning on behalf of the Pacific Island Forum Group of countries.
As a preliminary comment my delegation feels that this Prepcom would be better able to assess the draft and focus on outcomes if we had before us the comprehensive report of the Secretary-General that will review and appraise achievement of the goals of the World Summit of 1990, identify obstacles and new goals where needed, and identify best practices for achieving all our goals. Nor do we yet have input from the regional preparatory processes. These are valuable tools that allow all delegations, but particularly small ones, to have the best information with which to participate in the work of this Prepcom. The need for this information was sharply highlighted to us by the informative briefing by Mr Kul Gautam on Monday. We hope that substantive negotiations on the outcome document will be timed to allow us all to be informed by both the Secretary-General's report and the regional inputs.
I wish to focus on some key points, all of which are directed at making the draft more forward looking and more action-oriented. Our goal is to equip and assist governments and other actors to translate commitments into action, and action into results for children. A concise and focused document best serves this purpose. We can achieve this without stinting on coverage of all the issues of concern by eliminating duplication and focusing on action.
First, the tasks elaborated should build on commitments made and legal obligations undertaken. As is rightly pointed out in the document, we have the normative framework on which to base these tasks, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the backbone of this framework. Accordingly the tasks need to be much more specific and operationalise these commitments, and less akin to statements of principle or ideals.
For example, one task refers to encouraging and supporting the participation of adolescents in processes and decisions that affect them. This seems to my delegation to be a natural corollary of the legal obligation of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure a child or adolescent's right to express their views freely in all matters affecting them, rather than a practical step that governments, organisations and civil society can take to fulfil that right. A more action oriented task, for example, might be focused on developing mechanisms for consultation with children and youth on policy issues that affect them.
Another example relates to the principle of acting in the best interest of the child, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This principle could be operationalised in a number of ways at different levels, but some specific tasks that could be identified might include providing information to parents, families and communities about what this principle means, providing education and training for professionals or policy makers on the application of this principle, or at the global level training peacekeepers and field workers how to put this principle into practice.
Second, ‘strategies' are practical plans or campaigns that map out a path towards a particular objective. The five major strategies identified are key ones, but they need to be operationalised. The way to do this is to incorporate best practices and lessons learned. What has worked? By what means has progress been made? By this yardstick there are also other strategies that should be considered, among which we would list for consideration mainstreaming human rights and a gender perspective in all policies and programmes, and building capacity for good governance. Building capacity for children, youth, families, communities, local authorities and governments to act in the best interests of children is also a crucial aspect of all the five key strategies which needs to be expanded further. There is also scope for sharing best practices as a strategy in itself or as an element of other strategies.
Third, the opportunities identified should suggest how they can be utilised for the benefit of children and for the achievement of our goals. New information and communication technologies, scientific discoveries and new partnerships all offer the possibility for innovative solutions to both old and new problems, as well as expanding the horizon of what is achievable. Will we ever have a better opportunity to come up with ideas of how best to take advantage of these new opportunities than now when we have the combined experience and wisdom of all participants in the Prepcom and Special Session?
Fourth, in terms of monitoring the implementation of the outcomes of the Special Session, reference should be made to the role of the Committee on the Rights of the Child as a global monitor, and the need to provide support and assistance to encourage reporting under the Convention. Reference should also be made to coordinating monitoring and follow-up with monitoring and follow-up to other World Conferences.
In terms of the substantive issues addressed in the document, my delegation has a number of specific comments:
a) The absence of any reference to the situation
of indigenous children in the outcome document is out of step with the
efforts of the United Nations to effectively address the concerns of indigenous
people around the world. In many countries, including my own, inequalities
need to be reduced, and the Special Session would fall crucially short
of addressing the needs and concerns of all children around the world if
it failed to address the situation of indigenous children.
b) There is a need to ensure that the
full range of children's rights are covered and the indivisibility and
interdependence of human rights reflected in the outcome document.
In particular the document could be strengthened by clearer references
to all four of the key principles of the Convention: the best interests
of the child, non-discrimination, the right to life, survival and development,
and participation.
c) Recognition of disparities and the
importance of non-discrimination on any grounds in the pursuit of these
goals for all children needs to be strengthened in the document, as graphically
highlighted by Mr Gautam's presentation on Monday in respect of gender
disparities, and disparities between rural and urban children and adolescents.
d) A gender perspective needs to be
more thoroughly and consistently incorporated throughout the document.
In particular the gender aspects of the challenges for children could be
better reflected in the document, particularly in respect of education,
and trafficking, sexual abuse and violence. In respect of the latter
there should also be a reference to customary or traditional practices
that are harmful to girls.
e) Sexual and reproductive health needs
of adolescents must be recognised in the document, both in terms of challenges
to their well-being and in terms of identifying tasks for the realisation
of their sexual and reproductive rights.
f) Children in armed conflict situations,
child refugees and children displaced within their own countries, are at
grave risk and therefore need the sustained attention and efforts of the
international community. My delegation supports efforts to look holistically
at
issues of human security from the perspective of children and their best
interests.
Finally, in conclusion Madame Chair, my delegation does not wish to shy away from issues that are controversial. Our criteria for what we need to address in this special session are threats to the lives of children and to their wellbeing, and full realisation of their rights, and not whatever issues we can easily agree on. We are sure that with this common goal, and the eyes of the world watching us, we can have substantial and productive discussions that result in meaningful outcomes for all children.