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UNITED
NATIONS
E
Distr.
GENERAL
E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/NGO/1317
14 July 2003
ENGLISH ONLY
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sub-Commission on the Promotion
and Protection of Human Rights
Fifty-fifth session
Item 4 6 of the provisional agenda
SPECIFIC HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Written statement* submitted by Human Rights AdvocatesInternational Educational Development, Inc,
a non-governmental organization on the Rosterin special consultative status
The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.
[3 4 July 2003]
______
*This written statement is issued, unedited, in the language(s) received from the submitting non-governmental organization(s).
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GE.03-14968
1. International Educational Development/Humanitarian Law Project (IED/HLP) brings to the attention of the Sub-Commission the situation of children who are abducted from their custodial parent (usually the mother) and taken by a foreign-born parent (usually the father) to that parent’s own country and kept there. The country to which the children are taken helps the fathers keep the children.
2. While the practice exists around the world, at both the Commission on Human Rights and the Working group on contemporary forms of slavery we presented cases involving Saudi Arabia, because the difficulties that arise when the situation involves Saudi Arabia and the United States and because the situations of so many of these abducted children is a contemporary form of slavery. Further, many of the American mothers are not allowed to visit with their children or are granted very restricted visiting rights. Working with the Washington Center for Peace and Justice we have prepared a report entitled “American Slaves in Saudi Arabia: Children Abducted by Their Own Fathers” on these cases.
3. The definition of slavery in the Slavery Convention of 1926[1] focuses on the concept of powers over another equal to or analogous to ownership.[2] The 1956 Supplemental Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery[3] added debt bondage, serfdom, the practice of forced marriage, transferring of wives, inheritance of wives, and transfer of a child for purposes of exploitation.[4] The Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery now also includes female circumcision, child marriages, forms of violence against women and discrimination against women (including lack of education) in addition to practices identified in the Supplemental Convention and the Slavery Convention.
4. There are many factors of the situation of girls abducted the Saudi Arabia that meet the definition of slavery. They are in a situation in which another person or persons have complete control over their lives, with all rights of “ownership”. They were forcibly abducted or kidnapped in clear violation of the laws of other countries and court orders issued by other countries. They were removed from their country to a country beyond the reach of law enforcement and court orders. Many of the abducted girls and women have been hidden away in family compounds.[5] They do not have a choice regarding any basic rights of normal living, including religion, choice of spouse or age of marriage. It is presumed the marriages of most of the girls have been arranged marriages. Many of the abducted girls are married young -- often at age 12 or 13 -- so at that point their husbands have control over them as well.[6] These young girls themselves become young mothers, adding a further barrier to their obtaining freedom. A few have been allowed to leave
after they had children, but under the abjectly cruel condition that they give up their children. They are denied visits with their mothers or other maternal relatives or are granted only rare and heavily supervised visits. In Saudi Arabia the case for slavery is further supported by the denial of other rights essential to prevent or remedy slavery: the right to freedom of movement, right to freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, denial of equal rights of women relating to all issues of family rights, the right to education, the right to remedies.
5. Some of the countries in which child abductions occur have ratified human rights treaties that should help remedy this form of slavery, but with reservations. Once again using Saudi Arabia as the example, Saudi Arabia ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) with a “blanket” reservation to all Articles that it deems to be in conflict with Shari’ia law. While other countries also have the same “blanket” reservation, these countries are taking steps to act favorably in child abduction situations and in situations where the girls and women suffer treatment considered slavery. This is not the case with Saudi Arabia.
6. During the Commission on Human Rights we held a seminar on this issue, presenting the mothers of two of the children abducted to Saudi Arabia. At the Working group on contemporary forms of slavery we also presented victims -- a mother and a young man, himself abducted at an early age along with his younger sister.[7] Both he and his sister experienced sexual abuse and daily inhuman treatment. His sister was forcibly married at age 12 to a man in his late twenties, who subsequently abandoned her. When she was eighteen she was forcibly married again to a man in his forties who has 4 children. At the Working group we also submitted written testimony from a women and her daughter. The daughter escaped from her father, but a sister and brother were not able to. The unrescued girl was recently forcibly married; the family has no word about the boy.
7. Testimony in the United States Congress shows that there are hundreds of children undergoing this type of slavery in Saudi Arabia. What is even more shocking is that the United States officials have done essentially nothing to come to the aid of its citizens.
8. After we held our seminar at the Commission on Human Rights, we met with Saudi officials here in Geneva. One of the mothers who met with that official was actually allowed to Saudi Arabia in May to visit her daughter, who was originally abducted at age five and who is now eleven. She attended the Working group to report on this. At the Working group we also met with Saudi officials -- arranged by the Working
group member Mme Warzazi. We are grateful for these opportunities to discuss the situation with Saudi officials and members of the United States Congress, but stress that the situation still requires much more of both Saudi Arabia and the United States.
9.. Because there is no possibility of legal remedy in certain of the countries that allows these practices, we have brought this situation to the Working group and the full Sub-Commission. The involvement of the Working group and its staff has already produced results with one of the worst of the offending countries. Continued efforts by the Working group may well result in truly meaningful improvement of these situations of slavery. Furthermore, UNICEF attended the last session of the Working group, and we expect that their continued participation will also help these cases. The Working group already has established liaison with other procedures and mechanism of the Commission and treaty bodies that can be very helpful as well. Because the issues raised by these child abduction cases falls under the mandate of so many mechanisms and procedures (the Committee on the Rights of the Child, CEDAW, CERD, the special rapporteurs on torture, violence against women, the right to education, the right to health), we have recommended that the Working group, in partnership with these treaty bodies and rapporteurs, form a task force on this topic. The Sub-Commission should endorse recommendations made by the Working group an ways to address child abduction slavery cases.TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS WORKING GROUP
Written statement submitted by Human Rights Advocates, a non-governmental organization in Category II Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council, and the Natural Heritage Institute, a collaborating NGO
DRAFT NORMS AND COMMENTARY
1. Human Rights Advocates urges the Sub-Commission to continue its efforts in exploring the relationship between transnational corporations and their legal obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. On 20 August 1998 in Resolution 1998/8, the Sub-Commission approved the establishment, for a three-year period, of a sessional working on the working methods and activities of transnational corporations (“Transnational Corporations Working Group”) to study the activities and working methods of transnational corporations. Understanding the importance of the task before the Working Group, on 15 August 2001 in Resolution 2001/3, the Sub-Commission continued the Transnational Corporations Working Group for another three years with the idea that the Working Group would draft norms specifically addressing human rights and transnational corporation and other business entities affecting the enjoyment of human rights.
2. The Transnational Corporations Working Group has worked diligently during these past three years to draft norms that would make explicit the human rights obligations transnational corporations and other business entities. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/WG.2/WP.1, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/WG.2/WP.1/Add.1, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/WG.2/WP.1/Add.2. Within the past year, the Transnational Corporations Working Group has refined its draft norms and drafted Commentary, crucial to the implementation of these norms. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/WG.2/WP.1 and Add.1 (Draft Norms), E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/WG.2/WP.1/Add.2 (Commentary).
3. In Resolution 2002/8, the Sub-Commission requested the Transnational Corporations Working Group circulate the Draft Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights to non-governmental organizations, governments, specialized agencies, and other interested parties for comment. The Sub-Commission also recommended that the Transnational Corporations Working Group continue its efforts in exploring implementation mechanisms for these norms.
4. The Transnational Corporations Working Group has heeded these requests and recommendations. Its attention to the Sub-Commission’s mandate is illustrated by the Commentary to the Draft Norms. The Commentary to Section I of the Draft Norms, “General Provisions of Implementation,” explicates that each transnational corporation or other business enterprise must disseminate its internal rules of operation[8] and must regularly disclose information regarding “its activities, structure, financial situation, . . . performance . . . and [its] offices, subsidiaries, and factories . . .”[9] The Commentary provides an extensive list of implementation mechanisms including country rapporteurs, thematic procedures, assistance by United Nations human rights treaty bodies, establishment of complaint body by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, and continued monitoring by Sub-Commission and the Transnational Corporations Working Group.[10]
5. Recognizing the laudable efforts of the Transnational Corporations Working Group in developing the Draft Norms and Commentary, Human Rights Advocates urges the Sub-Commission adopt both the Draft Norms and the Commentary at this year’s session. Human Rights Advocates notes the strong momentum and support behind the principles that the Draft Norms and Commentary represent. The International Council on Human Rights Policy issued a report in February 2002 entitled, “Beyond Voluntarism: Human Rights and the developing international legal obligations of companies,” extensively outlining how corporations are liable under international law for human rights violations. Two months ago at the Annual Meeting of the ‘Respect Table’ Companies, Mary Robinson noted that the Draft Norms were going to be presented before the Sub-Commission this August and that these Norms “might eventually become the basis for international law.”[11]
6. As the Sub-Commission is aware, there are thousands of voluntary initiatives, most notably the OECD Guidelines and the Global Compact. The fundamental problem with such initiatives is that they do not specifically and exclusively address human rights or provide a system of accountability for implementation.. For example, out of the 9 principles that comprise the Global Compact, only two are devoted to the topic of human rights.[12] Unlike these voluntary initiatives, the Draft Norms formulated by the Transnational Corporations Working restate existing international human rights and humanitarian law. Approval of the Draft Norms amounts to approval of already established international law.
7. Human Rights Advocates stresses that adoption of the Draft Norms must be accompanied by the adoption of the Commentary. The Commentary serves as a critical guide to the full implementation of the Draft Norms. As stated above, the Commentary outlines a multitude of implementation mechanism and monitoring procedures that should be studied. Without this guide to implementation, the Draft Norms could become another one of the thousand voluntary initiatives that transnational corporations can choose to ignore or , at best, interpret as they deem appropriate.[13]
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY CORPORATE ACTORS
8. ts.[14]
9. In March 2001, two union leaders were executed by paramilitary gunmen in what was called a labor dispute.[15] Drummond, a U.S. company operating in Colombia, like other energy companies, has paid the government of Columbia to protect its operations.[16] “Several hundred soldiers are stationed inside company installations.”[17] In a suit filed against Drummond under the U.S. Alien Torts Claims Act (ATCA), Drummond is charged with intimidating the union by permitting “known paramilitaries” to “freely enter [the] mining premises” and to permit pamphlets accusing labor leaders of being “part of a guerrilla union” to be distributed.[18] This case is one among many cases that are being filed against U.S. companies for violations of human rights committed abroad. The Draft Norms and Commentary can serve to prevent these and other human rights abuses, including discrimination in the workplace, oppression of women, violations of the rights to life, liberty, personal security, freedom of expression; child labor, forced labor, and a multitude of economic, social, and cultural rights.
10. RECOMMENDATIONS
Human Rights Advocates respectfully urgesthat the Sub-Commission:
a. Adopt the Draft Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights together withthe Commentary;
b. Continue the Transnational Corporations Working Group after the adoption of Draft Norms and Commentary to
a. seek and receive information about the ongoing problems associated with the implementation of the Draft Norms
b. develop complaint procedures independent of the host or home states of transnational corporations to consider the abuses and remedies of violations of the Draft Norms