Wednesday, 13th August 2003

The Sub-Commission strongly encouraged States to implement policies and legislation that do not legitimate prostitution as the chosen work of victims. The Sub-Commission then adopted a resolution on the Report of the Working Group on the Contemporary Forms of Slavery (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L.19), urging governments to establish and implement national policies and action plans to combat racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. It also urged States that had not yet done so to introduce comprehensive legislation to prohibit bounded labor in all its forms.

Without a vote, the Sub-Commission adopted a further resolution on the United Nations decade for human rights education (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L.14) encouraging governments, regional organizations and intergovernmental and non governmental organizations to further explore the potential support and contribution to human right education of all relevant partners, including the private sector, development, trade and financial organizations and the media. The Sub-Commission also recommended to the General Assembly the proclamation of a second decade of human rights education.

A Resolution on terrorism and human rights (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/L.6) was adopted without a vote, stating that Special Rapporteur Kalliopi Koufa had to continue her work in order to further her conceptual analysis.

The Resolution on Discrimination against convicted persons who had served their sentence (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L.23) was adopted by consensus and it urged States to examine their treatment of convicted persons after they have served their punishment and to case any official and unofficial practices of discrimination of such persons. Before adopting the resolution, Mr. M. Alfonso Martínez, an expert of the Sub-Commission, questioned the use of the term State in the first paragraph of the resolution and proposed to add "including Federal states" in an implicit reference to the United States. Mr. Guissé, among other experts, opposed the modification, since it could potentially limit the scope of implementation of the Resolution. He concluded explaining that there is no difference in international law between federal States and States per se. He therefore proposed the term "all States" in order to reinforce the scope of the Resolution. Finally, the draft project was adopted without modification.

A resolution on the issue of Administration of justice through military tribunals (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L26) was then discussed and adopted without vote. It formally requested that Mr. Decaux continue his work on the development of principles governing the administration of justice through military tribunals.

The following resolution dealt with the promotion and consolidation of democracy (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L30). It was adopted by consensus and the Sub-Commission decided to request the Sub-Commission expert Manuel Rodriguez-Cuadros to prepare a final version of his working paper on the promotion and consolidation of democracy for submission to the Sub-Commission at its 56th session.

A resolution on the right to food and progress in developing international voluntary guidelines for its implementation (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L.5) was adopted without a vote, strongly exhorting all States to actively contribute to the activities of the intergovernmental Working Group in charge of establishing voluntary guidelines on the progressive implementation of the right to adequate nutrition as part of national food safety and security.

In a decision on the prevention of human rights' violations committed with small arms and light weapons (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L.2) the Sub-Commisison welcomed the preliminary report of Special Rapporteur Barbara Frey and requested access to information in connection with her study in particular on the national laws and training programs used of implement the Basic Principle on the Use of Force and Firearms By Law Enforcement Officials. The Sub-Commission finally decided to entrust Florizelle O'Connor with the preparation of a working paper on Women in Prison (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L.32) and requested Ms. O'Connor to submit a working paper at the 56th Session of the Sub-Commission.

During this session, two resolutions were postponed to the afternoon. The first was on a Working Paper on the Criminalisation of Acts of Sexual Violence and the need to open an investigation and to prosecute perpetrators (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L.34) and was postponed in order to be examined in conjunction with resolution (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L.31).

The second resolution on the International Criminal Court (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L.24) was discussed but not approved because debate was bogged down by discussion on the definition of the terms of paragraph 4. Mr. Decaux, one of the co-sponsors of the resolution, proposed to change the term "condemned" in paragraph 4 to "concerned" as follows: "(…) condemned the multiplication of pressure both multilaterally and unilaterally to block the implementation of the status of the International Criminal Court". This proposition provoked the strong opposition of Mr. Bengoa, another co-sponsor, since it would change the meaning of the proposition.

The last resolution for which no solution was found was related to the transfer of persons specifically related to the death penalty (E/CN.4/sub.2/2003/L.35). The debate focused on paragraph 3.a in which the Sub-Commission demanded all states "to not transfer prisoners to states where death penalty applies". Ms. Zerrougui and Mr. Yokota highlighted the consequences of this statement declaring that it implies judicial cooperation with states that implement the death penalty.

By: Clément Therme

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