It was a busy day for the Minnesota Advocates. This was the last day for Robin, Hyder, Manpreet and Chip. They'll be traveling to other places over the weekend and home after that. Bon Voyage!
The meeting with the Peruvian Government representative to discuss the Truth & Reconciliation Report went well. We'll reserve the details of the conversation for a confidential briefing when we get back home.
Chip Pitts had agreed to present a speech for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights under item 4 of the agenda. The speech was supporting the Draft Business Norms that David Weissbrodt and others had been working on. At the last minute there was a scheduling problem to get the Lawyers Committee on the speakers list, so with the Minnesota Advocates' permission, the statement was converted to a joint statement of both organizations. Chip gave the speech in the morning, just before lunch. That's Chip with the red tie at our morning team meeting, in the photo to the right. A copy of his speech has been added to the speeches page of this website.
Oxfam also wanted to present a statement in support of the Draft Business Norms under item 4, but they were not able to send a representative to read their speech. Hyder Khan of Minnesota Advocates gave the speech Friday afternoon. That's Hyder on the left. A copy of the Oxfam speech is also on the speeches page.
Several other NGOs spoke in favor of the Draft Business Norms, although there were also a few speaking against them. It appears that there is enough support among the Sub-Commission members to adopt the Draft Business Norms this session, either by Wednesday or Thursday next week. If they are adopted this session, it will probably be a major news event among human rights organizations who are planning to use them to begin discussions with major businesses, evaluate business conduct in many countries, and perhaps also establish a monitoring mechanism within the UN to identify which businesses are and are not complying with the Business Norms.
After Chip completed his item 4 speech to the Sub-Commission he moved to Room 27 where he was the featured speaker of an hour long briefing over the lunch period sponsored by the International Service for Human Rights, entitled "The Human Rights Framework Under Threat: Challenges and Opportunities." Chip was billed as a representative of the Minnesota Advocates, as well as Chair of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee of Greater Dallas. He discussed the state of civil liberties in the U.S. today and the implications for the rule of law and human rights internationally. People who attended said he did a very good job.
Chip's remarks were presented in a give-and-take format with the audience. Thus we don't have a written copy yet. But he has promised to write up his remarks and get them to us soon. We'll post them on this site once we have them.
On Monday the Sub-Commission will continue its discussion under Item 4 and begin item 5 (on discrimination). Voting on resolutions will begin on Monday afternoon. This will be the last week of this year's Sub-Commission session. As always it will be a rush to get in the final agenda discussions, all of the voting, and adoption of the final report by the end of the week.
The photo to the right shows some members of the team walking through the morning sunlight in the great hall of the central part of the U.N. building, on the way to the room where the Sub-Commission meets.