Several more interesting papers were presented today. There was also much informal lobbying of one another amongst the Sub-Commission members as the first deadline for filing of draft resolutions occurred this afternoon.
Mr. Pinheiro, expert from Brazil, is in the 2nd year of a three year study on the restoration and return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes and property, after a conflict or mass migration crisis. This is one of the serious after effects of a major human rights crisis. All of the refugees uprooted from their home wish naturally to return. Often times their homes and property have been destroyed or removed in the meantime or they return to find someone else living there. In the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite herculean efforts by aid agencies, it has taken 9 years to complete this process.
Mr. Pinheiro's paper points out the problems and issues associated with the return of refugees to their homes and property in these types of cases, and it proposes some draft principles for how to handle these situations in the future. He emphasizes the principle that compensation for lost property should only be a second solution, if actual return and restoration of the property is absolutely impossible.
The study is very important and will prove very useful in the field. Many of the experts complemented Mr. Pinheiro for his work. One interesting issue was raised by Mr. Kartashkin, expert from Russia -- what about the case where a returning refugee has himself been guilty of criminal acts, terrorist acts, or is offering his home as a private "safe house" for terrorist planning? This should be an exception to the general principle of returning refugees to their property. Yes, most agreed, but it will be a difficult concept to draft so as not to sweep in innocent victims of this practice too.
The Social Forum has also been an important experiment of the Sub-Commission -- a venue where a cross disciplinary group of experts, advocates and representatives of the poor -- and the poor themselves -- are invited to discuss the problems of poverty and how best to eradicate and reduce it. This was the 2nd official year of the Social Forum (the 1st session being held in 2002). It met for two days before the Sub-Commission session.
The Social Forum has struggled to get underway, battling changes in scheduling and financial approval from higher bodies. It is hoped that an annual pattern has now been established and that interested participants can book their flights and plan their involvement with certainty about the meeting dates.
All who participated in this year's Social Forum were very favorably impressed, commenting on the high level of debate and the usefulness of bringing together in one forum experts and grass roots groups from several different disciplines. This year's theme was rural and agrarian poverty. The report itself was only out in draft form and only made available to the members, so we don't yet know what the recommendations of the group was or what was decided for next year's topic.
The Report of the working group on transnational corporations was also presented today, by its Chairman Mr. El Hadji Guisse (expert from Senegal). As predicted earlier there does not seem to be consensus yet amongst the group's members or on the Sub-Commission as a whole, as to whether the group should continue to meet in future years. The chair, Mr. Guisse, feels quite strongly that the group's mandate has not been completed and that it should therefore continue. He noted today that this Sub-Commission working group is at present the only forum within the UN where the human rights practices of transnational companies are being studied. Others are not so sure that the group's mandate should be extended, although only one other expert, Mr. Decaux (France), spoke during today's presentation of the Working Group report.
The five members of the working group this year are Mr. Alfredsson (Iceland), Mr. Alfonso Martinez (Cuba), Mr. Guisse (Senegal), Mr. Biro (Hungary), and Mrs. Chung (South Korea).
It is always a challenge to keep one's name badge intact during the Sub-Commission session. It tends to fall off or get left behind in hotel rooms alot. Access to the UN is not permitted without it. Replacing a lost badge is time consuming and frustrating.
So when we saw an NGO name badge lying on the street the other day, we stopped to look, and discovered from the photo that it was one of our fellow traveler's badges from the John Knox Center. He is with one of the Japanese NGOs also staying at this complex. When we arrived with the badge at John Knox 20 minutes later, our timing was perfect. He was just explaining to his colleagues that he had lost his badge, telling the sad story in a combination of Japanese (which we didn't understand) and hand gestures (which we could understand perfectly).
Just as he had finished pointing to his vest pocket where his badge used to be, and was turning his palms up in the universal "what am I going to do now" gesture, we arrived with his badge, nearly colliding with his outstretched palm. He was so surprised he nearly lost his balance backward. Everybody had a good laugh, with many thank you's exchanged.
Now if we can just be so lucky to hold on to our badges for the rest of the session!
Tomorrow the Sub-Commission will conclude discussions under Item 4 of the agenda, and begin item 6 on specific human rights issues. Minnesota Advocates is scheduled to speak in support of Barbara Frey's paper on the human rights impact of small arms and light weapons under this item 6. There will also be a flurry of activity "in the back halls and corridors" as the Sub-Commission experts lobby their particular draft resolutions, collecting sponsorship signatures, and filing all remaining resolutions by the deadline of 6 p.m. Voting on these resolutions will begin next week.