March for peace Perugia Assisi 1999

Report from the Third Workshop of the United Nations People’s Assembly

Democracy and Human Rights

Under the chairmanship of Mr Luciano Ardesi, the activities of workshop no. 3 started with the introductions by Ms Daniela Archibugi and Mr Robert de Graaf, the first one about international democratisation processes and the second one about Human Rights. They were followed by the speeches of about 30 representatives in the morning and 15 in the afternoon. The chairman listed the key concepts expressed by the representatives. The recurrent subjects, apart from the specific focus of each speech, were:

1) Human Rights are linked to each other, they are universal, indivisible and inalienable;

2) Social and Economic Rights should be given more emphasis (especially in periods when globalisation causes more victims than wars)

3) Women's Rights should be emphasised more (equal opportunities, human development support, respect for equality even in the linguistic and dialectic sense (it is still customary to talk about "The Rights of Man", especially in French and Spanish)

4) Improve the structure of the Right of the Child and rehabilitate, with educational tools, children who have been exploited (the exploitation of children does not cause damage to children only, but to society in general, diminishing the opportunities for society development)

5) Create a culture of Education to Human Rights (using languages that can reach illiterates and the new "computer illiterates", i.e. those who do not have access to new technologies, audiovisual aids etc.)

6) Defend the rights of ethnic, religious and language minorities as well as the rights of indigenous and unrepresented peoples

7) It is necessary to reform the international institutions, especially the UN, facilitating the reinforcement of regional authorities and new forms of federalism;

8) Find ways to guarantee more public involvement

9) Defend those who defend human rights, especially those who are most exposed to dangers in their defence of human rights

10) Reinforce the tools of international law, approve the Treaty for an International Crime Court

11) Prevent violations of human rights by constant monitoring and international pressure on Governments (the suggestion to transform the Group and the Assembly into a permanent observer board, complete with a Secretary, was noteworthy)

12) Establish alliances and information exchange and support networks between participants and their organisations

13) Adopt measures to ensure that national law is consistent with international law

14) Introduce the Unpolluted Environment Right in international conventions

15) Oppose arm traffic (especially from North to South, which increases the risk of armed conflicts) in the same way as drug traffic

16) Systematically denounce the violations of Human Rights committed with the help of multinational and international companies and draft an ethics code of practice for companies

17) Reaffirm the right of self-determination (without fomenting dangerous nationalism)

18) Make Human Rights more consistent with the principles of sustainable development chosen by social movements and the civil society

Final comment, as suggested by Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Prize in Peace:

"All the individuals in our nation should be responsible for educating and training the politicians and the government the way that we want them to be; otherwise, the politicians and the government will try to educate and train us to be the way they want us to be".