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NEWS - Human Rights Commission Open



Subject: NEWS - Human Rights Commission Opens Annual Session

Human Rights Commission Opens Annual Session

               AP
               22-MAR-99

               GENEVA (AP) -- The U.N. Human Rights Commission
               opened its annual six-week session today with a plea for
               more efforts to prevent abuses and punish the guilty. 

               "We meet today at the end of a century which has
witnessed
               brutality on a scale without historical precedent," said
Mary
               Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. 'It
has
               also charted a new course in the protection of human
rights."

               "Protection and prevention must define the Commission's
               work in the years to come," she told the 53-nation
watchdog.

               Robinson, a former president of the Irish Republic, said
more
               must be done to implement existing international law and
try
               those accused of crimes against humanity. 

               During the six-week commission meeting, violations in
               countries including Iraq, Sudan and Myanmar as well as
the
               Yugoslav province of Kosovo will come under the
spotlight. 

               The European Union was to announce today whether it
               would press for formal condemnation of China, which has
               recently clamped down on dissidents. The West dropped
               long-running efforts to push through a censure motion on
               China last year after developing countries repeatedly
sided
               with Beijing to block the motion -- an outcome that would
               almost certainly be repeated this year. 

               Chinese President Jiang Zemin will meet Robinson in
               Geneva on Friday, but will not address the commission.
               Robinson said in a statement that she continued to be
               "concerned about human rights issues in China." 

               A four-man U.N. technical team returned from Beijing
after
               giving advice to authorities on how to ratify two
international
               covenants on political and economic rights. 

               Many foreign dignitaries are due to speak -- including
eight

               foreign ministers on Tuesday. Dozens of non-governmental
               organizations are on hand to lobby for their causes. 

               Anne Andersen of Ireland was elected president of the
               meeting at its opening session. 

               "Ours is an island still seeking to finally heal the
scars of
               history," she said. "Like so many countries here we have
               learned the long and hard way how much human rights
               matter." 

               The meeting opened under unprecedented security, with the
               U.N. compound barricaded by barbed wire and guarded by
               armed soldiers to prevent Kurds from invading the
building to
               protest Turkey's detention of their leader, Abdullah
Ocalan. 

               About 25 Kurds began a demonstration today in front of
U.N.
               headquarters.