GENEVA, Reuter: A Senior United Nations Official said on January 30 the world was still plagued by daily Human Rights Violations despite emerging solutions to a number of regional conflicts.
U.N. undersecretary Jan Martenson said U.N efforts and cooperation between the superpowers had brought about encouraging developments in various parts of the world.
Addressing the opening session of an annual U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting, he cited Afghanistan, the Gulf, Cyprus, Namibia and the Western Sahara as
trouble spots where solutions were emerging.
“Thus the work of the 45th session of the commission coincides with a historic opportunity for progress also in the field of Human Rights,” Martenson told 1,200 delegates representing governments and Human Rights experts from nongovernmental organizations.
But the 43member commission still had many urgent tasks at hand “in a world plagued by daily violations of Human Rights,” he said.
The annual meeting reviews Human Rights abuses around the world.
This year the destruction of Romanian villages under a rural modernization programme which some nongovernmental organizations have branded “cultural genocide” will come under attack.
The commission will also examine reports on Chile, Iran, Afghanistan, El Salvador and Cuba which agreed for the first time last year to receive commission experts.
The Israeli Army’s efforts to quell 13 months of violence in the occupied territories will come under scrutiny.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 10, 1989
