New declarations adopted on minorities, enforced disappearances.

Two new UN declarations--on "enforced disappearances" and on the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities--were adopted on 18 December by the General Assembly. They were among the more than 40 texts on human rights, racial discrimination and self-determination emanating from the work of the Third Committee (Social, Cultural and Humanitarian).

In addition, the world body formally proclaimed 1993 to be the International Year of the World's Indigenous People with the theme of "Indigenous people--a new partnership". It also welcomed the initiative of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in proclaiming 1995 as the UN Year for Tolerance, and approved the provisional agenda for the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, to be held in Vienna from 14 to 25 June.

Grave concern was expressed over the human rights situations in many parts of the world where, according to Assembly President Stoyan Ganev of Bulgaria, abuses continue unabated" despite the end of the cold war.

Describing a scene of "massive and systematic violations of human rights and grave violations of humanitarian law" in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, in particular Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Assembly condemned (47/147) the "abhorrent practice of |ethnic cleansing"' and the "indiscriminate shelling of cities and civilian areas, the systematic terrorization and murder of non-combatants, the destruction of vital services, the besieging of cities and the use of military force against civilian populations and relief operations".

The Assembly also cited the "substantial worsening" of the human rights situation in Haiti since the September 1991 coup, problems regarding the Russian-speaking population in Estonia and Latvia, increasingly difficult living conditions for refugees in Afghanistan, and the serious situation in Myanmar, where Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is now in her fourth year of detention without trial. It called for all parties in the Sudan to permit delivery of humanitarian assistance and for the parties in El Salvador to fulfil their commitments under the Peace Agreements. Concern was also expressed regarding human rights violations in Iraq, Iran and Cuba.

The new declarations had been elaborated by the Commission on Human Rights and recommended for Assembly adoption through the Economic and Social Council.

The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic...