Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action set goals for 21st century.

• Position: Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action for Human Rights; includes related articles on Senegalese lawyer Ibrahima Fall and UN non-governmental organizations - United Nations developments; World Conference on Human Rights, June 14-25, 1993, Vienna, Austria

The World Conference on Human Rights (14-25 June, Vienna) has forged what Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has called "a new vision of global action for human rights into the next century"

In adopting the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action for Human Rights, the Conference had renewed the international community's commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, stated the UN Secretary-General, in a message read out by Conference Secretary-general Ibrahima Fall - also Assistant Secretary-general for Human Rights. The Conference had "taken into consideration, as never before, the UN's concerns to make human rights a priority in its action worldwide", Mr. Boutros-Ghali stated.

The Conference called for specific measures designed to strengthen international human rights instruments and their monitoring mechanisms, and to improve coordination of UN activities for the furtherance of human rights.

It also adopted two special declarations - on Bosnia and Herzegovina and on Angola.

An important achievement of the Conference was the adoption of far-reaching consensual language on the right to development, including the acceptance for the first time that development is an inalienable right.

On one of the most difficult issues, the Conference recommended that the General Assembly at its next session consider, as a matter of priority, the question of the establishment of a High Commissioner for Human Rights for the promotion and protection of all human rights.

The Conference expressed dismay at massive human rights violations, specially in the form of genocide, "ethnic cleansing" and systematic rape of women in war situations, creating mass exodus of refugees and displaced persons. While strongly condemning such abhorrent practices, it reiterated the call that perpetrators be punished and such practices immediately stopped.

The Conference stressed that persons involved in criminal acts associated with ethnic cleansing were individually responsible and should be brought to justice. it affirmed that victims were entitled to appropriate and effective remedies, and called on all States to take immediate measures, individually and collectively, to combat the practice of ethnic cleansing to bring it quickly to an end.

Throughout the Conference, speakers supported creation of an international criminal court to bring those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law to justice as individuals. The Programme of Action calls for the Commission on Human Rights to examine the possibility of better implementing existing human rights instruments at the international and regional level. The International Law Commission was encouraged to continue work on an international criminal court.

Priority objective

In the Vienna Declaration, the Conference affirmed that the promotion and protection of all human rights, a legitimate concern of the international community, must be considered as a priority objective of the UN.

The World Conference was held some 25 years after the International Conference on Human Rights in Teheran had assessed the progress achieved under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and laid the foundation for subsequent work in the field of human rights at the international level.

Nearly 2,100 delegates from 171 States participated in the global meeting, including more than 3,700 representatives of 841 non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Intergovernmental organizations, specialized agencies and UN human rights entities also took part.

During the general debate, the Conference was addressed by 11 Heads of State or Government, one Vice-President, 70 Foreign Ministers, 16 Ministers of Justice, 13 other Ministers and 56 Government representatives. Representatives of 12 specialized agencies, 13 intergovernmental organizations and 13 UN human rights entities also made statements.

Also taking part in the debate were representatives of 119 NGOs, comprising a broad range of groups, including women, indigenous people, children, the disabled and refugees, as well as persons dealing with torture and other rights violations. Statements were also made by representatives of "unrepresented people", homosexuals, lesbians, regional and religious organizations, and specialists in various human rights-related fields.

The Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the observer of the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC) also addressed the Conference.

At the Secretary-General's special invitation, eminent persons in the field of human rights, including former United States President Jimmy Carter, Russian human rights activist Elena Bonner, Nigerian Nobel Prize winner, writer Wole Soyinka, Crown Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan and former President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines also spoke and lobbied for concrete progress at the Conference.

In its final declaration, the Conference expressed appreciation for the NGO contribution to the process of standard-setting in the field of human rights. it emphasized the importance of continued dialogue and cooperation between Governments and NGOs which, it said, should be free to carry out their human rights activities without interference. The Conference also recognized the important role of NGOs in the promotion of all human rights and in humanitarian activities at national, regional and international levels.

A |living mosaic'

At the closing session, Austrian Foreign Minister Alois Mock, Conference President, said the Conference resembled "a living mosaic" and reflected the actual situation of human rights. There were many single pieces in a mosaic which must be polished and refined before they were put into the right place to form a meaningful and coherent whole. The Conference had tried to define long-known human rights principles and although several principles might have been controversial in the past, the Conference had given them universal authority.

He warned, however, that "the fight for human rights is not over". The international community would have to work to give effect to the recommendations and ideas contained in the final document. Participants should take firm action to see that the final document became a living reality. The Conference was a unique gathering, pulling together all the forces which had a role to play in the furtherance of human rights.

In his message to the final session, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali stated: "Responding to the expectations of the |peoples of the United Nations' as set out in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action is a heavy responsibility indeed. This will mean for us in the United Nations a more vigorous approach to human rights."

History will judge

In his closing address, Mr. Fall said the mobilization for and participation in the Conference might well be one of its most significant outcomes. "History will judge us, not by the words on the pages of this Declaration, but by the sincerity of our...