United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights Mary Robinson To Give And Take On Human Rights Challenges At York U. Open Forum

TORONTO, November 17, 1998 -- Mary Robinson, United Nations' chief human rights advocate, will provide Canadians with a rare opportunity for a real exchange of ideas during an Open Forum at York University Tuesday, Nov. 24, 10:30 to 11:30 am. in the Winters College Dining Room.

The Centre for Refugee Studies at York University is sponsoring the forum, which is being held during Robinson's first visit to Canada since becoming United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights last year after a distinguished term as Ireland's President. The forum falls during the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

During the open exchange, Robinson will talk to human rights activists, students and faculty about what she is trying to do at the United Nations, and audience members will ask the High Commissioner what she needs to accomplish this goal, what is standing in her way, and what Canadians can do to help. Canadians frequently drive their issues onto the international stage and into Robinson's agenda and jurisdiction, from first nations' women who faced discrimination under the Indian Act to Ontario's refusal to fund non-Catholic religious schools.

"This open forum is the first opportunity for members of the community to enter into a candid and open exchange with Mary Robinson about UN successes and challenges in human rights protection," said Professor Anne Bayefsky, Director of the Centre for Refugee Studies. "In the past year as High Commissioner, Robinson has been a catalyst, motivating each sector in the UN system to include human rights in its work. At the same time, she has been forced to grapple with non-cooperation from states, lack of adequate funding, and weak support for effective international action in the field."

The UN body responsible for economic, social and cultural rights, which has already criticized Canada s record with respect to housing and poverty, will be scrutinizing Canada further during a committee meeting in Geneva Nov. 26 and 27. Canadian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will press their case before this Committee, which is supported and serviced by Robinson s office. Canadians have also used another UN Committee on civil and political rights to file complaints about Canada, in fact in greater numbers than any other state party to the human rights treaty.

In her report to the UN General Assembly released last month, Robinson stated that "in public perception, human rights violations are a fundamental test of the effectiveness of the UN." The report says the UN must sharpen its preventative tools and provide adequate resources if it is to be able to respond to human rights challenges like the persistent and systematic human rights violations in Columbia, the ongoing conflict in Kosovo and the growing gap between rich and poor worldwide.

The Centre for Refugee Studies, a Canadian International Development Agency Centre of Excellence since 1991, is widely respected for its prominent work in advancing refugee and international human rights standards through sponsorship of high profile events, research, networking, education and training.

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For more information, please contact:

Anne Bayefsky
Director, Centre for Refugee Studies
York University
(416)736-2100, ext. 77169

Sine MacKinnon
Senior Advisor for Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22087
YU/084/98

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BACKGROUNDER
Canada and the United Nations Human Rights System:

Violations of human rights continue to dominate the international agenda. The renewal of ethnic cleansing in Europe and open civil conflicts in many countries of the world have resulted in systematic and massive human rights violations. Many Canadians strongly advocate the need for an effective international human rights regime.

Canada has played an active role in human rights issues worldwide, many of which fall directly into the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:

Canada has ratified all six of the United Nations human rights treaties.

Canada regularly produces reports for each treaty monitoring body on its human rights record concerning women, children, racial discrimination, torture, economic rights and civil rights;

Two Canadians, Peter Burns (University of British Colombia) and Max Yalden (former Chief Commissioner, Canadian Human Rights Commission) sit as experts on two of the United Nations treaty bodies (the Torture Committee and the Human Rights Committee);

Canada successfully pressured the United Nations to create a Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women;

Every year Canada takes a leading role in sponsoring the two main resolutions on reform of the human rights treaty system at the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights;

Canadians have taken a greater number of complaints of violations of their civil and political rights to the UN Human Rights Committee than any other country which is a state party to the complaints procedure (88 complaints to date);

Canadians frequently pressure the government to take a strong stance on human rights issues in international economic fora, such as APEC, NAFTA and the negotiations to create the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI).