162. Telegram From the Department of State to the Mission in Geneva and the Mission to the United Nations1
226448. Subject: Human Rights Initiatives at the 33rd UNGA.
1. On August 9, 1978 there was a meeting in the Department chaired by Assistant Secretary Maynes to discuss the human rights scope paper that was circulated in July.2 All of the IO agency directorates were represented, as were the Office of the Legal Advisor, the Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs, Mission Geneva, and USUN. The following items were discussed, with decisions reached to move forward on some initiatives and to further explore the feasibility of others. The United States overall position is to build upon and preserve the positive accomplishments which have been made during the past year, both at the last UNGA session and especially at the 1978 Human Rights Commission session.3 We hope that the discussion of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is to be considered in plenary meetings, will be the occasion for a general stock taking on the part of all members and serve as the platform for renewed efforts at international cooperation in promoting human rights.
2. The scope paper was endorsed as a sound approach for the U.S. at the General Assembly. It was determined that it could be strengthened, however, by adding an initiative concerning the development of [Page 523] social indicators to enable better measurements of human rights progress.
3. We decided that an initiative on the “boat” people should be explored, leading perhaps to a resolution calling upon the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to draw up a proposed code of conduct for all ships at sea who encounter boat refugees, and for nations upon whose shores refugees land. We will also explore the possibility of a resolution speaking to the problems of relocating refugees to receiving nations.
4. To strengthen our initiative in the social development area, we will explore a resolution to establish the struggle against hunger as a major human rights priority of the General Assembly and urge consideration of the establishment of an international volunteer food corps.4
5. We decided that the torture initiative should be strengthened by the proposal of a resolution establishing torture, missing persons and the treatment of political prisoners as major priorities for consideration by the General Assembly and the formation of a committee of experts to report each year to the General Assembly on urgent measures and problems, with recommendations to the General Assembly.
6. Concern was expressed that in responding to Southern African initiatives, the United States finds itself reacting negatively on matters which are of great importance to Africans and the majority of the United Nations. In addition to determining what it is in such a resolution that we cannot accept, alternate language should be developed on such resolutions to propose positive approaches compatible with U.S. goals and interests. In this regard, the questions of endorsement of the Sullivan Code and the closing of the Rhodesian information office should be reopened. Because of our inability to participate in the activities of the Decade Against Racism, we should be aggressively searching for other means of participating domestically and internationally in the effort to combat racism and apartheid.
7. On the anticipated resolutions condemning Israeli practices in the occupied territories, it was generally recognized that there will be a more rigid position on both sides at this UNGA, making it more difficult to negotiate acceptable language in resolutions directed against Israeli practices in the occupied territories. It was decided that a paper should be developed addressing itself to likely alternatives available to the U.S. in approaching such anti-Israel resolutions.
8. Although the discussion at the UNGA on Chile may be influenced by the report of the working group sent to Chile by the Human Rights Division, it is thought unlikely that the report will be ready for distribution before the end of October. When the report is submitted, [Page 524] there will be a debate over whether the working group should be continued, replaced by a rapporteur or abolished. The issue of a special human rights trust fund for the families that have disappeared in Chile will be before the UNGA. The U.S. objects to the formation of such a fund which singles out the human rights victims in Chile, but we should review our policy and decide whether we want to develop a U.S. proposal for the creation of a trust fund for the victims of all human rights violations.
9. There will be increasing pressure for the United States to “do something” in the UNGA concerning the human rights violations in Kampuchea. There will be no resolution on this subject introduced by Western European nations and the question is whether the United States should take action unilaterally at the UNGA against Kampuchea. The consensus decision was to limit our efforts at this point to making the case against Kampuchea at the Subcommission on Discrimination Against Minorities which is presently meeting in Geneva. The U.S. has submitted over 300 pages of material on human rights violations in Kampuchea to the Commission and Ambassador Carter believes there is sufficient evidence before the Subcommission to justify a recommendation by the Subcommission to the Human Rights Commission concerning follow-up action to investigate the allegations against the government of Kampuchea. Ambassador Vanden Heuvel’s suggestion that the material be distributed to all members of the Third Committee was endorsed.
10. Regarding Uganda, it was agreed that if Uganda reneges on its earlier agreement to permit a representative of the Human Rights Commission to enter Uganda to investigate allegations of human rights violations there, it will be necessary to “do something” about Uganda in the upcoming General Assembly.
11. On Argentina, there was advocacy for specific reference to human rights violations in Argentina because of the seriousness of the continued and persistent violations. This was generally resisted on the grounds that we should focus our efforts on attempting to strengthen the objective human rights machinery of the UN and resist the political pressures to single out nations individually for condemnation. The allegations of violations in Argentina are before the Organization of American States and there are current negotiations to secure the admission of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. In addition, there is pending jurisdiction over Argentina by the UN Human Rights Commission; so it was decided that an Argentinian initiative would not be productive in the upcoming General Assembly.
12. There was substantial discussion of the continuing need to develop an improved procedure for responding to human rights communications sent to the United States by the United Nations. We are not [Page 525] presently responding adequately to communications in the human rights area and need to develop a means of obtaining assistance of experts from other Federal agencies and the private sector to respond to questionnaires and other requests for information as well as individual complaints alleging violations of human rights. Ideas explored include contracting for expert assistance with individuals, developing a working relationship with the international law and criminal justice human rights committees of the American Bar Association, and establishing formal relationships with other Federal agencies under which they will agree to provide responses for the Department of State to forward to the UN. It was also agreed that we need to investigate the establishment of a more effective means of monitoring U.S. compliance with the human rights conventions.
13. It was recognized that U.S. human rights initiatives will be inevitably undermined by the U.S. failure to ratify most of the existing human rights conventions. It was agreed that a paper should be developed to urge the administration to make ratification of the Genocide Convention an immediate priority for the next Congress.
14. We decided that the U.S. should participate fully in the 30th anniversary commemoration of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A prominent U.S. citizen active in the U.S. civil and human rights movement will be invited to deliver the U.S. address during the commemorative meeting that will be presided over by the Secretary General to celebrate the 30th anniversary in December. We will submit U.S. nominees for the award of the UN human rights prizes in connection with the commemoration, and will be participating in the 30th anniversary seminar on national and local institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights in September. Plans for an appropriate national commemoration, possibly involving the President, are being developed.
15. This summary of the decisions taken regarding possible human rights initiatives at our August 9th meeting to review the human rights scope paper is provided for your information and comment only and does not constitute instructions to pursue the initiatives discussed. Specific instructions will be developed and sent following receipt of your comments and the preparation of the final draft of the scope paper containing the final decisions on human rights initiatives.
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780366–0860. Confidential; Stadis. Drafted by Dalley; approved by Maynes.↩
- See Document 155 .↩
- See Document 125.↩
- See Document 247.↩