TNAG-0967-FCO40-1186-Employment-of-children-in-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 28

II

REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELD OF SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE IN ALL THEIR PRACTICES AND MANIFESTATIONS

Slavery and he slave trade

8. The Working Group took note with satisfaction of the response transmitted to the Secretary-General by the Government of Australia to the allegations contained in the statement made by the representative of the Minority Rights Group to the fifth session of the Working Group concerning the condition of Aborigines in Australia (document E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.2/35).

9.

The Working Group received a report from the Anti-Slavery Society for the Protection of Human Rights entitled Guatemala - Deprivation of Indigenous Peasants' Land, Livelihood, Liberty and Lives, 1978-1900. Referring to earlier reports on Guatemala submitted to the Working Group, the representative of the Anti-Slavery Society stated that the human rights situation in Guatemala had continued to deteriorate. Political violence, alleged to be officially tolerated by the authorities and even to be carried out directly by the Government's security forces, had increased. He quoted recent press, church and other reports to the effect that such killings and abductions had reached unprecedented levels since 1979. He indicated that the report submitted to the Working Group had been researched in the country during 1979 and provided background infomation to the current social unrest in Guatemala. This included the situation of plantation workers, said to be reduced to a position of virtual servitude at the hands of landowners and labour contractors; the repression of highland Indians; and the growing phenomenon of disappearances. In conclusion, the Anti-Slavery Society recommended that a United Nations investigative committee be appointed to study as a matter of urgency the alleged human rights violations in Guatemala, with a view to identifying the causes and making recommendations.

10. One member of the Working Group pointed out that, without passing judgement on the truth of the information submitted by the Anti-Slavery Society, the report in question concerned a political situation which was outside the terms of reference of the Working Group on Slavery. He pointed out that the conditions of peasants in Guatemala, as in other countries of Latin America, were based on traditional practices which could not be strictly assimilated to slavery. He agreed, however, that the Indians in Guatemala, as in other parts of the region, were subject to discrimination, and stated that this information should be made available to the Sub-Commission for its consideration of the problem of discrimination against indigenous populations. He expressed his opposition to any recommendation concerning the creation of a special investigative body on the situation in Guatemala.

11.

Another member of the Group, supporting that position, stated that reports submitted by non-governmental organizations were often based on press reports which could not be verified by the Working Group. Noting that the documentation assembled by the Secretariat included a report submitted by the Government of Nicaragua, he suggested that the Secretariat might include additional information in its documents, such as whether a Government was submitting a first report or a supplementary report; whether a report contained additional elements with respect to earlier ones; and what progress had been made from one report to the next.