TNAG-2320-FCO40-3364-Human-rights-in-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 72

INTRODUCTION / WORK WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Guatemala, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Territories, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the USA.

Amnesty International continued throughout the year to submit information about violations of human rights in a wide range of countries to the various mechanisms and procedures established by the UN. The organization submitted to the UN procedure established by ECOSOC Resolutions 728F and 1503 inform- ation on six countries: Chad, Colombia, Myanmar, Peru, Somalia and Turkey. Resolution 728F authorizes the UN to receive communications about human rights violations and to bring them to the attention of the government concerned. Under Resolution 1503 the UN examines communications in confidential pro- ceedings to determine whether there is evidence of a "consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights" in a country.

During 1990 Amnesty International brought to the attention of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances information on cases from 19 countries including Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. It submitted to the Special Rapporteur on summary or arbitrary execu- tions information on cases of possible or threatened extrajudicial execution from 32 countries including China, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Territories, Peru, Somalia and Sri Lanka. Cases of death sentences imposed in apparent violation of international minimum standards were submit- ted to this Special Rapporteur from 18 countries including Burkina Faso, India, Iran, Sudan and the USA. Information about cases of torture from 47 countries was submitted to the Special Rapporteur on torture; these included Chad, China, Egypt, Iraq, Kenya, Myanmar, Peru, Sudan and Turkey. The organization also submitted information about Turkey to the Committee against Torture, the moni- toring body established under the Convention against Torture, for its considera- tion under Article 20 of that Convention. Under Article 20 the Committee may initiate an inquiry into the systematic practice of torture in a State Party. Submissions were made to the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance con- cerning 14 countries, including China, Egypt and Greece.

Amnesty International continued to submit relevant information to the UN Special Rapporteurs and Representatives on Afghanistan, El Salvador, Iran and Romania and to the Experts on Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala and Haiti. Information was also submitted to the Special Committee to investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories and to the Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on southern Africa. Amnesty International made a statement on East Timor to the UN Special Committee on Decolonization in August and submitted a statement to the UN Special Committee against Apartheid in October on the occasion of the UN Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Southern Africa.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Amnesty International continued to submit information to the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations of UNESCO, which examines human rights violations against writers, teachers and others within UNESCO's mandate.

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 1991