UNITED NATIONS. Apr 3: A number of developing countries. including Bangladesh and Indonesia, have raised the issue of greater Official Development Assistance (ODA) at the Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

During a session lasting until midnight, the developing countries also called for more extensive relief for debt-burdened nations and strong em-Shasis on development issues y the International community.

Their representatives said Srogress for the global economy ad not translated into progress for non-industrialised countries, most of which were being increasingly marginalised. They said while governments are responsible for economic performances, the gap between the rich and the poor remains so wide that it cannot be reduced without substantial help from richer nations and from international "efforts to redistribute benefits of economic expansion.

"Existence of widespread and

extreme poverty Inhibits full and effective enjoyment of human rights." Bangladeshi representative Ismat Jahan said.

While globalisation was said to hold out the promise of prosperity. it was found to bring challenges for the developing countries, he said. There have been concerns that it contributes to a new process of "uneven development and increased inequality both among and within nations," he added.

Indonesia said progress towards the implementation of the right to development required effective policies at the national level as well as equitable economic relations and a favourable economic environment at the international level.

"The right to development made the human person the central subject of development and called on popular participation and democracy," its representative Harry Purwanto said.

What was needed was a holistic approach as promotion and protection of rights and de-

yelopment were "mutually reinforcing." he added.

Among the developed countries addressing the session was the United States, which contended that the focus on development should be on how to enable each child to reach his or her full potential.

The answer. US representative Nancy Rubin said, lay in providing the full range of human rights to all citizens. Myanmar stressed the need for rich countries to help the developing nations and proposed increased ODA, along with transfer of technology.

'There is a need for developed, resource-rich countries to direct their efforts towards providing further help to states in need," its representative said.

Russian representative Sergei Tchoumarev said economic growth could not be separated from other human rights and it was essential to recognise the right to development as an integral factor in the eradication of human rights abuses.

— India Abroad News Service