renata
21st April 2003, 10:31 AM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=615&ncid=703&e=11&u=/nm/20030420/pl_nm/rights_un_dc
Emphasis mine
The slate of candidates for the United Nations (news - web sites)' top body responsible for human rights is riddled with nations with abysmal records on the issue, rights activists charge.
Likely new candidates to the 53-nation U.N. Commission on Human Rights (news - web sites) include North Korea (news - web sites), Iran, Egypt and Nigeria, while Cuba is one of those up for re-election. Twenty-four members will be elected to two-year terms in late April or early May.
Human Rights Watch called the slate "a 'Who's Who' of the worst human rights abusers."
"We haven't progressed very far with this new batch," said Joanna Weschler, Human Rights Watch's U.N. representative.
The New York-based rights watchdog would like the commission to apply criteria to membership, such as asking members to ratify human rights treaties and issue open invitations to U.N. human rights investigators.
It said countries that have been condemned for recent human rights violations should be disqualified.
"Anybody now feels they can be on the commission," said Weschler. "Governments compete to be on the commission in order to protect themselves and protect their peers.
"It is solidarity with the abusers as opposed to solidarity with the victims," she said from Geneva, where the commission is holding its annual session, presided over by Libya.
Rights group Amnesty International would like to see all new members ratify covenants on political, cultural and economic rights, torture and racism and the rights of women and children, and it also says members should issue open invitations to human rights investigators.
"If they do not, the irresistible conclusion is that the commission's previous success is now its failure," said Melinda Ching, Amnesty's U.N. representative.
"It would signal that the commission lures those countries that have been under the body's spotlight -- i.e. North Korea, Iran -- into gaining membership to the U.N.'s supreme human rights body for the very purpose of deflecting criticism of each other's human rights situations."
....
The commission this week condemned North Korea for "widespread and grave violations," including torture, public executions and "all-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression."
Iran, according to Amnesty International, executed 113 people last year, a rate second only to China.
Egypt has been criticized for its handling of detainees, Human Rights Watch said, while Nigeria has come under fire for use of stoning and torture.
And Cuba has faced criticism after it recently sentenced dozens of dissidents to long jail terms and executed three men who hijacked a ferry in a bid to reach the United States.
Rights activists say the commission is increasingly reluctant to blame individual countries, in part because many developing nations oppose being singled out.
Countries whose rights records have often been brought into question, such as Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo (news - web sites), Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe, sit on the commission and activists say they have a common interest in preventing such probes.
The United States suffered a humiliating defeat in 2001 when it lost its seat on the commission for the first time since it helped found the body in 1947. It was re-elected the following year.
Members seeking election to the commission are Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mauritania, Bhutan, Cambodia, North Korea, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal, Qatar, Hungary, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal.
Seeking re-election are Britain, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, India, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Thailand.
And this is the consequence
http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/04/unchr041603.htm
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights today condemned some of the world’s worst human rights violators, but let others off the hook, Human Rights Watch said.
.....
Resolutions were rejected on the situation in Chechnya (15 yes, 21 no, 17 abstentions) and Sudan (24 yes, 26 no, 3 abstentions). The defeat of the Sudan resolution ends U.N. human rights monitoring there despite the ongoing conflict.
A resolution critical of Zimbabwe was blocked by a so-called no-action motion (28 yes, 24 no, 1 abstention), which prevents the commission from even debating the subject matter of a resolution and in effect amounts to a self-imposed ‘gag order.’
Resolutions were not even tabled on several countries previously under scrutiny at the commission, including parts of southeastern Europe (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro), Iran and Equatorial Guinea. A chairman’s statement on Afghanistan, drafted for final adoption next week, fails to endorse a proposal for an international commission of inquiry to address past crimes, or to call for an increase in U.N. human rights monitors.
These results repeated the pattern set at last year’s session, when the commission voted to stop monitoring of human rights abuses in Equatorial Guinea and Iran.
The commission did adopt critical resolutions on some countries, including for the first time on North Korea and Turkmenistan. The commission also expressed concern about ongoing human rights abuses in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
“Today’s voting shows that many commission members are more concerned with protecting each other than protecting the victims of human rights abuse,” said Joanna Weschler, U.N. Representative at Human Rights Watch. “It also highlights how Western governments have lost the political will to take action against abusive governments, particularly their newfound friends in the fight against terrorism.”
A growing bloc of repressive governments – including Algeria, China, Cuba, Libya, Russia, Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe – have become progressively more aggressive in blocking or obstructing resolutions critical of any specific country. The African group voted as a bloc against action on Zimbabwe and (with the exception of Uganda) against the resolution on Sudan.
....
“The commission is trapped between governments intent on undermining it and those that lack the political will to take them on,” Weschler said. “This year’s session underlines once again the urgent need to reform the commission, starting with the establishment of clear criteria for membership.”
Human Rights Watch has argued that, as a prerequisite for membership of the commission, governments should have ratified core human rights treaties, complied with their reporting obligations, issued open invitations to U.N. human rights experts and not have been condemned recently by the commission for human rights violations.
http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/04/un040303.htm
"This year's election already looks like a who's who of the worst human rights abusers," said Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director of Human Rights Watch. "Governments that care about human rights have to act to prevent the Commission from being hijacked."
Emphasis mine
The slate of candidates for the United Nations (news - web sites)' top body responsible for human rights is riddled with nations with abysmal records on the issue, rights activists charge.
Likely new candidates to the 53-nation U.N. Commission on Human Rights (news - web sites) include North Korea (news - web sites), Iran, Egypt and Nigeria, while Cuba is one of those up for re-election. Twenty-four members will be elected to two-year terms in late April or early May.
Human Rights Watch called the slate "a 'Who's Who' of the worst human rights abusers."
"We haven't progressed very far with this new batch," said Joanna Weschler, Human Rights Watch's U.N. representative.
The New York-based rights watchdog would like the commission to apply criteria to membership, such as asking members to ratify human rights treaties and issue open invitations to U.N. human rights investigators.
It said countries that have been condemned for recent human rights violations should be disqualified.
"Anybody now feels they can be on the commission," said Weschler. "Governments compete to be on the commission in order to protect themselves and protect their peers.
"It is solidarity with the abusers as opposed to solidarity with the victims," she said from Geneva, where the commission is holding its annual session, presided over by Libya.
Rights group Amnesty International would like to see all new members ratify covenants on political, cultural and economic rights, torture and racism and the rights of women and children, and it also says members should issue open invitations to human rights investigators.
"If they do not, the irresistible conclusion is that the commission's previous success is now its failure," said Melinda Ching, Amnesty's U.N. representative.
"It would signal that the commission lures those countries that have been under the body's spotlight -- i.e. North Korea, Iran -- into gaining membership to the U.N.'s supreme human rights body for the very purpose of deflecting criticism of each other's human rights situations."
....
The commission this week condemned North Korea for "widespread and grave violations," including torture, public executions and "all-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression."
Iran, according to Amnesty International, executed 113 people last year, a rate second only to China.
Egypt has been criticized for its handling of detainees, Human Rights Watch said, while Nigeria has come under fire for use of stoning and torture.
And Cuba has faced criticism after it recently sentenced dozens of dissidents to long jail terms and executed three men who hijacked a ferry in a bid to reach the United States.
Rights activists say the commission is increasingly reluctant to blame individual countries, in part because many developing nations oppose being singled out.
Countries whose rights records have often been brought into question, such as Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo (news - web sites), Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe, sit on the commission and activists say they have a common interest in preventing such probes.
The United States suffered a humiliating defeat in 2001 when it lost its seat on the commission for the first time since it helped found the body in 1947. It was re-elected the following year.
Members seeking election to the commission are Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mauritania, Bhutan, Cambodia, North Korea, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal, Qatar, Hungary, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal.
Seeking re-election are Britain, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, India, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Thailand.
And this is the consequence
http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/04/unchr041603.htm
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights today condemned some of the world’s worst human rights violators, but let others off the hook, Human Rights Watch said.
.....
Resolutions were rejected on the situation in Chechnya (15 yes, 21 no, 17 abstentions) and Sudan (24 yes, 26 no, 3 abstentions). The defeat of the Sudan resolution ends U.N. human rights monitoring there despite the ongoing conflict.
A resolution critical of Zimbabwe was blocked by a so-called no-action motion (28 yes, 24 no, 1 abstention), which prevents the commission from even debating the subject matter of a resolution and in effect amounts to a self-imposed ‘gag order.’
Resolutions were not even tabled on several countries previously under scrutiny at the commission, including parts of southeastern Europe (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro), Iran and Equatorial Guinea. A chairman’s statement on Afghanistan, drafted for final adoption next week, fails to endorse a proposal for an international commission of inquiry to address past crimes, or to call for an increase in U.N. human rights monitors.
These results repeated the pattern set at last year’s session, when the commission voted to stop monitoring of human rights abuses in Equatorial Guinea and Iran.
The commission did adopt critical resolutions on some countries, including for the first time on North Korea and Turkmenistan. The commission also expressed concern about ongoing human rights abuses in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
“Today’s voting shows that many commission members are more concerned with protecting each other than protecting the victims of human rights abuse,” said Joanna Weschler, U.N. Representative at Human Rights Watch. “It also highlights how Western governments have lost the political will to take action against abusive governments, particularly their newfound friends in the fight against terrorism.”
A growing bloc of repressive governments – including Algeria, China, Cuba, Libya, Russia, Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe – have become progressively more aggressive in blocking or obstructing resolutions critical of any specific country. The African group voted as a bloc against action on Zimbabwe and (with the exception of Uganda) against the resolution on Sudan.
....
“The commission is trapped between governments intent on undermining it and those that lack the political will to take them on,” Weschler said. “This year’s session underlines once again the urgent need to reform the commission, starting with the establishment of clear criteria for membership.”
Human Rights Watch has argued that, as a prerequisite for membership of the commission, governments should have ratified core human rights treaties, complied with their reporting obligations, issued open invitations to U.N. human rights experts and not have been condemned recently by the commission for human rights violations.
http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/04/un040303.htm
"This year's election already looks like a who's who of the worst human rights abusers," said Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director of Human Rights Watch. "Governments that care about human rights have to act to prevent the Commission from being hijacked."