Posted on 05/08/2007 1:04:01 PM PDT by Clive
UNITED NATIONS - A wide-ranging study of the UN Human Rights Council says Canada is the most active advocate for the world's human rights victims, but democracies could still do far more to challenge the council's near-domination by human rights abuser states.
In Dawn of a New Era,? its 44- page review of the council's first year, UN Watch says political expediency has led to a situation where "too many democracies have gone along with the spoilers."
The Geneva-based watchdog wants democracies to "unite and redouble their efforts" to turn the council into a credible global monitor of human rights abuses.
The United States has refused to even stand for election to the council since the 192 member UN states voted last year to create the body as replacement for the discredited Human Rights Commission, which had become a virtual mouthpiece for abuser states.
Washington has said the new council is little better at denouncing the world's worst human rights violators.
At a luncheon at the United Nations yesterday, the New Yorkbased democracy monitor Freedom House echoed UN Watch's broad findings -- including the praise for Canada -- as the two groups issued a joint assessment of countries standing in May 17 elections to the council's second annual session, to be held later this year.
They warn the lineup is not encouraging. Of 15 countries nominated by their regions to fill as many seats, four -- Angola, Belarus, Egypt and Qatar -- were "not qualified" because of their lack of respect for political rights and civil liberties.
Another seven -- Bolivia, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, the Philippines and South Africa -- were "questionable," mainly because their international voting records on human rights principles are inconsistent even though as fledgling democracies they go some way to respecting human rights domestically.
Tom Melia, Freedom House's deputy executive director, said the General Assembly should "shame" the regional nominating groups into finding replacements for the "not qualified" countries by rejecting them.
"There should be no argument about whether these countries are elected," he said.
The "questionable" candidates are arguably not ideal for council membership, but they are democratic enough that "we can talk to them" and work for change, he added.
But the arithmetic of the council's selection structure will almost certainly ensure even the "not qualified" countries sail through: each needs only 96 votes of a General Assembly that includes 103 countries Freedom House designates as "partly free" or "not free" and, therefore, arguably more susceptible to backing other non-democratic countries.
Working to ensure the longterm effectiveness of the Human Rights Council is important to Canada, which, under the former Liberal and current Conservative governments was centrally involved in negotiations that created it. Canada won election to the council last year for a threeyear term.
The UN Watch report also grades the 47 member states according to how they voted on 20 key council actions over the past year, using internationally recognized human rights principles as a yardstick.
Canada came in first, followed by seven of the council's eight European Union members, which were in turn followed by France and Ukraine.
The 17 countries receiving, equally, the worst score included four emerging democracies, Indonesia, Mali, Senegal and South Africa.
Hillel Neuer, UN Watch executive director, said South Africa's presence on this list was "disturbing" because of the influence it can exert as a major emerging developing nation.
The report points out how Islamic countries and their council allies have used the body to focus criticism on Israel, pushing through nine condemnations of that country. For comparison, the council has ruled on only one other country, Sudan, but passed only three resolutions highlighting abuses in its western Darfur region, all "non-condemnatory."
"Israel should be held accountable ...," says the report. But "the systematic demonization of Israelis -- and dehumanization, with Syria telling the council that Israelis are invaders from the Planet Mars ... directly causes the world's worst situations to be ignored."
Islamic countries have also pushed through a resolution stating the right to freedom of expression may be limited out of "respect for religious beliefs."
While they said the measure aimed at preventing recurrences of the 2005 publication by a Danish newspaper of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, Canada and other Western countries unsuccessfully opposed the measure on free speech grounds.
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I think Mr. Bolton made a comment or two in this regard some time ago. :)
“but democracies could still do far more to challenge the council’s near-domination by human rights abuser states”
And every time we do we are told to shut-up by the “world community”.
Yes, there is that little factoid of hypocrisy that makes this such a pathetic example of useless handwringing. Plus, the UN Human Rights Council is a huge waste of money and resources.
Fixed.
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