Rights Groups Dismayed at Weak Resolutions by UN Commisson
Washington DC, Apr 18 (OneWorld) - International human rights groups yesterday expressed disappointment with the failure of the United Nations (news - web sites) Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), currently meeting in Geneva, to approve strong condemnations of the governments of Cuba, Sudan, Russia, and several other countries.
The Commission, whose annual meeting ends late next week, approved Thursday a mild resolution on the situation in Cuba, calling on Havana to accept the visit by a special UN envoy in the coming year, but defeated a much stronger resolution introduced by Costa Rica and supported by the U.S., Canada, Australia, European countries, and a handful of other Latin American countries, by a 15-31 vote.
The Costa Rican draft called for Cuba to release dozens of dissidents who have been arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms in summary proceedings over the past month. The draft that was approved, by a 24-20 vote with nine abstentions, simply called for Havana to permit Christine Chanet, a French jurist, to visit the island.
"It was a token gesture, very weak, insufficient and inadequate, because it failed to take into account the recent crackdown in Cuba," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, the head of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch.
The vote followed consideration of a number of resolutions by the Commission on other countries Wednesday, including first-time condemnations of the human rights situations in North Korea (news - web sites) and Turkmenistan. The Commission also expressed concern about ongoing rights abuses in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
But a resolution introduced by European Union (news - web sites) (EU) countries that urged Russia to address serious abuses, including summary executions, torture, and disappearances in Chechnya (news - web sites)--and also condemned abuses by rebels in the largely Muslim province--was rejected in a 15-21 vote.
Amnesty International said it was "profoundly disappointed" by that result, charging that serious abuses take place "on a daily basis in Chechnya." The Commission's lack of action on this situation is a "blatant disregard of the suffering of the victims of such abuses and their relatives, and the risks to which civilians continue to be exposed," Amnesty continued.
Activists also expressed dismay at the Commission's rejection of another resolution that would have continued special monitoring of the human rights situation in Sudan, where a 20-year-old civil war between the Arab, Islamist central government and the African, mostly non-Muslim southern population has killed more than two million people, most southerners.
"Despite the fact that the present Special Rapporteur, Gerhart Baum of Germany, has declared unequivocally that there has been no substantial improvement in human rights in Sudan, his voice will now be silenced," said rights campaigner Eric Reeves, who blamed the 24-26 defeat of the measure in part on a lack of resolve by the administration of President George W. Bush (news - web sites). Three nations abstained on the vote.
The Commission also blocked action on a resolution critical of Zimbabwe, whose president Robert Mugabe faced a stiff challenge to his 23-year incumbency last year and has since cracked down hard against the opposition.
HRW charged said this year's disappointments were due primarily to what it called a growing bloc of repressive governments--including Algeria, China, Cuba, Libya (which chaired this year's Commission), Sudan, Syria, and Zimbabwe--that have become more aggressive in blocking or defeating critical resolutions. In addition, it noted that African countries had voted as a bloc to hold off action against Zimbabwe and--with the exception of Uganda, which abstained--against the Sudan resolution.
The group also charged that western governments have weakened their advocacy for action by the Commission. The U.S. decision against co-sponsoring the resolution on Chechnya was called "sudden and disappointing," while Washington's failure, along with the EU, to even put forward a resolution critical of China or Iran this year was also a setback. The U.S. delegation was led by former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Jeane Kirkpatrick.
HRW and other rights groups have called for a major overhaul of the Commission itself. They are urging that ratification of core human rights treaties and cooperation with all UN human rights bodies should be a prerequisite for countries wishing to serve on the Commission.
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