If this doesn't shred the last bit of the UN's
credibility on human rights, I don't know what will.
The USA should withdraw from the UN Commission on
Human Rights in protest...
JDG
RIGHTS COMMISSION: Libya Wins Chair Over U.S.
Objections
UN WIRE
In a secret ballot, the U.N. Human Rights Commission
yesterday voted 33-3, with 17 abstentions, to make
Libyan Ambassador Najat al-Hajjaji its chairwoman.
Citing concerns about Libya's human rights record, the
United States called the vote yesterday, breaking with
the custom of filling the commission chair by
acclamation. Africa currently controls the chair,
which rotates among regional blocs, and the African
Union chose Libya as its candidate during a meeting
last year.
Condemning the nomination of al-Hajjaji prior to
yesterday's vote, the United States cited Libya's
alleged role in rights abuses and involvement in the
1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie,
Scotland. Washington is seeking an acknowledgement of
responsibility from Libya in the bombing and
compensation for victims' families. U.N. sanctions
imposed over the incident were suspended several years
ago.
Canada said last week that it would join the United
States in opposing the nomination, while Western
European countries said they would abstain. Others
opposed the U.S. move.
"It is regrettable that the United States opted for
this method," South African Ambassador George Nene
said. "The previous, reliable practice has been
violated."
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira
de Mello added that the occasion was "a unique
opportunity for the commission to demonstrate that it
can manage with wisdom, speed and restraint its
procedural business" (Clare Nullis, Associated Press,
Jan. 20).
Following her election, al-Hajjaji said the panel must
send a message that it deals with all countries
equally in seeking to enforce human rights; account
for religious, cultural and historical differences in
carrying out its work; and assert the universality,
indivisibility and complementarity of human rights
(U.N. release, Jan. 20).
In Tripoli, the Libyan capital, Foreign Ministry
spokesman Hassuna al-Shawsh said the vote showed
"Libya has a clean sheet with regard to human rights,"
calling the result a "shining victory which gives back
their rights to oppressed peoples" (The Australian,
Jan. 21).
U.S. Ambassador Kevin Moley said, "This is not a
defeat for the United States; this is a defeat for the
Human Rights Commission."
"The United States is deeply disappointed. ... Libya's
government continues to commit serious human rights
violations. ... A country with this record does not
merit a leadership role in the U.N. system," Moley
said after the vote (Richard Waddington,
Reuters/Yahoo! News, Jan. 20).
Human Rights Watch last week condemned the nomination
ahead of the vote, calling Libya's human rights record
over the last 30 years "appalling." The group cited
abduction, disappearance and assassination of
political opposition figures; mistreatment of
detainees; and long-term detention without charge or
trial, or after "grossly unfair trials." It said
"hundreds" remain incarcerated "arbitrarily" in Libya,
some for more than 10 years, and it questioned
fairness of the country's Peoples' Courts, calling
them "grossly unfair."
Following the African Union's nomination of Libya for
the U.N. post, the country indicated it would invite
U.N. and other rights investigators to visit and
promised to review the Peoples' Courts "with a view to
abolishing them," Human Rights Watch said. The group
welcomed such statements but called for more concrete
action from Libya.
Human Rights Watch also criticized the commission
itself over the affair, saying the panel has "grown
more timid in recent years as countries with poor
human rights records have vied to become members so
they can block their own censure."
"Repressive governments must not be allowed to hijack
the U.N. human rights system," the group's U.N.
representative, Joanna Wechsler, said. "No country
has a perfect human rights record, but every member
should at least show a real commitment to cooperating
with the United Nations on human rights" (Human Rights
Watch release, Jan. 17).
Writing yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, Freedom
House President Adrian Karatnycky said the election is
"a major blow to the credibility of the U.N. system."
Karatnycky said Libyan Leader Muammar Qaddafi obtained
African Union support by "helping bankroll the
fledgling" organization and that the commission vote
"will embolden dictators like Zimbabwe's Robert
Mugabe, whom Qaddafi has staunchly defended, as well
as Hugo Chavez, who has proposed Libya as an arbiter
for Venezuela's mounting strike and protest movement.
The U.N. deserves better."
Karatnycky called for the "establishment of a
democracy caucus" at the United Nations. "While more
than three-fifths of the members of the Rights
Commission are democracies, they do not represent a
cohesive bloc and appear at the moment unwilling to
challenge the status quo," he said (Adrian Karatnycky,
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 20).
Yesterday's meeting, two months ahead of the panel's
annual session, marked a new procedure. In the past,
the panel has chosen its president at the beginning of
the yearly six-week meeting (U.N. release).
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John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"First... to clarify what we stand for: the United States must defend liberty and
justice because these principles are right and true for all people everywhere. No
nation owns these aspirations, and no nation is exempt from them."
-US National Security Strategy 2002
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