Human Rights, UN-Style
When Hillel Neuer, executive director of the NGO United Nations Watch spoke to the 4th plenary session of the UN Human Rights Council last week, he outlined the disappointment experienced by people whose sense of morality has been outraged by the investigations, pronouncements, actions and behaviours of the re-named UN Human Rights Council. Which has proven to be as uselessly, maddeningly cynical as its predecessor. Not altogether surprising, given the make-up of its members.
Deep deliberations on the part of the Human Rights Council on the dreadful situation in Sudan, recognizing through their investigative activities that Khartoum was directly implicated and indeed responsible for the mass killings in Darfur, nonetheless resulted in a statement that evaded placing responsibility on the government of Sudan, avoiding naming the murderous carnage genocide, and lamely expressed "deep concern" with respect to the murders of hundreds of thousands of innocent Sudanese, and the systematic rape of women and children.
Like its parent body the Council has a great reluctant to "name, blame and shame". Human rights excesses may be investigated and details may result, but the end of it is that an expression mildly recognizing the situation as unfortunate is brought forward, with the innocuous suggestion that the perpetrator kindly consider ceasing activities. Members of the Council themselves come from the very strata of world members known for their human-rights abuses, such as China, Russia and Cuba. The role of China and Russia in watering down resolutions against abusers has become legendary.
China, itself so well known for its treatment of religious minorities, its occupation of Tibet, its threat to Taiwan independence, its aggressively deadly pursuit of Falun Gong members, is happy to do business with Sudan, a situation that enriches both countries; offering China an ongoing and reliable energy source, while Khartoum reaps the benefit of Chinese investments. China refuses to confront Sudan, unsurprisingly, on its horrendously genocidal assaults.
The Human Rights Council's own commissioned fact-finding mission issued a statement that found Sudan's government "has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes". The response of the Council was to 'take note' of the report. And file it away forever. Rather than agree that the UN mandate to serve and protect should be translated into an insistence that Khartoum accept a UN peace-keeping force to assist the African Union, instead of awaiting permission to act.
Even mild-mannered, carefully egalitarian, proudly multicultural Canada has been singled out by the Council for censure for its use of the term "visible minorities" in government documents for the purpose of lifting them into the general sphere of job-sharing as an easily-identifiable device. The UN Council declared this term of visibility an expression of unacceptable racism. Not to mention the obsessive and sole-country condemnation of Israel year after year by the Council for what it purports to be human-rights abuses, overlooking cause and effect or human-rights abuses regularly expressed by others in the region.
Mr. Neuer's long-overdue criticism that the Council has wilfully ignored crises all over the world, from Zimbabwe to Central Asia and Darfur, to Arab-on-Arab murders in Iraq and Gaza, while steadfastly targeting the only democratic nation in the Middle East for ongoing censure was not well received by the Council's president, Luis Alfonso De Alba of Mexico, who angrily let it be known that the dignity of the Council was not to be impugned by anyone, for any reason.
That's the United Nations style of defence of human rights. Seems some things simply will not change.
Deep deliberations on the part of the Human Rights Council on the dreadful situation in Sudan, recognizing through their investigative activities that Khartoum was directly implicated and indeed responsible for the mass killings in Darfur, nonetheless resulted in a statement that evaded placing responsibility on the government of Sudan, avoiding naming the murderous carnage genocide, and lamely expressed "deep concern" with respect to the murders of hundreds of thousands of innocent Sudanese, and the systematic rape of women and children.
Like its parent body the Council has a great reluctant to "name, blame and shame". Human rights excesses may be investigated and details may result, but the end of it is that an expression mildly recognizing the situation as unfortunate is brought forward, with the innocuous suggestion that the perpetrator kindly consider ceasing activities. Members of the Council themselves come from the very strata of world members known for their human-rights abuses, such as China, Russia and Cuba. The role of China and Russia in watering down resolutions against abusers has become legendary.
China, itself so well known for its treatment of religious minorities, its occupation of Tibet, its threat to Taiwan independence, its aggressively deadly pursuit of Falun Gong members, is happy to do business with Sudan, a situation that enriches both countries; offering China an ongoing and reliable energy source, while Khartoum reaps the benefit of Chinese investments. China refuses to confront Sudan, unsurprisingly, on its horrendously genocidal assaults.
The Human Rights Council's own commissioned fact-finding mission issued a statement that found Sudan's government "has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes". The response of the Council was to 'take note' of the report. And file it away forever. Rather than agree that the UN mandate to serve and protect should be translated into an insistence that Khartoum accept a UN peace-keeping force to assist the African Union, instead of awaiting permission to act.
Even mild-mannered, carefully egalitarian, proudly multicultural Canada has been singled out by the Council for censure for its use of the term "visible minorities" in government documents for the purpose of lifting them into the general sphere of job-sharing as an easily-identifiable device. The UN Council declared this term of visibility an expression of unacceptable racism. Not to mention the obsessive and sole-country condemnation of Israel year after year by the Council for what it purports to be human-rights abuses, overlooking cause and effect or human-rights abuses regularly expressed by others in the region.
Mr. Neuer's long-overdue criticism that the Council has wilfully ignored crises all over the world, from Zimbabwe to Central Asia and Darfur, to Arab-on-Arab murders in Iraq and Gaza, while steadfastly targeting the only democratic nation in the Middle East for ongoing censure was not well received by the Council's president, Luis Alfonso De Alba of Mexico, who angrily let it be known that the dignity of the Council was not to be impugned by anyone, for any reason.
That's the United Nations style of defence of human rights. Seems some things simply will not change.
Labels: Politics of Convenience
posted by Pieface | 6:05 PM
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