Fighting the Good Fight
What could be a more acceptable use of time, energy and political will than the timely and utterly required necessity to untaint the United Nations? Starting with the obvious. Too late for the present with Zimbabwe, but there are other human-rights-abusing nations to forestall from taking their place on various committees. It's really good to know that Canada is finally standing up and taking her place alongside the U.S., France and Britain to ensure that the most egregious abusers are shut out of positions of prominence on actual human rights commissions.
Fierce lobbying to persuade member countries at the United Nations to place their votes elsewhere than to allow a former Soviet republic, Belarus, to take its unhallowed place on the already-disgraced UN Human Rights Commission was a timely success. Time and past time that Canada roused itself to stop just sitting around and being everyone's friend; instead taking full responsibility by 'taking sides' for the purpose of attaining to moral leadership.
Canada has in the past criticized Belarus and pressured Egypt latterly in the espionage trial of an Egyptian-Canadian national who claims his "confession" of being a spy for Israel was extracted through the use of torture. Just as Canada has and continues to criticize Iran for its human-rights abuses, and more specifically, the murder of a Canadian-Iranian woman imprisoned in Iran.
Still, here is Canada, not just mewling about unfair state activities and the need to observe and practise humane state behaviours, but getting out there and doing its fair share of pushing and shoving. Making herself heard, making her point. Helping to save the day. Or at the very least, the already tarnished reputation of a United Nations held captive to its unaligned and emerging-states majority.
Angola, Egypt, Qatar and Belarus placed themselves forward as candidates, along with a dozen others seeking to join Canada on the 47-member UN council. It wasn't for lack of trying that the first three did make the grade, with their bare-majority support. "In light of the deeply entrenched repression in these four countries, they are not qualified for council membership", according to the executive director of UN Watch based in Geneva.
"Does it take seriously its own standards and decisions? If so, it has no alternative but to reject the candidacies of Belarus and Egypt," said Peggy Hicks of Human Rights Watch, in response to the UN pledge that the Human Rights Council which succeeded the flawed Human Rights Commission would restore integrity to one of the central pillars of its human rights monitoring infrastructure.
And here was our own Peter MacKay, Canada's foreign minister, telling it like it is, in joining other critics, labelling Belarus's presidential election undemocratically "flawed" and denouncing its "continued imprisonment of democratic supporters". But then, truth to tell, Belarus has quite a lot of like-minded, like-actioned company in the United Nations membership.
Canada was tasked by its Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights to use its council membership to "make a difference [by] ensuring that the procedures support the furtherance of human rights". Initial mission accomplished, at least in part.
More, much more to go.
Fierce lobbying to persuade member countries at the United Nations to place their votes elsewhere than to allow a former Soviet republic, Belarus, to take its unhallowed place on the already-disgraced UN Human Rights Commission was a timely success. Time and past time that Canada roused itself to stop just sitting around and being everyone's friend; instead taking full responsibility by 'taking sides' for the purpose of attaining to moral leadership.
Canada has in the past criticized Belarus and pressured Egypt latterly in the espionage trial of an Egyptian-Canadian national who claims his "confession" of being a spy for Israel was extracted through the use of torture. Just as Canada has and continues to criticize Iran for its human-rights abuses, and more specifically, the murder of a Canadian-Iranian woman imprisoned in Iran.
Still, here is Canada, not just mewling about unfair state activities and the need to observe and practise humane state behaviours, but getting out there and doing its fair share of pushing and shoving. Making herself heard, making her point. Helping to save the day. Or at the very least, the already tarnished reputation of a United Nations held captive to its unaligned and emerging-states majority.
Angola, Egypt, Qatar and Belarus placed themselves forward as candidates, along with a dozen others seeking to join Canada on the 47-member UN council. It wasn't for lack of trying that the first three did make the grade, with their bare-majority support. "In light of the deeply entrenched repression in these four countries, they are not qualified for council membership", according to the executive director of UN Watch based in Geneva.
"Does it take seriously its own standards and decisions? If so, it has no alternative but to reject the candidacies of Belarus and Egypt," said Peggy Hicks of Human Rights Watch, in response to the UN pledge that the Human Rights Council which succeeded the flawed Human Rights Commission would restore integrity to one of the central pillars of its human rights monitoring infrastructure.
And here was our own Peter MacKay, Canada's foreign minister, telling it like it is, in joining other critics, labelling Belarus's presidential election undemocratically "flawed" and denouncing its "continued imprisonment of democratic supporters". But then, truth to tell, Belarus has quite a lot of like-minded, like-actioned company in the United Nations membership.
Canada was tasked by its Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights to use its council membership to "make a difference [by] ensuring that the procedures support the furtherance of human rights". Initial mission accomplished, at least in part.
More, much more to go.
Labels: Crisis Politics, Government of Canada
posted by Pieface | 6:17 PM
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