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Human rights through the looking
glass
By Alan Boyd
SYDNEY -
Non-government organizations are losing ground in their
struggle to block North Korea's nomination to an
influential human-rights panel that helps set the global
agenda for freedom and democracy.
Other Asian
nations have closed ranks around a powerful Third World
alliance headed by China that has usurped leadership of
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR)
from the US and its Western allies.
While the
outcome of the vote that will take place this month is
far from decided, it appears likely that Beijing and
Pyongyang, two of the world's most openly repressive
regimes, will set the tone for Asia's treatment of
individual liberties for at least the next two years.
"This year's election already looks like a who's
who of the worst human-rights abusers," said Rory
Mungoven, global advocacy director of Human Rights Watch
(HRW). "Governments that care about human rights have to
act to prevent the commission from being hijacked."
In an earlier setback for human-rights
advocates, Libya was elected in January by African and
Islamic delegates to chair the current commission, which
began its sittings last month.
Membership of the
53-strong commission is decided on a quota basis by
regional committees representing Africa, Asia, Latin
America/Caribbean, Central/Eastern Europe and Western
Europe/Other States. Each committee selects its own
representatives and also nominates a chairman when the
post becomes available on a rotational basis, making it
relatively easy for particular power blocs, such as the
one now headed by China, to dictate the composition.
China served on the commission in 1947-63 and
again in 1982-2002, then was re-elected last April for a
further three-year term. It has now helped sponsor North
Korea for one of the six vacant Asian seats.
North Korea is not the only hardline Asian
regime to sit on the most important UN human-rights
panel. Syria has served four terms totaling 11 years
since the body's foundation in 1947 and Vietnam is a
current member.
Iraq, another of Washington's
so-called "axis of evil", spent 19 years on the
commission, initially with US backing, though it has
been out of favor since 1992. Iran and Afghanistan are
other former members.
But the North Korean
candidacy is viewed by human-rights advocates as
especially alarming because of the country's inherently
unstable condition, as well as a secretiveness that
conspires against the monitoring of human-rights
violations.
"There is little detailed
information on the extent of human-rights violations in
North Korea due to the restrictions on access to the
country for independent human-rights monitors," Amnesty
International (AI), the London-based human-rights lobby,
stated in a report issued this month. "Information and
access to the country remain tightly controlled,
hampering the investigation of the human rights
situation on the ground."
AI has chronicled
sanctioned abuses ranging from public executions - often
in front of the suspect's own family - to a denial of
free expression, torture and the mistreatment of
returning asylum seekers.
Ironically, the UN
commission itself voted last week to censure North Korea
for its "systematic,widespread and grave violations of
human rights", including the use of prison camps,
condoning of forced labor, imposition of the death
penalty for political reasons and "severe restrictions
on the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion,
opinion, expression, peaceful assembly and association".
A similar motion was adopted against Myanmar,
with the commission calling on the ruling junta to
"fulfill its obligations to restore the independence of
the judiciary and due process of law ... eradicate the
practice of forced labor ... [and] to ensure full
respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms".
Both countries charged that the resolutions were
flawed. Pyongyang claimed that the Western European
sponsors of its motion were "always behaving arrogantly,
as if [they were] entitled to the privilege of attacking
developing countries in the commission".
However, the US and European nations contend
that China and its loose Third World alliance, which
also includes the repressive governments of Russia,
Syria, Algeria, Cuba, Libya, Zimbabwe and Sudan, is bent
on imposing its own will on the UN body.
By
voting as a bloc, the alliance succeeded in defeating
resolutions against Zimbabwe and Sudan in last week's
session. It also blocked a motion on Russia's occupation
of the rebellious republic of Chechnya.
China,
Russia, Cuba, Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Vietnam and
Zimbabwe all voted against the North Korean resolution,
as did Malaysia. But this time Latin American states,
which had mostly abstained in the earlier votes, sided
with the Western nations.
While there was no
indication of political pressure being exerted for
votes, most Latin American countries have close military
and economic ties with the US and are partners in
Washington's declared "war against terrorism".
Human rights groups believe that the splintering
of the UN commission on regional and ideological lines
reflects a concerted effort by some countries to cripple
its procedural mandate.
"These governments have
initiated a review of the commission's work that could
radically curtail the effectiveness of UN human-rights
monitoring," said Joanna Weschler, HRW's UN
representative. "Governments that support human rights
need to head off efforts to weaken the United Nations
human-rights system."
The review will be
overseen by the commission's five-member bureau, which
is itself a parody of the regionalization. Chairman
Libya is in the Chinese camp, Australia backs the
Western alliance, while Croatia, Peru and Sri Lanka are
non-aligned but are usually sympathetic to Third World
positions.
Any dilution of the commission's
powers would have implications beyond the censuring of
individual states, as the body also serves a valuable
role in formulating global policy on particular
human-rights issues.
Resolutions have been
submitted during in the current sitting that deal with
the exploitation of children, slavery and bonded labor,
trafficking in humans, violence against women, religious
persecution, and the illegal sale of organs and tissues.
Unaligned Third World states are likely to
decide the commission's fate. Many have sided with China
and Russia only because they believe the UN is not being
even-handed in its treatment of individual nations.
"In recent years almost all country-specific
resolutions adopted ... have targeted developing
countries, giving the false impression that the
developed countries have an impeccable human-rights
record," China's delegate, Sha Zukang, told the
commission. "Only by abandoning double standards and
restoring the principle of equality can the commission
expect to keep its objectivity and fairness."
There is guarded agreement within the
human-rights movement, which notes that even Washington
has not ratified all of the UN human-rights covenants.
Western Europe and the US also allow economic interests
to influence their voting patterns.
The US
pointedly declined to co-sponsor the Chechnya resolution
for fear of offending Russia, while none of the Western
states tabled expected resolutions against China or
Iran.
While the maneuvering goes on, some other
pressing human-rights issues are not even being tabled.
These include the deteriorating situation in Nepal,
where armed conflict between Maoist guerrillas and
security forces has killed more than 4,300 people.
There was no resolution on Israel's handling of
the Palestinian question, no mention of efforts to
rebuild Afghanistan's fragile political system and no
censuring of the Pakistani regime for its alleged
persecution of political foes.
Reform of the
selection criteria could lead to a more balanced forum,
and lure some unaligned states back on the side of the
pro-rights lobby. One proposal is for a single ballot of
all seats.
But moderate members will probably
stay on the sidelines if, as widely expected, the
reforms merely abolish the regional quotas without
installing safeguards against bloc voting.
"Today's voting shows that many commission
members are more concerned with protecting each other
than protecting the victims of human-rights abuse,"
HRW's Weschler said after the voting on the country
resolutions.
"The commission is trapped between
governments intent on undermining it and those that lack
the political will to take them on."
(©2003 Asia
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