Posted on 08/10/2002 2:04:56 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 8 (IPS) - A leading human rights organization has appealed to African nations to reverse their decision to nominate Libya as the next chairman of the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
"Countries with dreadful rights records should never be in charge of chairing the Commission on Human Rights," Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director for New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said Thursday.
"Libya's long record of human rights abuses clearly does not merit such a reward," he added.
But a spokesman for the Libyan Mission to the United Nations refuted the charges made by HRW. "They are entitled to their opinion," he told IPS.
"Ours is an open society. We have nothing to hide and we are not in violation of human rights," he added.
Moreover, he said, Libya's nomination had been endorsed at the highest levels of government - at a summit meeting of more than 50 African leaders in Durban, South Africa last month.
"Human Rights Watch has no right to interfere in a decision taken by sovereign nation states," he added.
Under a time-honored system of geographical rotation, Africa has the right to nominate its candidate to chair the commission when it begins its next session in Geneva in March next year.
Since this informal arrangement is respected by all member states, Libya is expected to be elected by acclamation and without a vote.
The original decision to nominate Libya was taken by the U.N.'s African regional group, comprising all 54 African members. It was reaffirmed by heads of state attending the recently concluded inaugural summit of the new African Union (AU), the successor to the now-defunct Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
Joanna Weschler of HRW told IPS that the African group could change its mind on the nomination. "It is 100 percent in the hands of the African group, and if they so wish, they can reverse the decision."
Mungoven said that Libya's nomination violated African leaders' recent commitments to promote human rights and good governance through the New African Partnership for Development (NEPAD) which has been endorsed by leaders of the Group of Eight (G-8) countries: the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy and Russia.
At a meeting of G-8 leaders in Canada last month, NEPAD was assured of about six billion dollars in Western aid annually, starting in 2006.
But this was based on the condition that African nations make a strong commitment to multi-party democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights, fair and free elections and free market economies.
NEPAD establishes a code of governance supporting basic freedoms and a system of peer review so African governments can hold one another to account for human rights violations, among other things.
NEPAD's steering group comprises presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Daniel arap Moi of Kenya and Muammar el-Gaddafi of Libya.
HRW said Libya's nomination was a "real setback" for African governments' stated new commitment to human rights.
"Libya's appointment to the steering group of NEPAD has already raised eyebrows among supporters of NEPAD," Mungoven said. "But putting Libya forward as Africa's choice to lead the world's human rights forum should really ring alarm bells," he added.
Over the last decade, Libya has detained government opponents for years without charge or trial, prohibited the formation of political parties or independent non-governmental groups, and muzzled its press, according to HRW.
In the past, the Libyan government has also been responsible for torture, "disappearances" and the assassination of political opponents abroad.
In its 2002 report on Libya, Amnesty International (AI) said: "Dozens of political prisoners were released, but hundreds, including prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of conscience, remained in jail, many without charge or trial."
"There were further reports of torture and ill-treatment from previous years, where no impartial and thorough investigations had been conducted" and "repeated requests from AI to send trial observers received no response from the Libyan authorities", the report added.
In a letter to the NEPAD steering committee, HRW called on its leaders to withdraw Libya's nomination or spell out publicly the clear benchmarks for African participation in the commission, consistent with NEPAD's goals.
Donor governments considering financial support to NEPAD should make their concerns known and call for Libya's withdrawal, HRW said.
Libya is also on the U.S. State Department's list of "terrorist states" - along with Iraq, Iran, Cuba, Syria, Sudan and North Korea.
In March 1992, Libya was placed under U.N. sanctions for its role in the destruction of a Pan Am 747 aircraft over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 and of a UTA DC-10 over Niger in September 1989. The two on-air explosions resulted in the deaths of hundreds of passengers.
The sanctions included an arms and air embargo and a reduction of Libyan diplomatic personnel serving abroad. A subsequent Security Council resolution approved the freezing of Libyan funds and financial resources in other countries and banned the sale to Libya of equipment for oil refining and transportation.
In May 2000, the Security Council suspended the sanctions following Libya's decision to hand over two of its nationals for trial over the PanAm bombing.
In the subsequent trial, a Scottish court meeting in the Netherlands found a Libyan intelligence agent guilty of murder in the PanAm bombing, in which 270 people died.
A second Libyan, accused of similar charges, was acquitted by the three-judge court in a widely publicized trial which began in early 2000.
But the United States declared that the verdict against one of the Libyans was not sufficient to justify completely lifting the suspended U.N. sanctions.
U.S. President George W. Bush said Libya has to first pay compensation to families of the victims of the Pam Am bombing before any further action is contemplated at the United Nations.
The United States, which imposed unilateral sanctions on Libya, has said that none of its sanctions will be removed until Libya not only pays compensation but also accepts responsibility for the bombing.
What a joke that commission is. In fact, the United Nations is nothing but a sad joke.
With Libya in charge of "Human Rights," I'm sure the white farmers will be cited for a human rights violation by assaulting the bayonets of Mubabe's forces with their hearts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
