Posted on 05/01/2002 7:22:47 AM PDT by What Is Ain't
The United Nations Human Rights Commission reinforced its ranks yesterday with some of the world's worst human rights violators, including Zimbabwe, which got the call even though Robert Mugabe secured his own re-election as president in a violent campaign widely denounced as rigged.
Rights groups attacked the move, pointing out Zimbabwe joins China, Syria, Sudan and many nations that flout human rights on a commission meant to protect people against just such abusers.
"It's a huge problem. It has created a crisis," said Joanna Weschler, the UN representative for Human Rights Watch.
"This is not new. Zimbabwe is only part of a trend that started a few years ago when countries with quite atrocious human rights records fought and managed to become members of the Human Rights Commission."
She added that countries guilty of human rights violations have formed an "abusers' caucus," the only goal of which is to protect members from scrutiny and censure. Two weeks ago, for example, the commission failed to pass a resolution criticizing Zimbabwe's presidential election in March, instead electing to heap criticism on Israel for alleged abuses in Palestinian territories.
Patrick Chinamasa, the Zimbabwean Justice Minister, called the outcome a victory for Zimbabwe over "imperialist forces."
The UNHRC consists of 53 seats that are allocated according to geography. Democracies in Europe and the Americas are a minority.
Ms. Weschler said countries with poor human rights records have banded together to shield themselves from international criticism. She said democracies need to be vigilant if they are to save the commission from some members.
"It would truly be a tremendous shame to just turn your back and start laughing," she said.
"Countries which have at least a stated commitment to human rights have a responsibility to save the commission. Hopefully, they will wake up and start being as effective, as proactive and as organized as the other side has been for quite a few years now."
In a vote on Monday, the United States returned to the commission it helped to found more than 50 years ago. Italy and Spain pulled out of the race to ensure the United States would be re-elected after it lost its seat last year.
Ms. Weschler said she is optimistic the United States will use its clout to reform the commission.
In the meantime, autocrats and one-party states control a body that was set up to ensure and protect freedom. The following is a snapshot of some of its worst human rights abusers.
ZIMBABWE
Mr. Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Unity-Patriotic Front party won the presidential election in March in a process that has been almost universally condemned as rigged.
The Zimbabwean leader has criminalized public opposition to his rule. Independent media and opposition political leaders are publicly defamed and often beaten by armed gangs allied with the government.
Mr. Mugabe has backed the violent occupation of white-owned farms, a process described as land reform and carried out by veterans of the struggle for independence. Several white farmers have been murdered.
NIGERIA
Several states in northern Nigeria have introduced penal codes based on the Islamic law known as shariah, which demands women be stoned to death for adultery and makes drinking alcohol an offence punishable by 80 lashes with a cane.
International human rights groups were outraged last October when Safiya Hussaini, an illiterate mother of five, was found guilty of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. The woman said she had been raped. She was eventually acquitted in March.
Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian President, recently declared shariah illegal, but it is still widely in force in the Muslim north.
CUBA
The 40-year dictatorship of Fidel Castro continues unabated. Amnesty International reports several hundred people have been imprisoned for political offences and authorities use short-term detention, house arrest, threats and harassment to stifle dissent.
SAUDI ARABIA
The United States' coalition partner in the Middle East finances mosques and religious schools all over the Muslim world that preach hatred against Israel and the United States. The Saudi government gives large cash awards to the families of Palestinian "martyrs" killed in the conflict with Israel, likely including families of suicide bombers.
Women in Saudi Arabia face severe discrimination. Suspected political or religious activists are subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention and punishment under secret judicial procedures. Political parties and trade unions are banned and non-governmental human rights organizations are given only restricted access. Torture and amputations of prisoners' limbs are widely reported.
Bill Sampson, a Canadian citizen, is currently detained in Saudi Arabia. Some reports say he has been sentenced to death in a secret trial.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Violence still simmers here between Rwandan- and Ugandan-backed rebels and the central government, which is supported by Zimbabwe and Angola. All sides use the war as an excuse to justify the repression of political dissent. Torture and rape are widespread. A peace process is making little progress.
CHINA
China persecutes the Falun Gong spiritual movement and Muslim minorities. The Communist government controls almost all aspects of public life and dissent is crushed. Amnesty International reports China executed more people in 2001 than all other countries combined. This year, the Human Rights Commission did not table a resolution criticizing China for the first time in years.
SYRIA
Syria is a major supporter of Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon that frequently attacks Israel's northern borders. Dozens of Syrians have been detained for political reasons and are held in cruel and inhumane conditions. Reports of torture are widespread. The fate of hundreds of people who disappeared in the late 1970s and 1980s is still unknown.
RUSSIA
Russia's military campaign against Chechen separatists has included gross human rights violations against civilians. Thousands have been killed in indiscriminate attacks, and there are reports of torture, incommunicado detention and summary executions.
Prisons in Russia are overcrowded and disease-ridden. There are reports prisoners in police custody have been tortured.
SUDAN
A civil war continues to devastate civilians throughout the country as pro-government forces and armed opposition groups battle for control of lucrative oil fields. People living in contested areas have been subjected to ethnic cleansing, indiscriminate bombing, abduction, enslavement, torture and killings.
Government forces have harassed and tortured journalists, students and human rights activists. Restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and association in cities under government control persist.
Is there any question about that? The United Nations is a springboard for thugs and other dictators and until those nations and states who are abusing human rights are thrown off the Human Rights Commission, the United States should refuse to be party to it. Kofi should be replaced and all offending nations dumped ASAP! Actually, we should get the hell out of the U.N.!
So our election is going to make a difference ?
Give the UN a three day notice to quit the property. Arrest them all and send them packing. Invite the homeless in to squat. Whatever.
This is life as farce.
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