Posted on 06/21/2002 7:17:51 PM PDT by WakeUpChristian
Top UN rights official calls on European countries to portray migrants fairly
Mary Robinson
21 June – The top United Nations human rights official today called on European countries, meeting in Spain to discuss illegal immigration issues, to guarantee that asylum seekers and other migrants were portrayed fairly and without stereotypes.
In a message to the meeting of the European Council in Seville, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, said countries should ensure that accurate information regarding migrants and migration issues was made available, including on the positive contribution that migrants make to the host society.
She also invited European Union countries to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and their Families, according to a spokesman for the Office of the High Commissioner. One more ratification is needed for the Convention to enter into force.
Mrs. Robinson also said that at last year’s World Conference against Racism, countries agreed that stereotyping in all its forms, in particular the promotion of false images of migrants by States and the media should be avoided, spokesman Jose Luis Diaz told a press briefing in Geneva.
The High Commissioner went on to recall that countries had committed themselves to ensuring that police, border police, immigration authorities and other public officials treated migrants, including those detained, in a dignified and non-discriminatory manner and to organize special anti-racist and gender-sensitive human rights training courses to that end, he added.
U.S. threatens to pull out of peacekeeping operations
Reuters News Agency
United Nations — The UN Security Council approved a brief extension of UN peacekeeping operations in Bosnia on Friday, giving diplomats time to tackle a demand to exempt Americans from prosecution by the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.
The U.S. has threatened to end its participation in UN peacekeeping operations if the council does not grant Americans who take part in them immunity from arrest and prosecution by the International Criminal Court, which becomes a reality July 1.
The council had been expected to extend the UN civilian police mission in Bosnia and the authorization for the NATO-led peacekeeping force in the Balkan nation until Dec. 31. But the United States introduced an amendment Wednesday barring any personnel from either mission from being handed over to an international tribunal.
Facing a possible U.S. veto if the amendment on immunity wasn't included, the council decided to set the Bosnian resolution aside. Instead, it voted unanimously to extend the Bosnian missions until June 30, giving diplomats nine more days to try to find a solution.
The U.S. demand has put the council in a tough spot because the International Criminal Court enjoys wide support among its 15 members. Six have ratified the Rome treaty establishing the court, six others have signed and plan to ratify, and even China, which hasn't signed the treaty, backs it.
The court's supporters view the U.S. amendment as an attempt to undermine the letter and the spirit of its operation.
Former president Bill Clinton signed the treaty to create the International Criminal Court, but it was never ratified by the Senate and last month the Bush administration announced it wants nothing to do with the tribunal.
The United States objects to the idea that Americans could be subject to the jurisdiction of the court if a crime is committed in a country that has ratified the treaty — even if the United States is not a party.
The government says that could leave U.S. troops and citizens vulnerable to frivolous or politically motivated prosecutions, and that other countries could use it to try American soldiers for war crimes. Supporters contend the treaty has safeguards against this. The court will step in only when countries are unwilling or unable to dispense justice themselves for the most serious crimes committed by individuals: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said Friday the short extension would give members time to discuss the immunity issue.
"I think that what we've got to try to do is separate the issue of divergent points of view about the court and try to solve the practical problem at hand," he said.
"The fact that we have different points of view about the court is a given. But now, how do we deal with that fact with regard to the practical issue of continuation of that mission in Bosnia? ...I'm pretty confident we'll be able to work something out," Mr. Negroponte said.
Deputy ambassador Richard Williamson said some countries had made suggestions "and we have been in discussions with our colleagues here as well as in the Capitol."
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday the United States should be exempt to avoid "political harassment that can take place unfairly, particularly when...you're fighting the global war on terror and...the terrorist training books are encouraging people to make those kinds of charges and allegations."
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