NEW YORK, — Human rights groups released a
report urging UN member states to oppose the election today of Venezuela, Pakistan and UAE to the UN Human Rights Council, as well as Burundi, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, and Togo, due to widespread criticism of these governments for egregious human rights violations.
UN Watch presented the report at a press briefing yesterday at UN headquarters, together with the Human Rights Foundation and the Lantos Foundation. The election will take place this morning at the UNGA.
“The election of even more rights abusing regimes -- on a body that already counts China, Russia, Cuba and Saudi Arabia as members -- marks another severe blow to the credibility and efficacy of a body that was supposed to improve on its discredited predecessor, by taking action to protect victims. It's a black day for human rights,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental human rights group.
“With three out of the five regional groups running uncontested slates, the elevation of oppressive governments sends the message that politics trumps human rights. The UN is letting down millions of victims worldwide who look to the world body for protection."
"If we put Venezuela in charge of freedom of assembly, Pakistan in charge of religious freedom, and UAE in charge of labor rights, we are simply turning the UN into a laughingstock."
According to the
new report, Venezuela, Pakistan, UAE, Burundi, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, and Togo have been cited by human rights groups for having committed serious violations of numerous articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including curbs on the freedoms of speech, press, religion, and assembly, along with disregard for fundamental due process. The candidate countries were also found to have voted against UN resolutions taking action for victims of human rights abuses in various hotspots.
WHAT THIS WILL MEAN FOR THE COUNCIL
"The election of more rights abusers — Saudi Arabia's representative was selected this year to be Chair of the UNHRC's influential panel that selects human rights experts — will not only cast a dark shadow on the future of the Human Rights Council but also recall its recent past," said Neuer.
In 2006, the Council was created to replace its troubled predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, criticized by former Secretary General Kofi Annan for its "politicization" and “declining credibility.”
Neuer said: “Despite the much-vaunted 2006 reform – which scrapped the discredited human rights commission and created a new and supposedly improved council — the election of major human rights abusers means that we are back to square one. Instead of reform, we have regression.”
Neuer expects the following negative impacts:
- The Council will continue to turn a blind eye to egregious abuses by violators like China, Cuba, Egypt, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe, which have never been addressed in any UN resolution.
- Mechanisms meant to help victims will be hijacked by politicization and selectivity.
- The core principles of individual human rights will be subverted by concepts that increase power for governments.
