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Commission caught in
transition |
Suhas Chakma |
From March
15 to April 23, 2004, the 60th session of the UN
Commission on Human Rights will be held in Geneva.
While human rights violations in the Occupied Arab
Territories of West Bank and Gaza dominated the
58th session, the war against Iraq overshadowed
the 59th. The violations of the right to life in
the occupied Arab Territories and occupied Iraq
have become rituals and, therefore, increasing
insensitivity and decreasing outrage against the
killings.
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The Commission on
Human Rights will, for the first time, deal with human
rights violations by the occupying powers in Iraq. For
decades, the world's attention was drawn towards massive
human rights violations by Saddam Hussein. As no WMDs,
the raison d'etre for the war, were found, the issue of
human rights violations by Saddam are being raised to
justify the Iraq war. Yet, those who preached Saddam
about the rule of law are all set to try him in a
Kangaroo court that fails to meet international judicial
standards of fairness. The occupying powers and their
allies are likely to advocate side-stepping with the
country rapporteur on Iraq to escape international
scrutiny.
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The situation of
human rights in Iran reflects the dilemmas before the
commission. In a clear sign of cooperation with UN, the
reformist government led by President Khatami invited
the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Special
Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and
expression to visit the country last year. But, the
rigged elections in February 2004 might reverse the
reforms processes. Canada, which had earlier sponsored a
resolution against Iran at the General Assembly after
the death of photo journalist, Zahra Kazemi, is likely
to lead the censure motion against Iraq.
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Though President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti has been dislodged, the
involvement of the leader of the rebel National
Resistance Front for the Liberation of Haiti, Mr Guy
Philippe, in the future government will not help in
improving the human rights situation. Haiti's former
Supreme Court Chief Justice, Mr Boniface Alexandre, has
been sworn in as interim President. But establishing the
rule of law in a wretchedly poor, conspicuously corrupt
and politically divided country will remain an uphill
task.
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Double standard is
synonymous with diplomacy at the commission. At the 58th
session, after being voted off, Mr Kevin E Moley, the US
permanent representative to the UN in Geneva accused the
European Union of hiding behind the US after the EU
failed to sponsor a resolution on the situation of human
rights in China. After being voted on, the US itself did
not sponsor a resolution at the last 59th session. It
remains to be seen whether the State Department's recent
grumbling on human rights situation in China will lead
to sponsoring a resolution against China.
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The European
Parliament, in a resolution on February 10, 2004, called
on the EU to "sponsor or co-sponsor resolutions on China
(in particular addressing the situation in Tibet and
Xinjiang and the repression of the Falun Gong), Iran,
Pakistan, India (in particular addressing the situation
in Gujarat), Indonesia (in particular in Aceh and
Papua), Nepal, North Korea, Vietnam, Colombia, Cuba,
Haiti, Iraq, the Israeli Occupied Territories and the
area under the Palestinian Authority, Algeria, Tunisia,
Morocco, Libya, Liberia, Saudi Arabia, the Central
African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo, Zimbabwe, Sudan,
Chechnya, Belarus, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan."
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The fact that India
was not mentioned even in the oral intervention of the
EU on country situations at the 58th session immediately
after the Gujarat riots speaks of the divisions within
EU and, therefore, the failure to censure gross human
rights violations. Even a resolution for monitoring
human rights abuses by the Maoists and Nepal's security
forces appears difficult at the 60th session. India has
consistently opposed any international mediation
including overtures from Secretary General Kofi Annan
for resolving the conflict between the Maoists and the
Government of Nepal. Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka will rally behind Nepal and India
if any resolution on human rights situation in Nepal is
tabled.
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Since September 11,
counter-terrorism has become synonymous with state
terrorism. Though five Britons have been released from
Guantanamo bay, the US has so far failed to clarify the
situation of prisoners in Guantanamo in respect of
international human rights standards and humanitarian
law, and consequently either to put them on trial or to
release them. Post-September 11, the number of countries
which need to be preached to respect the rule of law has
increased manifold with the admission of the US and UK.
They need to be named and shamed.
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