April 27, 1999
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| April 27, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| China UN commission avoids China human rights critique GENEVA - The United Nations Human Rights Commission, in its annual assessment of the human rights performance of governments, condemned Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran and Iraq Friday, but avoided pronouncing itself on the situation in China. The resolutions approved by the Commission were preceded by debates and political pressure, especially in the cases of China and Cuba. The project calling upon the government of China to ensure the observance of human rights, release political prisoners and preserve and protect the distinct cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious identity of Tibetans and others was presented at the 11th hour by the United States, and sponsored by Poland. The international watchdog group Human Rights Watch, which termed the result of Friday's vote on China ''deeply disappointing,'' faulted the European Union and China's other major trading partners for refusing to co-sponsor the resolution. According to the group, that ''left the impression that human rights in China were no longer an international concern." While the case of China was being debated in Geneva, a high- level U.S. mission was negotiating trade agreements in Beijing. The resolution against China was thus shelved, after the delegation of that country submitted a motion by which no decision was to be adopted. Of the Commission's 53 member states, 22 backed China's initiative, 17 voted against, while 14 abstained. Joanna Weschler, UN representative for Human Rights Watch, said the vote on China ''undermines the Commission. . . . It suggests that large and powerful countries like China can intimidate members of the Commission into ignoring serious abuse." The resolution condemning Havana, meanwhile, was formally sponsored by the Czech Republic and Poland, but was promoted behind the scenes by the United States. Diplomatic sources who asked to remain anonymous said U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke Thursday night from Brussels with the authorities of several governments to clinch the vote against Cuba. The resolution was passed with 21 votes in favor - including 16 from representatives of industrialized nations and former socialist nations in Europe, which still act tacitly as a bloc in the Human Rights Commission. Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay and Morocco also voted against Cuba. The text of the final resolution objected to laws enacted by Havana in February designed to protect the national independence and economy of Cuba. The declaration also expressed concern over repression of members of the political opposition and arrests of opponents, such as the recent case of four members of the Working Group of Internal Dissidence. Cuban representative Maria de los Angeles Florez Prida replied that the laws called into question represented a response to the continuous U.S. aggression towards Cuba. The resolution on Iran, approved by 23 to 16, with 14 abstentions, declared concern over continuing rights violations in that country. The text mentioned the large number of executions, cases of torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, including death by stoning and amputations, as denounced in the report submitted by the UN's special representative in Iran. In addressing the case of Afghanistan, the Commission adopted by consensus a resolution vigorously condemning mass killings and systematic rights abuses against civilians and prisoners of war. (Inter Press Service) | |||||||||
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