By Xiong Lei
Several recent cases of human rights abuses that took place
prior to Monday's opening session of the United Nations Human
Rights Council raise questions about how the agenda will be set for
this new UN body.
First and foremost are the simultaneous suicides of three
detainees at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay on June 10.
UN human rights experts have joined mounting protests against the
prison camp, calling for the immediate closure of this US military
base on Cuban territory.
The three victims, two from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen,
were not the only prisoners at the camp to have endured years of
harsh treatment without ever standing trial.
The irony is that the violator of these prisoners' human rights
is none other than the country that always points the finger at
other "abusers of human rights."
The root cause of human rights violations at the Guantanamo
prison camp is not the existence of the prison itself, but the
regime behind it. If the world fails to condemn such violations of
human rights, I doubt if we will ever be able to prevent other
violations elsewhere in the world.
But unless such violations surface by chance, some so-called
"human rights watchers" in the West will say nothing about that
superpower. They prefer to point the finger at "abuses" of human
right in some developing countries, despite these nations' efforts
to improve and develop their human rights.
These "human rights champions" used to be very influential when
it came to setting the agenda of the UN's former Human Rights
Commission. They managed to turn the commission into an arena for
"witch-hunting." The only problem was that they always seemed to
miss the point, and never targeted those posing the greatest threat
to human rights globally those who resort to wars against sovereign
states and do not give a damn about the cost in innocent lives.
However lofty the excuses are for such invasive wars, such
violent acts have never solved human rights problems. On the
contrary, human rights conditions have worsened in the invaded
countries, as the people lost their basic right to personal
security.
And those who have resorted to such wars have also managed to
launch their own assault on human rights. Meanwhile, the
"witch-hunters" inside and outside the Human Rights Commission were
always quick to single out so-called abusers of human rights. But
it must always be remembered that those countries damned as
"abusers" never had their troops insult, attack or murder
civilians, nor did they establish secret detention camps or torture
inmates.
I hope these "witch-hunters" will not be able to mislead the new
UN Human Rights Council. Developing countries should have a much
greater say in setting the council's agenda.
These "witch-hunters" twisted the function of the old commission
from promoting human rights worldwide to naming and shaming
governments not to their liking.
This, in fact, prevented the promotion of human rights, as it
detracted public attention and diverted victimized governments from
their efforts to improve human rights.
True, human rights conditions in some developing countries are
far from perfect.
But "witch-hunting" is not the way forward. These countries can
only be helped by constructive criticism.
To some extent, every country falls short of the standards set
by UN human rights conventions.
But some "witch-hunters" are particularly eager to censure
certain countries for their so-called poor human rights records,
while failing to understand what socio-economic assistance these
countries require in their pursuit of improved human rights.
In doing so, they turn the UN into a stick which they use to
beat whoever they dislike. Such an approach is useless and a
complete waste of resources.
That is why I hope the UN Human Rights Council does not fall in
the trap of those biased "witch-hunters."
It should function like a clearing house rather than a
courtroom, showing respect of the sovereignty of every member.
After all, no nation can guarantee its people's human rights
when its sovereignty is undermined.
The UN Human Rights Council should identify the real threat to
global human rights. Apart from terrorists, true abusers of human
rights such as warmongers must also be checked.
The author is a council member of China Society for Human
Rights Studies.
(China Daily June 20, 2006)
