Rights groups oppose UN rights seats
RESS RELEASE
Rights groups oppose UN rights seats for Congo, Kuwait, Nicaragua; question India, Indonesia, Philippines, Burkina Faso
For Immediate
Release
Contact: media1@unwatch.org
UN Watch Executive
Director Hillel Neuer is inside the General Assembly hall
following the elections. If you wish to request an interview
to comment on the process and the results, please call
+1-917-605-0821.
NEW YORK, May 20 -- As the UN General
Assembly has just openned its session to elect 15 new member
states to its Human Rights Council, human rights groups
today said Congo, Kuwait and Nicaragua failed to meet the
membership criteria, while the qualifications of India,
Indonesia, Philippines and Burkina Faso were "questionable."
Click here for full report PDF --
Executive summary below.
The voting
recommendations were submitted at the beginning of the week
to the New York missions of UN member states by the
Geneva-based UN Watch, the Lantos Foundation for Human
Rights and Justice, Directorio, and Initiatives for China,
which is headed by former Chinese prisoner of conscience
Yang Jianli.
"Congo, Kuwait and Nicaragua have poor
records in respecting the basic human rights of their own
citizens," said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer,
"and have consistently voted the wrong way on UN initiatives
to promote and protect the human rights of others."
"As
an observer state in recent UN human rights council
sessions, Nicaragua strongly praised the governments of
Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi and Syrian dictator Bashar
Assad, attempting to shield them from scrutiny. It will be
an insult to their victims -- and a defeat for the global
cause of human rights -- if the UN now elects Nicaragua as
one of the council's 47 voting members."
The report also
called on India, Indonesia, Philippines and Burkina Faso to
pledge improvements prior to the Friday vote. The report
documents how India last year refused to support UN
resolutions for human rights victims in Iran, Burma, and
North Korea, and failed to join other democracies and human
rights groups in opposing a UN resolution prohibiting
criticism of Islam, which experts said restricted freedom of
speech.
The report found that 10 of the 17 candidates are
qualified: Austria, Benin, Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica,
Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, Peru, and
Romania.
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EVALUATION OF CANDIDATES FOR 2011-2014
MEMBERSHIP
ON THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Click here for full report
PDF
As submitted to UNGA member states on May
17, 2011 and presented in a press briefing at United Nations
Headquarters, New York, May 19, 2011.
Executive
Summary
This report assesses each candidate country’s
record of domestic human rights protection and its UN voting
record, based on the criteria for UN Human Rights Council
membership established by UNGA Resolution 60/251 (2006). We
find that only 10 out of 17 candidate countries are
qualified. Three candidates have poor records and are not
qualified to be Council members. Four countries fall
somewhere in between, with qualifications that are
questionable.
Not Qualified: Congo, Kuwait,
Nicaragua
Questionable: Burkina Faso, India, Indonesia,
Philippines
Qualified: Austria, Benin, Botswana, Chile,
Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, Peru,
Romania
The absence of competition in three out of the
five regional lists calls into question the very premise and
rationale of the election. Nevertheless, UNGA member states
can—and should—refrain from casting their votes for
countries that are not qualified. Candidate countries with
questionable credentials should, at a minimum, be asked to
commit to redress the shortcomings—in their human rights
record and their UN voting records—as identified in this
report.
Click here for full report PDF
UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization
founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles
of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental
Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO
to the UN Department of Public Information
(DPI).