After two months of unrelenting crackdowns on anti-government protestors—resulting in at least 600 deaths and as many as 8,000 detentions and disappearances, according to rights groups—Syria finally dropped its hitherto uncontested bid for the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). At the beginning of the week Syria’s UN Ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, revealed that Damascus was pursuing negotiations with Kuwait and other Arab countries about trading the UNHRC seat for another position at Turtle Bay. Wednesday President Bashar al-Assad confirmed his country’s withdrawal from the election, and the Asian group announced its endorsement of Kuwait, though details of a UN position swap were not mentioned.
International human rights groups and Western powers including the US, Japan and the European Union breathed a sigh of relief at the news. Yet while relieved, the Triad argues that Syria should never have been in contention for membership to one of the UN’s top human rights bodies in the first place: For four decades prior to this year’s government-led suppression of the Arab Spring, the Assad regime has consistently violated fundamental human rights.
Reforming Reforms
The Council, created in 2006 to address and make recommendations on human rights violations, is a reformed version of the UN Commission on Human Rights, which came under fire for admitting too many repressive regimes into its ranks. This week’s developments -- taken together with Libya’s recent suspension from the Council and Iran’s failed bid last year -- suggest to some observers that the UNHRC is indeed living up to reformers’ hopes. To others, however, the revamped UN rights body has not changed enough.
One need only look at the Council’s short record to find evidence of the latter: Ben Ali’s Tunisia served from 2006-2007 and Mubarak’s Egypt from 2007-2010. Currently, Pakistan, China, Cuba and Libya sit on the Council, though the latter was suspended March 1 by General Assembly vote for committing “gross and systematic violations of human rights,” charges likely to befall Syria in coming months. The media in all seven of the above countries fall into the “Not Free” category of Freedom House’s 2011 Global Survey of Media Independence.
Kuwait: A Less Bad Option at Best
Unrepresentative of ideals outlined in the Council’s election criteria, Kuwait is considered by many in the human rights community to be a less bad option to Syria at best. According to the Council’s founding document, General Assembly members shall elect states by “tak[ing] into account the candidates’ contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto,” along with consideration of the states’ ability “to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.” Freedom House ranks Kuwait as only “Partly Free” due to limited freedoms of press, assembly, association, speech, and religion, as well as particularly limited women’s rights.
According to Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based UN watchdog, there were many "preferable options" to Kuwait in the Asia group: “Cyprus or Mongolia...Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu amd [sic] Vanuatu,” all of which are ranked “Free” by Freedom House. Elections to the Council take place on May 20.
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Syria’s Cynical Bid for UN Human Rights Council Seat Comes to an End
May 12, 2011
After two months of unrelenting crackdowns on anti-government protestors—resulting in at least 600 deaths and as many as 8,000 detentions and disappearances, according to rights groups—Syria finally dropped its hitherto uncontested bid for the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). At the beginning of the week Syria’s UN Ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, revealed that Damascus was pursuing negotiations with Kuwait and other Arab countries about trading the UNHRC seat for another position at Turtle Bay. Wednesday President Bashar al-Assad confirmed his country’s withdrawal from the election, and the Asian group announced its endorsement of Kuwait, though details of a UN position swap were not mentioned.
International human rights groups and Western powers including the US, Japan and the European Union breathed a sigh of relief at the news. Yet while relieved, the Triad argues that Syria should never have been in contention for membership to one of the UN’s top human rights bodies in the first place: For four decades prior to this year’s government-led suppression of the Arab Spring, the Assad regime has consistently violated fundamental human rights.
Reforming Reforms
The Council, created in 2006 to address and make recommendations on human rights violations, is a reformed version of the UN Commission on Human Rights, which came under fire for admitting too many repressive regimes into its ranks. This week’s developments -- taken together with Libya’s recent suspension from the Council and Iran’s failed bid last year -- suggest to some observers that the UNHRC is indeed living up to reformers’ hopes. To others, however, the revamped UN rights body has not changed enough.
One need only look at the Council’s short record to find evidence of the latter: Ben Ali’s Tunisia served from 2006-2007 and Mubarak’s Egypt from 2007-2010. Currently, Pakistan, China, Cuba and Libya sit on the Council, though the latter was suspended March 1 by General Assembly vote for committing “gross and systematic violations of human rights,” charges likely to befall Syria in coming months. The media in all seven of the above countries fall into the “Not Free” category of Freedom House’s 2011 Global Survey of Media Independence.
Kuwait: A Less Bad Option at Best
Unrepresentative of ideals outlined in the Council’s election criteria, Kuwait is considered by many in the human rights community to be a less bad option to Syria at best. According to the Council’s founding document, General Assembly members shall elect states by “tak[ing] into account the candidates’ contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments made thereto,” along with consideration of the states’ ability “to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.” Freedom House ranks Kuwait as only “Partly Free” due to limited freedoms of press, assembly, association, speech, and religion, as well as particularly limited women’s rights.
According to Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based UN watchdog, there were many "preferable options" to Kuwait in the Asia group: “Cyprus or Mongolia...Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu amd [sic] Vanuatu,” all of which are ranked “Free” by Freedom House. Elections to the Council take place on May 20.
