|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
|
 Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 1:38 am Post subject: Canada pushes to keep dubious countries off UN rights body |
 |
|
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=0cfcae63-2861-4044-98f4-61e1591d2e33&k=2453
| Quote: |
UNITED NATIONS - Canada was at the centre of fierce last-minute lobbying yesterday to persuade countries to vote against Belarus in today's elections for 14 seats on the UN Human Rights Council.
Canadian diplomats at the world body and colleagues from the United States, Britain and France have been working behind the scenes for weeks to keep the former Soviet republic out of the UN's premier arbiter of human rights.
Some Western countries and human rights activists have also raised alarm bells about several other hopeful council members, including Angola, Egypt and Qatar.
Monitoring groups say their human rights records range from poor to appalling. Canada has repeatedly criticized Belarus and pressured Egypt in the espionage trial of a Egyptian-Canadian national who says his "confession" was extracted by torture.
"There has been a lot of contact here in New York," said one diplomat close to the campaign against Belarus. "Representations have been made not only at the ambassadorial level, but also in [technical] experts' meetings. More than 150 countries have been lobbied when you add in appeals sent out directly from capitals."
Another official said Canada sat down with the other three and "divvied up the world" to determine who should lobby whom.
The 192 countries of the General Assembly will vote on the candidacies of Angola, Belarus, Egypt and Qatar, as well as 12 others seeking to join Canada on the 47-member council.
Angola, Egypt and Qatar are running unopposed to fill seats allotted to their respective regions and, under the UN's election rules, need only bare-majority support of assembly members.
With regional backing for the trio already assured, it's unlikely they will fail to make up the required difference through the common UN practice of political horse-trading.
Belarus is vying with Slovenia and Bosnia & Herzegovina to fill two spots reserved for Eastern Europe.
Insiders say Belarus's credentials as a former Soviet Union member with a strong-anti- Western stance have ensured it support from Russia and much of the Non-Aligned Movement, a group of more than 100 mainly developing countries that are largely inimical toward the West.
Among the commission's biggest flaws: infiltration by human rights abuser states that spent their time deflecting criticism of themselves.
The UN said its successor would restore integrity to one of the central pillars of its human rights monitoring infrastructure, but that is now being questioned more than ever.
"The General Assembly faces a simple question," said Peggy Hicks of New York-based Human Rights Watch. "Does it take seriously its own standards and decisions? If so, it has no alternative but to reject the candidacies of Belarus and Egypt."
Peter MacKay, the Foreign Minister, has joined other international critics in calling Belarus's presidential election "flawed," and denounced its "continued imprisonment of democratic supporters."
Last month, Mr. MacKay said Canada had repeatedly "raised the issue of torture" with Egypt after claims by Mohammed Essam Ghoneim al-Attar, a 31-yearold Egyptian who holds Canadian citizenship, that Egyptian security services tortured him into falsely confessing to having spied for Israel.
After a Cairo court sentenced Mr. Attar to 15 years imprisonment, Canada called on Egypt to launch an impartial investigation into his claims.
Last week, the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights released a report calling on Ottawa to use its council membership to "make a difference [by] ensuring that the procedures support the furtherance of human rights."
In today's only other contest, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands will vie for two Western European seats.
Other countries running unopposed in their respective regions are South Africa, India, Bolivia and Nicaragua.
While membership rules make it tougher to get a seat on the council than on the defunct commission, they are not as tough as Canada and other Western countries wanted. Several countries with poor human rights records currently hold seats, including Algeria, China, Cuba, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia -- though Algeria will leave after this year.
Citing the membership criteria, the United States has refused to stand for election. Canada will serve through 2009. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
|
| Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 7:12 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
May 17, 2007
Belarus Blocked From Membership in U.N. Human Rights Council
By WARREN HOGE
UNITED NATIONS, May 17 � Belarus, one of the world�s most repressive states, was blocked from gaining membership on the United Nations Human Rights Council today after being outvoted in favor of Bosnia, a late entry.
Human rights groups had been campaigning for weeks to head off what seemed tobe a near-certain choice of Belarus for the panel, after the Eastern European group submitted only Belarus and Slovenia as nominees for the two seats from its region.
Western countries persuaded Bosnia to become a candidate last week, and then lobbied the General Assembly membership vigorously for Bosnia as the only way to stop Belarus� bid.
In the first round of voting, Slovenia won a seat handily, but Bosnia came in second with Belarus third, setting up an immediate runoff, which then secured Bosnia�s position.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador, hailed the outcome as �heartening.� He noted, �Some have called Belarus the last dictatorship of Europe.�
The decision avoided what would have been a serious embarrassment for the United Nations� human rights organization, which in the past has attracted scorn for permitting participation by countries like Cuba and Libya.
Last week, the United Nations came in for renewed criticism on a similar front when it elected Zimbabwe, a country with one of the world�s most battered economies and rights records, to be chairman of its Commission on Sustainable Development.
Today�s election in the General Assembly chose 14 new members for the 47-member Human Rights Council, the Geneva-based body created last year to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission.
Elected along with Slovenia and Bosnia were Angola, Bolivia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Italy, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Qatar and South Africa. |
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/world/europe/17cnd-nations.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
Maybe the UN is changing for the better... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 7:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| BJWD wrote: |
| Maybe the UN is changing for the better... |
Shifts in govts in Canada and, more significantly, France. More responsible leadership is emerging. We shall see what kind of govt suceeds Blair in Britain and, later, W. Bush in America as well.
I agree, though: things might be looking up in the United Nations. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Slep
Joined: 14 Oct 2006
|
| Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 6:38 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Sounds good to me. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
|
| Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 7:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
Canada's politicians went to the doctor today. They were complaining about a strange growth.
The doctor said 'nothing to worry. That new thing that just grew is called a 'spine''. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
|
| Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 1:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Hmmmm ... but is it PC? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
|
| Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 5:22 am Post subject: |
|
|
| PC = Progressive Conservative or Politically Correct? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Guri Guy
Joined: 07 Sep 2003
Location: Bamboo Island
|
| Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
| The Conservatives are a huge improvement on those crappy Liberals. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
|
| Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:35 am Post subject: |
|
|
| That's not saying much. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
|
| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 7:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Ilsanman wrote: |
| PC = Progressive Conservative or Politically Correct? |
The latter. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
|
| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 1:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Gopher wrote: |
| BJWD wrote: |
| Maybe the UN is changing for the better... |
Shifts in govts in Canada and, more significantly, France. More responsible leadership is emerging. We shall see what kind of govt suceeds Blair in Britain and, later, W. Bush in America as well.
I agree, though: things might be looking up in the United Nations. |
People call it right wing, I call it conservative and sane. Ofcourse Angola, Belarus, Egypt, etc shouldnt be on a human rights commission. Thats just common sense. However not for libs and leftists. People on this board were defending ZIMBABWE being on an economic development body at the UN. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
|
| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 4:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks, that gave me the first laugh of today.
Is that before or after the mass genocide?
| jinju wrote: |
| Gopher wrote: |
| BJWD wrote: |
| Maybe the UN is changing for the better... |
Shifts in govts in Canada and, more significantly, France. More responsible leadership is emerging. We shall see what kind of govt suceeds Blair in Britain and, later, W. Bush in America as well.
I agree, though: things might be looking up in the United Nations. |
People call it right wing, I call it conservative and sane. Ofcourse Angola, Belarus, Egypt, etc shouldnt be on a human rights commission. Thats just common sense. However not for libs and leftists. People on this board were defending ZIMBABWE being on an economic development body at the UN. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
