HUMAN RIGHTS: UN Censures Cuba, Lets China Off the Hook

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Apr 19 2000 (IPS) - The United Nations Human Rights Commission expressed concern Tuesday over reports of rights abuses in Cuba, while declining to pronounce itself on China’s human rights record.

The highest UN human rights body expressed its concern over ongoing violations of human rights and individual liberties in Cuba despite the hopes which it said were awakened by several positive measures adopted by the government in the past few years.

In the case of China, the Commission voted 22 to 18 (with 12 abstentions) in favour of a no-action motion submitted by the Beijing delegation itself, thus deciding not to study a United States-sponsored draft resolution urging the Chinese government to guarantee respect for human rights.

The US initiative focused on the situation of workers, political prisoners and particularly detainees imprisoned for the non-violent expression of their political, religious or social convictions in China.

The US delegation stressed the solid economic ties between the United States and China, as well as Washington’s efforts on behalf of China’s bid for admission to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Washington’s representatives urged China to accept international scrutiny, and not to block the vote on the draft resolution by resorting to a no-action motion.

China responded that a no-action motion was a UN procedure, pointing out that the United States had frequently used it in the UN General Assembly and other spheres of the world body to block resolutions that ran counter to its interests.

The US attack on China’s initiative is a claim to exclusive rights and a typically hegemonic act, said Chinese delegate Qiao Zonghuai.

Backing China’s position, Cuba observed that in the 1960s, Washington repeatedly resorted in the UN General Assembly to the mechanism of a no-action motion to block initiatives by the international community aimed at admitting China to the global body.

Qiao accused the United States of applying double standards on human rights by accusing developing countries of abuses while tolerating racial discrimination, police brutality, torture in prisons and other serious abuses at home.

The European Union criticised China for using the no-action motion, which it said ran counter to the principle of transparency in human rights.

Beijing was backed by the Russian delegation, which lamented the politicisation of the question of human rights in the UN, and by Pakistan, which accused the US government of trying to appease Congress with the resolution against China.

The draft resolution against Cuba, which expressed concern over the continued repression of political opposition and arrests of dissidents, was sponsored by the Czech Republic and Poland.

But Cuban representative Carlos Amat said the resolution’s real author was the United States, and that the participation by the Czech Republic and Poland was the price they had to pay for admission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Amat said the United States was keen on discrediting and maligning the Cuban revolution in order to justify its more than 40-year policy of dirty war and “genocidal” blockade.

The Cuban delegate said the United States was acting in response to global geopolitical and domestic policy interests, with the aim of pleasing the far-right and a minute, but wealthy, “mafioso” minority of Cuban emigrés.

Amat said the resolution ran counter to all principles of universality, objectivity and impartiality which should preside over international cooperation in the area of human rights.

The European Union said it shared the concern over the human rights situation in Cuba, but lamented that the draft resolution failed to mention the US embargo against the Caribbean island nation.

The European delegation said it had proposed modifications to the draft resolution, referring to the blockade, which were ignored.

China said the resolution against Cuba was cooked up by the United States. Russia said the initiative had nothing to do with human rights, but responded exclusively to political questions.

The delegations of Argentina, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States voted for the resolution against Cuba.

Voting against the resolution were Bhutan, Burundi, China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Sudan, Tunisia, Venezuela and Zambia.

Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Philippines, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Qatar, Rwanda, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Swaziland abstained.