Amnesty International: Positive Developments at the 61st Session Fall Far Short of Correcting the Commission's "Credibility Deficit" (22 April 2005)

Summary: As the 61st Session of the UN Commission
Human Rights drew to a close, member states
demonstrated that they can rise above
national and regional interests to address
constructively some serious human rights
situations, Amnesty International said today.

As the 61st Session of the UN Commission Human Rights drew to a close,
member states demonstrated that they can rise above national and
regional interests to address constructively some serious human rights
situations, Amnesty International said today.

"The positive developments at the 61st session, however, fall far short of
correcting the Commission's 'credibility deficit' identified by the UN
Secretary-General," Peter Splinter Amnesty International's representative
at the UN in Geneva said.

Amnesty International welcomes constructive resolutions adopted by the
Commission on the human rights situations in Nepal and Sudan and on
human rights and counter-terrorism.

"When it looked as though the victims of human rights violations in the
Sudanese region of Darfur would be betrayed by political wrangling in the
Commission for a second year running, the Commission reached
agreement on a consensus resolution that responds to the gravity of the
situation."

Following intensive negotiations between the African Group, the European
Union and others, the Commission adopted a resolution on Sudan that
condemns the widespread and systematic human rights violations in
Darfur, establishes a Special Rapporteur to monitor and report on the
situation, and calls on the government to investigate the violations, disarm
the militias and cooperate with the UN Security Council resolutions,
including resolution 1593, which refers the violations in Darfur to the
International Criminal Court.

"At the start of the 61st Session, Amnesty International set Nepal as a test
case to measure the Commission's willingness and ability to tackle human
rights crises."

"The organisation welcomes the Commission's resolution adopted by
consensus of all 53 Commission members calling on the government of
Nepal to reinstate immediately all civil and political rights and to cease all
state of emergency-related and arbitrary arrests."

The decision to establish a Special Rapporteur on protecting human rights
while countering terrorism, the widely co-sponsored resolution calling for a
worldwide moratorium on executions, the adoption of the Basic Principles
and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation, and the request
to the UN Secretary-General to appoint a Special Representative to
contribute to the strengthening of standards on the human rights
responsibilities of companies also figure among the positive outcomes of
the 61st Session that Amnesty International welcomes.

"The selectivity and double standards that characterise the Commission’s
approach to addressing country situations, however, have once again
shielded from scrutiny and condemnation serious widespread human rights
violations in many other countries such as China, Iraq, the Russian
Federation (Chechnya), Turkmenistan and Zimbabwe." Peter Splinter said.

"The Commission made no progress at this session on some important
issues, such as sexual rights and human rights violations targeted at
persons due to their sexual orientation or identity."

"The highly politicised relationship between Cuba and the USA continued to
have a negative influence on the Commission."

Amnesty International considers the approaches taken to addressing
human rights in Cuba and the situation of the detainees in the US naval
base in Guantánamo Bay, as politically driven - the bilateral relationship
appears to have been the primary consideration for both resolutions.

"The negative consequences of these widely-shared perceptions are
symptomatic of an underlying malaise that must be addressed if the United
Nations is to be able to effectively address human rights violations in
specific countries. They constitute another example highlighting the urgent
need for reform of the UN human rights machinery," Peter Splinter said.

Concern about the need to reform the UN human rights machinery formed
the backdrop for the 61st session of the Commission, although participants
expressed widely diverging views about the nature of reform required.
Many statements during the High Level Segment, the Secretary-General's
address to the Commission on 7 April and the informal discussion of reform
on 12 April were testimony to the importance attached to reform
notwithstanding the Commission's over-charged agenda.

"It is of paramount importance that the initiative to reform the UN human
rights machinery succeed. A profound reform of the principal UN human
rights body and its working methods is necessary to equip the United
Nations with a standing body that will oversee effectively the
implementation of international human rights standards. Governments
must respond positively to the UN Secretary-General's call for bold
measures to give human rights their rightful central place in the United
Nations.”

The 61st Session of the Commission is over. Work on the reform of the UN
human rights machinery must start in earnest.

See: UN Commission on Human Rights: Overview of developments at the
61st session, 14 March -- 22 April 2005
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadrkbabgjgScgmhtib/

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