UN Human Rights Council: Double-standards tarnish positive initiatives at international rights body
(Geneva – 17 June 2011) On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council wrapped up its 17th Session, adopting a series of positive resolutions on Libya, Yemen and other issues, but failed to address the grave and deteroirating human rights situation in Bahrain.
The human rights crisis in Bahrain has become increasingly severe since mid-March 2011, when the government violently put down pro-democracy and anti-government street protests.
UN Human Rights Council: Double-standards tarnish positive initiatives at international rights body
(Geneva – 17 June 2011) On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council wrapped up its 17th Session, adopting a series of positive resolutions on Libya, Yemen and other issues, but failed to address the grave and deteroirating human rights situation in Bahrain.
The human rights crisis in Bahrain has become increasingly severe since mid-March 2011, when the government violently put down pro-democracy and anti-government street protests. Government authorities have launched a harsh campaign of retributive repression against individuals who supported or participated in the protests that began in mid-February, including targeting demonstrators, opposition leaders, peaceful critics, rights activists, journalists, doctors, labour unionists, and students.
According to Laila Matar, UN representative of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), “Arbitrary detention, allegations of torture, extrajudicial killings and other serious rights violations have become routine in Bahrain, but the Human Rights Council continues to turn a blind eye, effectively abandoning the pro-democracy movement in the country.”
Saudi Arabia has lobbied hard behind the scenes at the Council to ensure no collective action is taken on Bahrain. “Member states of the “Western group,” including the United States, and other governments, have demonstrated blatant double-standards when dealing with various crackdowns in response to pro-democracy protests in the Arab region,” said Jeremie Smith, Director of the Geneva Office of CIHRS, “While Libya, Syria and Yemen have been dealt with by the Council through Special Sessions and strong joint statements, the situation in Bahrain has largely been ignored. This type of inconsistency does great damage to the credibility of this Council.”
In contrast to the Council’s inability to deal with the situation in Bahrain, several country situations within the Arab region were dealt with during the 17th Session. A resolution was adopted that extended the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Libya, established through a Special Session of the Council earlier this year. The resolution requested the COI to report back to the Council at the 18th and 19th Sessions. A decision was also put forward that requests the UN High Commissioner to report back to the Council in September on the results of an upcoming mission of her office to Yemen, due to take place later this month. Moreover, strong joint statements were presented by large cross-regional groups of states on the situation in Syria and Yemen.
The statement on Syria was made by 54 states and called for cooperation by Syria with a UN fact-finding mission, created by a Special Session on Syria that took place in April. Syria has thus far refused to respond to requests by the UN to travel to the country to investigate allegations of grave rights violations being carried out there in response to ongoing pro-democracy protests. Jordan and Lebanon have also failed to respond to UN requests to allow UN investigators to enter their countries to interview Syrian refugees. A statement at the Council made on behalf of 75 states also raised concerns on the rights situation in Yemen, and called for the country to cooperate with the office of the High Commissioner. Resolutions were also adopted on Belarus, Cote d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan, Somalia, as well as a follow-up decision on attacks by Israel on a humanitarian flotilla off the coast of Gaza that took place last year.
In response to attacks against peaceful protestors throughout the Arab region, and despite early objections by Russia and China, a resolution put forward by Switzerland establishing a “Panel on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests,” which will take place at the next session of the Council, was adopted by consensus. Moreover, the African group submitted a resolution on “Migrants and asylum-seekers fleeing events in North Africa” which called on countries to respect the “humanitarian principle of non-refoulement” and to ensure humanitarian assistance is given to those fleeing. Citing “inaccurate” legal and factual issues within the resolution, the EU, along with the United States, voted against the resolution. The resolution was adopted with 32 states voting in favour and 14 states voting against.