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August
23, 2002 9:00 a.m.
Human-Rights
Charade
Libya,
leading the human-rights crusade at the U.N.
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eadership
of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights rotates regionally, and it's Africa's
turn next year. Some observers figured that African governments would
want to put their best foot forward, considering the fact that the Group
of Eight industrial countries had agreed in June to promote the continent's
economic development in return for progress on human rights, democracy,
and corruption. It was called the New Partnership for Africa's Development.
The
African countries chose to nominate Libya.
Name
a human-rights violation, and it's likely to be practiced by the Qaddafi
regime in Libya. Summary executions? Check. Execution of political prisoners?
Check. Torture? Certainly, including but by no means limited to: "applying
corkscrews to the back," "pouring lemon juice in open wounds,"
"suffocating with plastic bags," and "attacking with dogs"
(to quote the U.S. State Department). There is also the small matter of
the regime's history of terrorism.
Libya's
foreign ministry issued this statement: "Libya is a country where
the respect of human rights is enshrined. The security, political stability
and economic prosperity enjoyed by Libya are the proof of its respect
of human rights." In other words, being a one-party state is proof
of a country's commitment to civil liberties.
Writing
in Canada's National Post, Steven Edwards reports that U.S. officials
are trying to get the African countries to reverse themselves. They are
not, of course, warning them that development assistance is contingent
on a reversal-these are American diplomats, after all. They are saying,
instead, rather amorally and condescendingly, that Africa may have made
the decision in good faith but "without perhaps really thinking about
the ramifications and the reaction."
The
State Department is, however, being bold on one front, calling for a change
to the rotation system and for membership in the commission to require
adherence to minimal human-rights standards. That policy would be quite
a change for the commission. Its 53 members this year include China, Zimbabwe,
Sudan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.
Last
year, the United States lost its membership on the commission, having
evidently been deemed unworthy of such august company. We will be returning
next year. We shouldn't be-especially if Libya prevails.
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