Brussels / Geneva, 19/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - At its annual session, going on in Geneva until 27 April, the UN Human Rights Commission adopted a motion of "no action" on Wednesday enabling China to once more escape a (American) resolution especially denouncing acts of violence against minorities. The same day, the Commission condemned Israel for the "disproportionate" use of force in the Palestinian territories and granted Russia a stay of execution of a few days to negotiated a compromise aimed at avoiding a further condemnation for its policy in Chechnya.
Like last year, and throughout the last decade, China again managed to avoid being challenged by the Human Rights Commission for abuses perpetrated against minority groups, including the Tibetans, the populations of Xinjiang and the followers of the Falun Gong. The resolution tabled by the United States, which denounced acts of persecution of which "millions" of people are victims, was not put to the vote in the Assembly through a simple but very controversial procedural manoeuvre. The motion of "non-action" tabled by Beijing in fact went through, with 23 votes in favour (including those of Pakistan, Russia, Qatar, Syria, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Malaysia), 17 against (EU, United States, Canada, Japan, Poland, Romania, Norway, etc.) and no less than 20 abstentions (Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Senegal, South Africa…). However, the United States feels that they could have "effectively made the point that the human rights record of member states should be reviewed and that no state should be exempted from scrutiny", said the spokesperson for the State Department. The non-governmental organisation, Human Rights Watch, also regretted that "key governments seem to back away from putting pressure on Beijing and to support their rhetoric on human rights through actions.
Other than that concerning Israel, the 53 member countries of the Commission stamped resolutions condemning Iraq, the Talibans in power in Afghanistan and, just, the Castro regime in Cuba. Furthermore, the Commission welcomed the dialogue initiated with Burma between the military junta and the opposition lead by Aung San Suu Kyi, while stating their continuing serious concern for the situation. Finally it granted Russia a reprieve, ending on Friday at 18pm, to negotiate a compromise with the EU over a "declaration from the President" that leave the path clear to avoid a vote over a draft European resolution denouncing "the excessive and indiscriminate use of force" against the Chechen people. The resolution would also have called, as last year, for the establishment of an independent investigative commission to assess the extent of abuses perpetrated in the region.