AZERI ADMISSION TO UN RIGHTS BODY CAUSES MIXED RESPONSES

AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
May 18 2006

Azerbaijan’s admission to the newly-established UN Human Rights
Council early last week has drawn conflicting responses from the
local and international community. The body is in charge of monitoring
human rights around the world and assistance to various countries in
improving appropriate laws.

The Azeri membership at the council prompted praise from officials
and some observers, amid severe criticism from the opposition and
international rights groups. The country was elected from the Eastern
Europe group, beating Armenia, Albania, Hungary, Georgia, Latvia,
Lithuania and Slovenia. Also elected to the council were China, Cuba,
Russia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, who have been roundly criticized
for a poor human rights record. The council replaced the UN Commission
on Human Rights (UNCHR) established in 1946.

The entity has been repeatedly criticized for the composition of its
membership. In particular, several of its member countries themselves
were believed by some to have dubious rights records. Another criticism
was that the Commission has not been used for constructive discussion
of human rights issues, but as a forum for politically selective
finger-pointing and criticism. The desire of states with problematic
human rights records to be elected to the Commission is largely to
defend themselves from such attacks. The chairwoman of the standing
parliamentary commission on human rights, Rabiyyat Aslanova, praised
the approval of the Azeri bid. “Azerbaijan’s admission to the council
shows that the UN General Assembly acknowledges that human rights are
being safeguarded and the democratic reforms are successfully underway
in the country. The membership is yet another accomplishment we have
made.” The MP said Azerbaijan will become the first South Caucasus
country to be represented on the council.

“Neighboring states had limited opportunities to be admitted. Armenia
was not admitted to the council due to the blatant violations of human
rights there. It is not fortuitous that Azerbaijan gained the most
votes [among them],” she said. Aslanova said that by gaining admission,
Baku has acquired an additional opportunity to convey the truth about
the long-standing Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict it faces with
Armenia to the world community. The chairman of the opposition Popular
Front Party Ali Karimli said the admission means “failure of the UN as
an entity”. “If Azerbaijan and other totalitarian countries are elected
members to the Human Rights Council, the UN shows its decadence,”
the opposition leader maintained. Sardar Jalaloglu, the first deputy
chair of another opposition party, the Azerbaijan Democratic Party
included in the main Azadlig bloc, said the United Nations has lately
turned into a “stage of games” of superpowers, which tarnishes its
image. “Despite blatant human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, I hope
that at least after this [UN council admission] the situation in the
country will change for the better,” he said. International media
watchdog Reporters Without Borders came out against Azerbaijan’s
admission. It regarded as disgrace the admission of several repressive
countries, where freedom of expression is violated the most, to the UN
body, citing Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, Cuba, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. The organization said
in a statement that vesting the task of protecting human rights in
ten countries with widespread violations of journalists’ rights and
freedom of expression is unacceptable. “We therefore don’t expect
anything good from this entity,” it said. The group said China and
Cuba are the largest jails for journalists, while censorship reigns
in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. In Russia, the Kremlin subdued all the
TV channels and other leading mass media. In Bangladesh, Nigeria,
Pakistan and Algeria, the rights of journalists are infringed upon on
a daily basis and they could be subject to arrests. Reporters Without
Borders said those responsible for the killing of two journalists
in Azerbaijan have yet to be punished. Another international rights
group, Human Rights Watch, earlier opposed Azerbaijan’s membership
at the council. In a letter to the UN, HRW suggested that along with
six other countries, it should not be included in the body, citing
numerous rights violations. The US ambassador to the UN John Bolton
made an ironic comment on the accession of some countries with poor
rights records to the new council, calling this “a bad joke”.