[Mb-civic] Principles Defeat Politics at the U.N. By JIMMY CARTER, Ó SCAR ARIAS, KIM DAE JUNG, SHIRIN EBADI and DESMOND TUTU

[Michael Butler]

The New York Times
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March 5, 2006
Op-Ed Contributors
Principles Defeat Politics at the U.N.
By JIMMY CARTER, ÓSCAR ARIAS, KIM DAE JUNG, SHIRIN EBADI and DESMOND TUTU

IN the global struggle for the advancement of human rights, the United
Nations has reached a defining moment. The president of the General
Assembly, Jan Eliasson of Sweden, has led five months of negotiations to
develop a proposal to reform the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Although the commission has accomplished many things, including the adoption
of human rights standards, treaties and fact-finding mechanisms that measure
the performance of governments, it has become more of a political
battleground than a meaningful force for protecting victims of human rights
violations, and it must be reformed.

Last year, Secretary General Kofi Annan boldly proposed that the United
Nations replace the commission with a new more elevated and effective body.
His visionary proposal started a very creative process through which
governments have thoroughly examined and debated the features of a new body
that a large majority could embrace. Mr. Eliasson has now produced a draft
resolution with many positive elements that has gained the support of the
vast majority of the membership of the United Nations.

Some have asserted that the proposal is just a weak compromise. We challenge
this claim.

The new council creates new expectations that members will uphold the
highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights, fully
cooperate with the council, and undergo additional scrutiny through a peer
review. Most significantly, a member that commits gross and systematic
violations of human rights can be suspended from the body.

The council includes a new requirement that members be approved by a
majority of the General Assembly ‹ or 96 countries ‹ rather than simply
being appointed by their regional groups. With these new procedures and the
articulation for the first time of standards for membership, we believe the
new body will be led by countries with a greater commitment to human rights.

Instead of having one highly politicized meeting per year, the council will
meet throughout the year so that it can address urgent human rights issues
in a timely way. This will create a more regularized, constructive and
professional process. The politics and double standards of the existing
commission will be redressed by providing for periodic review of the human
rights records of all 191 members, including the most powerful.

In addition, the proposal ensures robust participation by human rights
organizations and activists in the deliberations and secures the system of
special rapporteurs and other fact-finding mechanisms ‹ the best feature of
the commission.

The draft before United Nations members represents a very significant and
meaningful improvement over the existing commission, and to reopen
negotiations would put at risk these gains and give those who would prefer a
weaker system another opportunity to do mischief. This risks reintroducing
very damaging proposals, like giving politically motivated member states
control and oversight of the high commissioner for human rights, now an
independent office and important voice for victims; new restrictions on
special rapporteurs, nongovernmental organizations and news media;
elimination or new high thresholds for passing country resolutions, and so
forth.

Our aim must be to build a solid foundation for protecting human rights and
coming to the aid of victims within the only truly global organization of
governments on the planet. Mr. Eliasson has found a way forward that can
bring everyone on board. Nearly 60 years after the adoption of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, he has finally brought us to where we can begin
to put principles over politics for the betterment of all.

Jimmy Carter, Óscar Arias, Kim Dae Jung, Shirin Ebadi and Desmond Tutu are
Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

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