BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

21/06/2007

Freedom House Condemns UN Decision to Give Belarus and Cuba a Pass on Human Rights

Washington, D.C.

June 19, 2007

Freedom House condemned today the recent decision by the UN Human Rights Council to eliminate special rapporteurs on Cuba and Belarus.

After a protracted final session of its inaugural year, the Human Rights Council determined the basic rules establishing its operations today. Efforts to eliminate all special rapporteurs and to require an increased two-thirds majority in order to censure specific states failed.

However, on balance, the Council's ability to monitor and address human rights violations is significantly weaker than envisioned when it was first established last year.

"The decision by members of the Council to eliminate their own ability to closely monitor the human rights situation in Belarus and Cuba -- two of the most repressive regimes in the world -- is unfathomable," said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. "The fact that this was considered to be an acceptable compromise indicates the extent to which the Council has been hijacked by those seeking to dismantle the international structures that have functioned for years to protect fundamental human rights."

The Council previously had twelve special rapporteurs charged with investigating human rights issues in specific countries. Four of these countries-Belarus, Burma, Cuba and North Korea-are rated as the world's most repressive regimes by Freedom House, in terms of political rights and civil liberties experienced by their citizens. The elimination of two of these four countries from sustained scrutiny is a major blow to the Council's ability to monitor the ongoing, widespread and systematic abuses of human rights in those societies.

* Freedom in Belarus is extremely restricted. After major public protests following elections last year, President Lukashenka responded by intensifying repression on all forms of opposition and increasing pressure on NGOs, independent media outlets and educational establishments. Opposition leaders and journalists are frequently harassed and even killed, and freedom of assembly is strictly limited.

* In Cuba, an estimated 300 prisoners of conscience are currently imprisoned. At the same time, the independent press is considered illegal by the state and is the object of a targeted campaign of intimidation by the government. Dissidents were subject to even tighter surveillance following the onset of Fidel Castro's illness last year. Political dissent is a punishable offense, and those punished frequently receive years of imprisonment for seemingly minor infractions.

A number of groups within the Council had pushed for the removal of all special rapporteurs charged with investigating human rights abuses in specific countries, save the one charged with investigating Israel. Faced with the threat of walkout by European countries, the initiative did not pass, but the rapporteurs assigned to Belarus and Cuba were eliminated as a compromise. The special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories was maintained. The U.S. is not a member of the Council.

Freedom House is an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom around the world.

Source:

http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70&release=517