Disappointing conclusion the: Human rights are becoming the cue ball of political power interests

At the time of the closing of the UN Human Rights Commission’s 61st annual conference in Geneva, the Society for Threatened Peoples (SfTP) could but draw a rather disappointing conclusion. The international human rights organization accuses this UN panel of entirely failing to enforce minimum human rights standards worldwide. "Out of political calculations, the Commission just remains silent on genocide and crimes against humanity,” the SfTP criticizes in a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour. "Neither in the case of Congo nor of Sudan, Russia, or China was the gruesome murder of hundreds of thousands unmistakeably denominated.” Instead of giving political exhibition fights a stage, the reform called for by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan must give those persecuted all over the world more opportunities, to bring forward their cases. "Above all, the independent role of non-governmental organizations in the new human rights council must be strenghtened,” the SfTP demands. Kofi Annan asked the High Commissioner to produce by May 20th a report with recommendations on the planned reform.

China and other persecuting states have high hopes of an extensive exclusion of critical NGOs should the reform of the Human Rights Commission be enforced. "In the past few years, because of pressure by those worst persecuting states, less and less critical resolutions on the situation of human rights have been passed in single states,” Ulrich Delius, the SfTP’s delegate for international affairs, said on Friday in Göttingen. Instead, more and more featureless declarations of intention are voted as a result of political shows.

Persecuting states like Russia instrumentalize the Human Rights Commission in order to deflect the catastrophic situation of human rights in the country. It is somewhat cynical that two resolutions proposed this year by Russia and calling for the condemnation of the taking of hostages as terrorist crime and as racism were passed unanimously. Indeed, Russia can clearly also be reproached with kidnapping and taking of hostages in Chechnya. Since 1999, up to 5,000 civilians have disappeared in this way. During the taking of hostages in a school in Beslan, the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Ustinov, called for so-called "counter taking of hostages”. In the mean time, the troops and pro-Russian units in Chechnya systematically make use of this instrument against the women and children of suspected fighters. Eight relatives of the late Chechnyan President Aslan Mashadov, who was murdered in March 2005, were victim of such "counter taking of hostages”. Their fate is still uncertain.

The SfTP believes that, with this condemnation of rassism, Russia wants to send a signal in particular to the Baltic states. Yet, since Vladimir Putin came into office, racism, xenophobia, and anti-semitism have significantly increased. In 2004, the number of murders motivated by racism doubled to at least 44. Also in 2004, 8,500 crimes motivated by racism were counted by the Russian police. Impunity is widespread. When criminals are at all held responsible, they are merely accused of "rowdyism”.