Too bad UN members don't practise what they preach
By Steven Edwards
November 14, 2007
National Post 
Source: http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=051d06de-b2e6-4ea1-81e9-1bc3e977145f http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=051d06de-b2e6-4ea1-81e9-1bc3e977145f  


UNITED NATIONS -Many of the world's most authoritarian governments favour democratic reform, judging from their latest speeches.
Their enlightenment has been on display at the United Nations, where they're demanding the democratization of the world body's most powerful arm, the Security Council.
Belarus, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Sudan see no irony in demanding such rights in this week's debate on how to modernize the council.
But their abysmal records hint at how much free speech they tolerate from people at home.
Then again, this is the United Nations, where everyone gets a platform, no matter how absurd the discourse.
That the 15-member council needs an overhaul is not in dispute. It's the only UN organ with the power to discipline recalcitrant countries by imposing sanctions or even authorizing military force. But it is dominated by a cabal of five permanent veto-bearing members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
Winning election to one of the 10 non-permanent seats is the only way any state outside the Permanent Five (P-5 in UN shorthand) can get a voice on the council. (All 192 UN member states have a seat in the General Assembly, but its resolutions are nonbinding.)
The council must be reformed to be more representative, efficient and transparent, Andrei Dapkiunas, Belarus' ambassador to the UN, demanded during the debate. He said decisions should be made by a two-thirds majority, which would negate the veto power of the P-5.
Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz, the Cuban ambassador, called for more developing countries to be represented to create a more democratic and accountable body.
Apparent esteem for democracy continued as Saudi Arabia's Saud Aljabri said the council needed further democratic representation and diversity, while Sudan's Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad said his country had called time and again for reform that will respond to the legitimate aspirations of the world's people.
If only they would practise what they preach.
According to outside observers, last year's elections that handed Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus his third term were neither free nor fair. Mr. Lukashenka responded to protests by intensifying repression.
The independent Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation says Fidel Castro's Cuba continues to hold 200 political prisoners in subhuman and degrading conditions. Cuba calls the prisoners counter-revolutionary mercenaries.
There is only a semblance of organized political opposition in Saudi Arabia, which is infamous for its many laws discriminating against women.
The UN has declared Sudan's Arab-led government complicit in the Darfur killing of black Sudanese.
While the U.S.-based monitoring group Freedom House ranks these four countries not free in its report for 2006, it says only 90 UN member states are free. In other words, a minority.
In the UN debate, Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador, said candidates for membership of an expanded Security Council must maintain a strong commitment to democracy.
The United States has already declared backing for the permanent membership of Japan, the UN's second largest financial contributor after Washington.
Britain, which opposes creating a European Union seat that would replace those held by Britain and France, has spoken out in favour of South Africa, Brazil and Japan. France backs Germany, Japan, India and Brazil.
Canada says enlargement would ensure better global representation, but opposes creating new permanent members,
We want an elected council that will be accountable and efficient, Maxime Bernier, the Foreign Minister, said in a recent interview.
Ambassador John McNee used the debate to signal Canada's disdain for the veto, saying it can rarely be justified and that even its threat can shut down debate.