'Gutless' UN ducks Nobel prize ceremony

By Nico Hines, Giles Whittell, Rhys Blakely, Jane Macartney, Rory Watson
December 7, 2010
The Times
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The United Nations was under fierce attack last night for failing to confront human rights abuses in China as the Nobel Committee confirmed that the winner of this year's peace prize would be represented at the awards ceremony by an empty chair for the first time since 1936.

Beijing has succeeded in its mission to prevent Liu Xiaobo, a dissident, or any of his family members from travelling to Oslo city hall to accept the prize on Friday. The Chinese will become the first government to achieve that feat of obduracy since the Nazi regime refused to allow an incarcerated German author to accept his award.

The UN's most senior human rights official will also be absent after turning down an invitation from Mr Liu's fellow campaigners to attend the event. Navanethem Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, excused herself by citing another engagement on Friday. The lack of a senior United Nations presence will delight officials in Beijing who have been forcefully lobbying for institutions and governments to boycott the ceremony. India finally submitted to Western diplomatic pressure yesterday and announced that officials would attend, against China's wishes, paving the way for a potentially frosty meeting when the Chinese Prime Minister travels to Delhi for trade talks next week.

Beijing was reported to have asked India last month not to send a representative to witness the Nobel investiture, warning that to do so would carry repercussions including the possible cancellation of a visit by Wen Jiabao.

Yang Jianli, a Chinese citizen and longtime friend of Mr Liu, led a protest against the UN by calling for Ms Pillay to resign if she was unwilling to take up his invitation. Pillay's decision is a clear and unequivocal abdication of her responsibilities as high commissioner, which I believe resulted from direct pressure from the Chinese Government, he said. She is more concerned about offending the Chinese Government than discharging her duties to the United Nations.

John Bolton, the former US Ambassador to the UN, said: This demonstrates everything that's wrong with the UN's involvement in human rights. It was obviously a gutless decision, and one that shows why ultimately the UN can't function effectively in this area. Here's the person who's supposed to be responsible for human rights at the UN, caving in to Chinese pressure at the first opportunity.

The Nobel ceremony will go ahead with speeches and a reading of Mr Liu's work by the Norwegian actress Liv Ullman.

But, in the absence of this year's winner or any of his immediate family, the organisers have cancelled the formal handover of the Nobel certificate and medal.
A spokesman for Ms Pillay said it would not be appropriate to send a surrogate representative from the high commissioner's office as no official invitation had been sent to the organisation.
Frankly it's ridiculous to call for her resignation. She's spoken out strongly in defence of Liu Xiaobo and the fact that she cannot attend a ceremony she was never formally invited to is scarcely a resigning matter, he said.
 
The host of exiled Chinese dissidents plan to travel to Norway. Only one person on a list of more than 140 guests issued by Mr Liu's wife, Liu Xia, has said he will go. Wan Yanhai, an Aids activist, now lives in the United States after seeking asylum earlier this year.
 
Dai Qing, a veteran Chinese environmental and political activist, yesterday questioned whether it was appropriate for uninvited campaigners to take part. She said Mr Liu, who was serving the second year of an 11-year jail sentence, would not welcome the presence of some of the exiles he has critised in the past for their radicalism.
 
I don't think that Liu Xiaobo's dedication of his prize to 'the souls of Tiananmen Square' included those leaders who 'hoped to see rivers of blood' and who at the critical moment refused to negotiate, embezzled donations and were the first to flee, Ms Dai said.
 
Thanks but no thanks Six ambassadors in Oslo turned down invitations to attend the ceremony. They were from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Morocco and Iraq
 
Protesters at the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles demand the release of Liu Xiaobo. The lack of a senior UN presence at the Nobel ceremony will delight Beijing