Syria Seeking Seat on Human Rights Council at UN Amid Turmoil

March 29, 2011
Bloomberg
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-29/syria-seeking-seat-on-human-rights-council-at-un-amid-turmoil.html
 
March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Syria’s government, accused of shooting peaceful protesters, is bidding at the United Nations for a seat on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council less than a month after Libya was suspended for attacking demonstrators.
Syria is one of four candidates for four seats on the Human Rights Council that will go to Asian nations when the UN General Assembly votes on May 20 for new members. The so-called clean slate endorsed in January by the UN’s so-called Asian Group of countries puts Syria in a position to win a three-year term on the 47-member council unless another Asian nation seeks a seat.
“Syria’s bid and empty promises are an affront to Syrian protesters whose demands for less repressive laws and practices have been met with bullets, killing dozens over the last few days,” Philippe Bolopion of New York-based Human Rights Watch said in an e-mail. “The Asia Group should learn from Libya’s recent suspension and put forward other candidates that are fit to run.”
More than 90 people have been killed in Syria as the government cracked down on dissent, according to unconfirmed reports cited by London-based Amnesty International. President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is an ally of Iran and a power broker in neighboring Lebanon, where it supports the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement.
Syria’s government resigned today in the wake of protests that began earlier this month and marked the strongest challenge to Assad’s rule since he took power in 2000. The government has blamed “armed gangs” for the violence.
‘Different Issues’
“The so-called turmoil does not affect our candidacy,” Bashar Ja’afari, Syria’s ambassador to the UN, said in an interview. “These are two different issues.”
Syria “considers that the protection of human dignity and fundamental rights are the base of freedom, justice and peace,” Syria’s mission to the UN said in a March 1 letter to the president of the General Assembly. “Promotion and protection of human rights are of the highest importance to Syria.”
The U.S. and its European allies, dealing with the unrest in Libya and across the region, haven’t focused attention on an effort to derail Syria’s candidacy, diplomats said. The U.S. in past years has pushed countries to seek membership on UN panels as a way to block others the U.S. considers to lack qualifications.
The U.S. was elected to the Human Rights Council in 2009 after President Barack Obama took office. Previously, President George W. Bush had decided the U.S. wouldn’t be a candidate for membership when the body was established in 2006. The Bush administration was concerned that the council would have an anti-Israel bias and include nations, such as current members China and Cuba, that have been accused of human rights abuses. The General Assembly suspended Libya from the council March 1.
Membership Criterion
“We haven’t focused on the clean slate aspect,” Britain’s Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said of Syria’s possible membership on the council. “We are looking at the whole question of membership and criterion of membership. The case of Libya shows that this is an issue that needs to be discussed and reviewed.”
Pedro Serrano, representing the European Union at a meeting today in New York on the Human Rights Council, said the General Assembly should hold “public hearings” for candidates prior to the annual elections in May.
“The European Union would like to use this opportunity to point out the need to ensure a basic degree of competitiveness in elections to the council, and calls upon all regional groups to advocate competitive slates,” Serrano said.
Singapore’s Ambassador Vanu Menon said the Asian Group of nations endorsed Syria before the latest unrest began and will support its candidacy unless another country bids for a seat.
India, Indonesia and Philippines are the other Asian nations seeking seats on the Human Rights Council.
“We always run clean slates in Africa,” South Africa’s Ambassador Baso Sangqu said. “We support clean slates. If the region has agreed, why should we have a problem with that?”