Human Rights Panel Criticized Group Says Politics Allow Abuses To Go Unchallenged

The U.N. Commission on Human Rights is losing its credibility because of political maneuvering by member states, a prominent human rights group charged Thursday.

The U.N. body, the world’s human rights watchdog, has strayed from its original mission of scrutinizing rights abuses around the world and embarrassing countries into ending them, Amnesty International said.

It said many of the worst violators avert serious condemnation because of political or economic muscle.

The 53-country U.N. commission meets for six weeks each spring. This year’s session starts Monday.

The commission hears reports by its experts on human rights abuses in specific countries, and on themes such as child prostitution, torture, summary executions, religious intolerance and the abuse of women.

It conducts highly charged debates on violations in individual countries and casts critical resolutions on the worst offenders. It has no power to enforce its recommendations, relying instead on political embarrassment to bring offenders into line.

“Past sessions have been marked by an almost complete lack of accountability of many violating states, and an unwillingness to deal with countries seen as ‘untouchable’ for a variety of political reasons,” said Nicholas Howen, an Amnesty official.

China, by mounting a huge lobbying campaign and having a domestic market many countries are eager to sell to, has managed to head off formal condemnation of its human rights record for six straight years, he said.

Turkey, criticized by rights experts for its persistent use of torture, extrajudicial executions and disappearances, has been shielded by Europe and North America because it is a NATO member and because it is seen as a buffer against Islamic fundamentalism, he said.

Nigeria, accused by investigators of arbitrarily jailing political opponents, has been protected by African members of the commission.

The work of the commission has been further hampered by tensions between rich and poor countries over the importance of human rights.

Many poor countries believe that social and economic rights are more important than political ones.

They want decisions to require unanimous votes, rather than majority ones, which would make strong condemnations almost impossible.

Instead, countries would be forced to negotiate watered-down statements that everyone could accept.

Even some rich countries, traditionally champions of human rights, favor this approach for fear of jeopardizing good relations or lucrative business contracts by voting against powerful violators, said Amnesty spokeswoman Isabelle Scherer.

For example, last year Germany and France blocked progress on the adoption of a resolution against China.

This year the commission is expected to take on the human rights situations in Zaire, Albania, Chechnya, Colombia and Liberia, among others.