The Gitmo Gang
So the UN calls for the closing of Gitmo as a "torture camp." Well, let's examine who exactly is involved: Chairman Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Leila Zerrougui; Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy; the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak; the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, and the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Paul Hunt.
Puh-leeze.
Leila Zerrougui (an Algerian -- from a country that is a hotbed for Muslim extremists and where murder in the name of Islam is an everyday occurrence)is "Sub-commission Expert" on the accountability of armed forces and discrimination in the criminal justice system for the UN. In introducing her 2003 report on discrimination in the criminal justice system, said that research carried out so far showed that there was undeniably a racial dimension to discrimination within the administration of justice. Such discrimination was often a manifestation of racism, xenophobia, or intolerance, and foreigners, minorities and indigenous peoples were the most seriously affected. Other persons, such as the poor, disabled or those having a different sexual orientation, were also victims of discrimination and were often subjected to unequal treatment under the criminal justice system.
In short, there is no way that she was going find anything but the most dire of conditions and torture in Gitmo. She is also a long-term UN cadre ... and as any rational, sentient person knows, you cannot get ahead there unless you are rabidly anti-US. Anti-Israeli helps too.
Next, Leandro Despouy (Argentina -- another country known for its "excellent" history of preservation of human rights and a staunch friend of democracy and the US) was prior to his latest gig at Gitmo, Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities -- a gig that has been brewing at the UN (and providing full employment for functionairies since 1984 ... how much did that cost ... bet that money could have bought some wells and farming equipment in Ethiopia or Somalia). Another long-term UN hack. While workling for the UN Economic and Social Council he presented several reports on the administration of justice and the human rights of detainees. On the face of it, that might imply some knowledge of the plight of such persons. In practice, he is good at telling his masters what they want to hear. He is also a lawyer and has been a professor in international public law with a specialization in human rights. Might as well have his Che poster framed for his office.
Manfred Nowack.... He is Professor of Constitutional Law and Human Rights at the University of Vienna and Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (BIM). Since 1996, he has served as Judge at the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo and, since 2000, as Chairperson of the European Master Programme on Human Rights and Democratization (EMA) in Venice. From 1987 to 1989, he was Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) at the University of Utrecht, and from 2002 to 2003 Olof Palme Visiting Professor at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) at the University of Lund. Nothing here is mainstream ... even from recognized first class leftist institutions such as Oxford, Columbia, Sciences Po, etc. For a grip on the type of human rights issues they focus on, look at their website http://www.univie.ac.at/bim/ and you begin to appreciate it. The focus is on anti-discrimination, look at their links page: it is self explanatory ... every human rights organization of note. The tone and politics of these organizations is, needless to say, quite a bit to the left of even left-wing US politics. So while Nowack's motivations may be noble, in terms of a fair and even assessment of Gitmo ... he should recuse himself.
Asma Jahangir (Pakistan -- another wonderfully and notoriously neutral country where the Danish flag is now in short supply): she has served as the chairperson of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission. In 1980, Asma Jahangir and her sister, Hina Jilani, got together with few fellow activists and lawyers and formed the first law firm established by women in Pakistan. They also helped form the Women's Action Forum (WAF) in the same year. Sounds pretty good if you were a defendant or an absued woman in Pakistan. In 1998, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed her as the UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human rights on extra judicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Since her appointment, Ms. Jahangir has visited Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mexico, East Timor, Nepal, Turkey and Honduras responding to the keenness of Governments to improve the situation, while also documenting human rights abuses. "It gives me an opportunity to pick up the issue from the ground and take it right to the top, to the UN level," she says. She is, of course still "taking it right to the top" at the UN. Name one thing substantial that the UN has ever accomplished in making or keeping peace. The people of Haiti just love the UN troops. Google it, go ahead. There is an excellent interview with Asma at this URL http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2002/webArticles/111102_interview_asma.html ... read it; she seems a wonderful person. But also extremely unlikely to find anything other that the abuses of human rights at Gitmo.
Paul Hunt. In 1998, Paul Hunt - a national of New Zealand - was elected by the UN to serve as an independent expert on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1999-2002). Between 2001-2,at the request of Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, he co-authored draft Guidelines on Human Rights Approaches to Poverty Reduction.In 2002, he was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health -- the first appointment to this new human rights mechanism. As Special Rapporteur, he endeavours to help States, and other actors, better promote and protect the right to health. In his work, he has chosen to focus in particular on
poverty, discrimination and the right to health. An independent expert, he undertakes country missions and reports to the UN General Assembly and UN Commission on Human Rights. Paul has lived, and undertaken human rights work, in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and SouthPacific. He has written extensively on economic, social and cultural rights, including Reclaiming Social Rights: International and Comparative Perspectives (1996) and Culture, Rights and Cultural Rights: Perspectives from the South Pacific (2000). He is a Professor in law, and Member of the Human Rights
Centre, at the University of Essex (England) (wasn't that a Poly?)and Adjunct Professor at the University of Waikato (New Zealand). Not a real luminary academically, but clearly adept politically within the UN.
Hunt's prior magnum opus was a report, "On the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health." The UN voted on whether this highly criticized report would be accepted. It called for the promotion of "reproductive rights" for women - a UN euphemism for abortion, contraception, and sterilization. Fifty-two states voted in favour of accepting the report, with only one member state opposed -- the United States of America. In short, his last brush with the US resulted in a bloody nose. The US, it seems, does not side with the notion that mass sterilization is a valid and legitimate way of improving the physical and mental health of people in developing nations -- the US fears that the application of a policy of sterilization might be a bit uneven ... perhaps a violation of human rights. At least as a measure of policy. Cute that.
So what are we left with? A report on Gitmo that could only have one conclusion, one viewpoint, one result. So is this actually news at all? It was an absolute certainty that the result would be a condemnation. Note, that none of the "Raporteurs" comes from a country directly threatened by the folks presently at Gitmo. Two of the Raporteurs come from countries actively allied with the people at Gitmo and one from a neutral nation so-far-from-anything-that-who-would-bother (very no-nuke and granola for everyone) and one from a country that is the site of some of the most leftwing institutes, think tanks, etc. and that also elected Joerg Haider. Go figure.
The reality is, human rights aside, the second we set these turkeys free, they will not pass "go" to collect $200 and proceed immediately to what ever Madrassa they came from to plot how to reinstate the Taliban and/or kill Americans. If we could be sure that they would go home and farm and raise kids, play soccer, smoke some [whatever], I'd be the first to say "let 'em go." But they won't. And no report from a bunch of ideologues is going to change that.
Puh-leeze.
Leila Zerrougui (an Algerian -- from a country that is a hotbed for Muslim extremists and where murder in the name of Islam is an everyday occurrence)is "Sub-commission Expert" on the accountability of armed forces and discrimination in the criminal justice system for the UN. In introducing her 2003 report on discrimination in the criminal justice system, said that research carried out so far showed that there was undeniably a racial dimension to discrimination within the administration of justice. Such discrimination was often a manifestation of racism, xenophobia, or intolerance, and foreigners, minorities and indigenous peoples were the most seriously affected. Other persons, such as the poor, disabled or those having a different sexual orientation, were also victims of discrimination and were often subjected to unequal treatment under the criminal justice system.
In short, there is no way that she was going find anything but the most dire of conditions and torture in Gitmo. She is also a long-term UN cadre ... and as any rational, sentient person knows, you cannot get ahead there unless you are rabidly anti-US. Anti-Israeli helps too.
Next, Leandro Despouy (Argentina -- another country known for its "excellent" history of preservation of human rights and a staunch friend of democracy and the US) was prior to his latest gig at Gitmo, Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities -- a gig that has been brewing at the UN (and providing full employment for functionairies since 1984 ... how much did that cost ... bet that money could have bought some wells and farming equipment in Ethiopia or Somalia). Another long-term UN hack. While workling for the UN Economic and Social Council he presented several reports on the administration of justice and the human rights of detainees. On the face of it, that might imply some knowledge of the plight of such persons. In practice, he is good at telling his masters what they want to hear. He is also a lawyer and has been a professor in international public law with a specialization in human rights. Might as well have his Che poster framed for his office.
Manfred Nowack.... He is Professor of Constitutional Law and Human Rights at the University of Vienna and Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (BIM). Since 1996, he has served as Judge at the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo and, since 2000, as Chairperson of the European Master Programme on Human Rights and Democratization (EMA) in Venice. From 1987 to 1989, he was Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) at the University of Utrecht, and from 2002 to 2003 Olof Palme Visiting Professor at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) at the University of Lund. Nothing here is mainstream ... even from recognized first class leftist institutions such as Oxford, Columbia, Sciences Po, etc. For a grip on the type of human rights issues they focus on, look at their website http://www.univie.ac.at/bim/ and you begin to appreciate it. The focus is on anti-discrimination, look at their links page: it is self explanatory ... every human rights organization of note. The tone and politics of these organizations is, needless to say, quite a bit to the left of even left-wing US politics. So while Nowack's motivations may be noble, in terms of a fair and even assessment of Gitmo ... he should recuse himself.
Asma Jahangir (Pakistan -- another wonderfully and notoriously neutral country where the Danish flag is now in short supply): she has served as the chairperson of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission. In 1980, Asma Jahangir and her sister, Hina Jilani, got together with few fellow activists and lawyers and formed the first law firm established by women in Pakistan. They also helped form the Women's Action Forum (WAF) in the same year. Sounds pretty good if you were a defendant or an absued woman in Pakistan. In 1998, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed her as the UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human rights on extra judicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Since her appointment, Ms. Jahangir has visited Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mexico, East Timor, Nepal, Turkey and Honduras responding to the keenness of Governments to improve the situation, while also documenting human rights abuses. "It gives me an opportunity to pick up the issue from the ground and take it right to the top, to the UN level," she says. She is, of course still "taking it right to the top" at the UN. Name one thing substantial that the UN has ever accomplished in making or keeping peace. The people of Haiti just love the UN troops. Google it, go ahead. There is an excellent interview with Asma at this URL http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2002/webArticles/111102_interview_asma.html ... read it; she seems a wonderful person. But also extremely unlikely to find anything other that the abuses of human rights at Gitmo.
Paul Hunt. In 1998, Paul Hunt - a national of New Zealand - was elected by the UN to serve as an independent expert on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1999-2002). Between 2001-2,at the request of Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, he co-authored draft Guidelines on Human Rights Approaches to Poverty Reduction.In 2002, he was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health -- the first appointment to this new human rights mechanism. As Special Rapporteur, he endeavours to help States, and other actors, better promote and protect the right to health. In his work, he has chosen to focus in particular on
poverty, discrimination and the right to health. An independent expert, he undertakes country missions and reports to the UN General Assembly and UN Commission on Human Rights. Paul has lived, and undertaken human rights work, in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and SouthPacific. He has written extensively on economic, social and cultural rights, including Reclaiming Social Rights: International and Comparative Perspectives (1996) and Culture, Rights and Cultural Rights: Perspectives from the South Pacific (2000). He is a Professor in law, and Member of the Human Rights
Centre, at the University of Essex (England) (wasn't that a Poly?)and Adjunct Professor at the University of Waikato (New Zealand). Not a real luminary academically, but clearly adept politically within the UN.
Hunt's prior magnum opus was a report, "On the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health." The UN voted on whether this highly criticized report would be accepted. It called for the promotion of "reproductive rights" for women - a UN euphemism for abortion, contraception, and sterilization. Fifty-two states voted in favour of accepting the report, with only one member state opposed -- the United States of America. In short, his last brush with the US resulted in a bloody nose. The US, it seems, does not side with the notion that mass sterilization is a valid and legitimate way of improving the physical and mental health of people in developing nations -- the US fears that the application of a policy of sterilization might be a bit uneven ... perhaps a violation of human rights. At least as a measure of policy. Cute that.
So what are we left with? A report on Gitmo that could only have one conclusion, one viewpoint, one result. So is this actually news at all? It was an absolute certainty that the result would be a condemnation. Note, that none of the "Raporteurs" comes from a country directly threatened by the folks presently at Gitmo. Two of the Raporteurs come from countries actively allied with the people at Gitmo and one from a neutral nation so-far-from-anything-that-who-would-bother (very no-nuke and granola for everyone) and one from a country that is the site of some of the most leftwing institutes, think tanks, etc. and that also elected Joerg Haider. Go figure.
The reality is, human rights aside, the second we set these turkeys free, they will not pass "go" to collect $200 and proceed immediately to what ever Madrassa they came from to plot how to reinstate the Taliban and/or kill Americans. If we could be sure that they would go home and farm and raise kids, play soccer, smoke some [whatever], I'd be the first to say "let 'em go." But they won't. And no report from a bunch of ideologues is going to change that.
posted by Zaphod at Thursday, February 16, 2006
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home