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The United Nations Human Rights Council: Reform Or Regression?

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THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: REFORM OR REGRESSION? HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION SEPTEMBER 6, 2006 Serial No. 109–221 Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 29–835PDF WASHINGTON : 2006 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Mar 21 2002 10:16 Nov 14, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\AGI\090606\29835.000 DOUG PsN: DOUG COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa TOM LANTOS, California CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, HOWARD L. BERMAN, California Vice Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American ELTON GALLEGLY, California Samoa ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey DANA ROHRABACHER, California SHERROD BROWN, Ohio EDWARD R. ROYCE, California BRAD SHERMAN, California PETER T. KING, New York ROBERT WEXLER, Florida STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts RON PAUL, Texas GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York DARRELL ISSA, California BARBARA LEE, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon MARK GREEN, Wisconsin SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada JERRY WELLER, Illinois GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California MIKE PENCE, Indiana ADAM B. SCHIFF, California THADDEUS G. MCCOTTER, Michigan DIANE E. WATSON, California KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida ADAM SMITH, Washington JOE WILSON, South Carolina BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California CONNIE MACK, Florida RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas TED POE, Texas THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey JEFF FLAKE, Arizona GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York MARK GREEN, Wisconsin BARBARA LEE, California JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas DIANE E. WATSON, California JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon Vice Chairman MARY M. NOONAN, Subcommittee Staff Director GREG SIMPKINS, Subcommittee Professional Staff Member NOELLE LUSANE, Democratic Professional Staff Member SHERI A. RICKERT, Subcommittee Professional Staff Member and Counsel LINDSEY M. PLUMLEY, Staff Associate (II) VerDate Mar 21 2002 10:16 Nov 14, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\AGI\090606\29835.000 DOUG PsN: DOUG C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES Mark Lagon, Ph.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, U.S. Department of State ............................................... 9 Ms. Erica Barks-Ruggles, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State ....................................... 16 Mr. Brett Schaefer, Jay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs, The Heritage Foundation .................................................................................... 35 Mr. Hillel C. Neuer, Executive Director, United Nations Watch ........................ 44 Ms. Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director, Freedom House ................................ 66 Morton H. Halperin, Ph.D, Executive Director, Open Society Policy Center ..... 71 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations: Prepared statement ................ 5 Mark Lagon, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ............................................................... 12 Ms. Erica Barks-Ruggles: Prepared statement ..................................................... 19 Mr. Brett Schaefer: Prepared statement ............................................................... 38 Mr. Hillel C. Neuer: Prepared statement .............................................................. 47 Ms. Jennifer Windsor: Prepared statement ........................................................... 68 Morton H. Halperin, Ph.D.: Prepared statement .................................................. 73 APPENDIX Material Submitted for the Hearing Record .......................................................... 87 (III) VerDate Mar 21 2002 10:16 Nov 14, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\AGI\090606\29835.000 DOUG PsN: DOUG VerDate Mar 21 2002 10:16 Nov 14, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\AGI\090606\29835.000 DOUG PsN: DOUG THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: REFORM OR REGRESSION? WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2006, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS, COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 o’clock p.m. in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H. Smith (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding. Mr. SMITH. I am pleased to convene this hearing of the Sub- committee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Oper- ations. Today we will be examining issues related to the new United Nations Human Rights Council, which held its first session from the 19th to the 30th of June, and two special sessions in July and August, respectively. I believe that it is tragic and dismaying in the extreme to note that despite the self-congratulatory euphoria of last March at its creation, the new human rights machinery remains broken, in need of serious repair and fundamental reform. The Human Rights Council has, thus far, continued the credibility deficit of its prede- cessor. The victims of abuse throughout the world deserve better. And, thus far, they haven’t gotten it. Not only did the Council unfairly and myopically, in my opinion, criticize Israel at its inaugural session, but both special sessions convened to date—on July 5–6 and August 11—were held exclu- sively to condemn Israel with nary a mention of egregious abuse by Hezbollah or Hamas or the roles of Syria and Iran. Amazingly, there has been no special session on the ongoing— and worsening—genocide in Darfur. No special session on the sys- tematic use of torture by the People’s Republic of China, or even though Manfred Nowak, the UN’s own rapporteur on torture last December issued a scathing report on the pervasive use of torture by the Chinese Government; no special session on Cuba’s abuse of political prisoners or on Burma or on North Korea or Belarus or Iran or Zimbabwe. Just Israel. Not only has the Council expended all of its efforts on Israel, but it has also failed to do so in a fair and equal manner. The Council has made no reference to the roles, as I indicated, of Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria or Iran in the creation of the situation concerned or to the harm inflicted by parties other than Israel. Thus, the early evidence indicates that the Council has already been co-opted by an extremely biased and narrow agenda. (1) VerDate Mar 21 2002 10:16 Nov 14, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\AGI\090606\29835.000 DOUG PsN: DOUG 2 This development is of extreme concern, both for the inter- national human rights community and for those of us convinced of the need for reform at the United Nations. The Human Rights Council, and through it the United Nations as a whole, have a vital role to play in the promotion and protection of human rights. It is critical that the United States and other human rights defenders do everything, and as quickly as possible, to reverse the direction in which the Council is heading. By way of background, on April 19, 2005, this Subcommittee held a hearing on the Council’s predecessor, the UN Commission on Human Rights. In my statement at that hearing, I noted that the Commission had come under increasing criticism from numerous quarters. A UN High-Level Panel concluded in December 2004 that the Commission’s capacity to fulfill its mandate had been under- mined by eroding credibility and professionalism. The panel point- ed out that states with a poor human rights record cannot set the standard for human rights. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan later agreed with this assessment, and he told the Commission that, ‘‘Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be un- able to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself.’’ On March 15, 2006, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolu- tion that replaced the discredited Commission with the Human Rights Council. The General Assembly gave the Council the man- date to promote ‘‘universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner,’’ and to ‘‘address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic viola- tions.’’ The United States, as we know, was one of four countries to vote against the resolution. The U.S.’s
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