U.N. Chief Declines To Confront Libya on Human Rights Record
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UNITED NATIONS — Praising Colonel Muammar Gadhafi’s “flexibility” on the Darfur crisis, Secretary-General Ban yesterday indicated that one of the fundamental articles of the United Nations, its “universal declaration of human rights,” may not be all that universal after all.
Speaking to reporters upon his return to New York from a 10-day trip to Sudan, Chad, and Libya — during which he secured an agreement from Khartoum to join peace talks with rebel leaders in Darfur — Mr. Ban said Tripoli was chosen to host the October 27 talks because the Libyans “have experience, and they have know-how, and there are quite a number of leaders of movements and groups residing in Libya.”
Mr. Ban’s aides said human rights organizations’ allegations that the Gadhafi regime had ill-treated non-Arab foreign workers did not come up in the secretary-general’s conversation with the Libyan leader over the weekend. Mr. Ban’s sole interest on this trip was the Darfur crisis, an aide said.
“For individual countries’ human rights record, there may be many different understandings or, again, interpretations,” Mr. Ban said during a press briefing yesterday. “But at this time particularly, while I urge, in my capacity as secretary-general, to uphold the charter provisions to promote and protect human rights gain, for political negotiations, I only appreciate Libya’s flexibility and kind gesture” to host the peace conference.
The December 10, 1948, U.N. human rights declaration asserts that “a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization” of the world body’s promise.
Criticism of Libya’s human rights record plagued the now-defunct U.N. Human Rights Commission, which chose Colonel Gadhafi’s regime as its chairman in 2002. Now the commission’s heir, the U.N. Human Rights Council, has chosen Libya as chairman of the preparation committee for its 2009 conference to combat racism and xenophobia, again bringing criticism from human rights organizations.
Mr. Ban’s diplomatic style has been described by aides as “result oriented,” and his way of negotiating with his interlocutors has been lauded as “personal” and “business-like.” That style has already led to a breakthrough in the crisis in Sudan, the aides say, and the October summit in Libya is one of its manifestations.
According to published reports, however, Libya has taken on the role of mediator not because of a desire for peace but after heightening the violence by secretly supplying cash and weapons to the various Darfur rebel groups, as well as to the governments of Chad and Sudan.
The executive director of U.N. Watch, Hillel Neuer, said praising Colonel Gadhafi, who also was recently lauded by the Bush administration, was not helpful for the promotion of human rights.
“Yes, he is someone who has influence” in the region, “but what kind of influence?” Mr. Neuer said, referring to Colonel Gadhafi. While Mr. Neuer agreed that the secretary-general may gain from dealing with dictators, he warned that Mr. Ban might “cross the line” by giving them “undue praise.”