Several countries with poor human rights records should not have been voted onto the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Joining the 53-member commission today were Sudan, Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Togo, among others, to a three-year rotating membership. These countries will join Syria, Algeria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam, all countries with very poor human rights records elected to the commission last year.
"This is a rogues' gallery of human rights abusers," said Joanna Weschler, U.N. representative for Human Rights Watch. "A country's human rights record should be the single most important factor in whether or not it joins the commission. An abusive country cannot honestly pass judgment on other abusive countries."
Sudan is responsible for massive human rights abuses committed by forces loyal to the government in the course of its 18-year civil war, as well as for the widespread torture, harassment, and persecution of opponents of the regime. Sierra Leone has also suffered massive human rights violations in its 10-year civil war, some of them committed by forces loyal to the government.
Togo has been the target of a recent U.N. investigation on human rights abuse, while the Ugandan government has restricted political opposition in its single-party system.
The United States was also voted off the U.N. human rights commission today, for the first time in the commission's history.
"In recent years, the United States often failed to support important human rights initiatives at the commission, or found itself voting alone, on the wrong side of important issues," said Weschler. "It's not surprising that the U.S. was voted off. But to punish the United States and reward Sudan is clearly absurd."
