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The new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights must stand up publicly to governments seeking to undermine the United Nations' human rights system, Human Rights Watch said as Sergio Vieira de Mello takes up his post today in Geneva.

Human Rights Watch warned that the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the world's highest human rights body, has reached a crisis point, with proceedings curtailed by budget cuts and dominated by abusive governments intent on blocking international scrutiny and criticism. Human Rights Watch welcomed Mr. Vieira de Mello's appointment and urged him to make it his top priority to defend the United Nations' ability to monitor and publicly censure human rights abuses around the world.

"Mr. De Mello needs to hit the ground running, or the gains made for human rights over the past decade could easily be eroded and lost," said Joanna Weschler, U.N. representative for Human Rights Watch. "The new High Commissioner must show strong and principled leadership at a time the U.N. human rights system and international law are under attack."

At the last session of the commission in March and April 2002, countries such as Iran, the Russian Federation (for its actions in Chechnya) and Zimbabwe escaped appropriate censure.

Membership in the commission should be dependent on respect for human rights and cooperation with the U.N. human rights mechanisms, Human Rights Watch said, and Mr. De Mello should especially encourage those qualifications for the chairmanship of the commission.

Human Rights Watch urged Mr. Vieira de Mello to work toward making a primary qualification for chairmanship the issuance of standing invitations to all U.N. rapporteurs. The expected new chair of the commission, Libya, has not issued such invitations.

"The outlook for the next session of the Commission is grim indeed," said Weschler. "It will be a major challenge to defend the integrity of the Commission against those who are seeking to wreck it."

Weschler said many governments were muting criticism of their allies in the coalition against terrorism, and even using the fight against terrorism as a pretext for abuse, cracking down on political opponents or closing their doors to refugees.

Human Rights Watch called on the new High Commissioner to prioritize the monitoring of counter-terrorist measures, to ensure they comply fully with international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law.

Human Rights Watch also urged the new High Commissioner for Human Rights to devote his immediate personal attention to the human rights situation in several countries, including the persistent human rights violations in China; the sharply increased political violence in Colombia; the continuing disregard by the State of Israel and armed Palestinian groups for basic human rights and humanitarian law norms; and abuses in the Chechnya region of the Russian Federation.

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