David Copley: Missing the boat on human rights

The fox has now achieved tenure in guarding the global henhouse. Last Monday, the United Nations elected Libya to chair the Commission on Human Rights. Surely, such a prestigious position requires a distinguished record of support for civil liberties and political freedom. Obviously not, if the vote of 33-3 with 17 abstentions is anything to go by. For the record, the only countries voting against Libya were the United States, Canada and Guatemala. The European Union countries mostly abstained. Seemingly, they did not want to risk offending the Libyan government. When the Commission on Human Rights was founded in 1947, the U.S. chaired it for the first six years. In those days, it was still considered politically correct to stand up for the oppressed. We didn't care if we offended the likes of Joseph Stalin or Mao Zedong. But in the 21st century, leadership rotates every year among five different geographic regions. Each region puts up one of its own for the position. This year, the African region selected Libya. The Libyan media claimed the appointment was a worldwide affirmation of Moammar Ghadafi's principled leadership. With the help of Amnesty International's most recent report on Libya, let's take a closer look at Colonel Ghadafi's somewhat-unusual approach to human rights. Libya is a dictatorship. Libyan law specifically prohibits the formation of political parties and criticism of the political system. The press is strictly controlled by the government. According to Amnesty International, Libya's political detainees are held in "cruel, inhuman or degrading conditions and denied adequate medical care, which led to several deaths in custody." Hundreds of political prisoners arrested in previous years remain held without charge or trial. Many of them have been detained for more than a decade. Other political detainees remain in detention despite having been tried and acquitted in the court system. Still others continue to serve prison sentences imposed in previous years after grossly unfair trials. The victims include "scores of professionals, including engineers and university lecturers, who were arrested in June and July 1998 on suspicion of supporting or sympathizing with al-Jama'a al-Islamiya al-Libiya, the Libyan Islamic Group, an underground Islamist movement which was not known to have used or advocated violence, remain held at Abu Salim and 'Ain Zara prisons in Tripoli." Torture and government-sanctioned off-the-record killings are routine in Libya. According to Amnesty International, "Political detainees were routinely tortured while held in incommunicado detention. Reported methods of torture included beatings, hanging by the wrists, being suspended from a pole inserted between the knees and elbows, electric shocks, burning with cigarettes and attacks by aggressive dogs causing serious injuries." Libya still lends support and financing to terrorist organizations throughout the world. Libya is under U.N. sanction for blowing up a civilian airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 with 270 innocent souls aboard. In March 2000, the Court of Assizes in Paris, France, sentenced six Libyan nationals in absentia to life imprisonment for the bombing of a French UTA airliner, which exploded in 1989 over Niger killing 170 people. Among those sentenced were high-ranking Libyan officials from the Libyan secret service and diplomatic corps. Libya did not accept responsibility for the incident but reportedly transferred funds of more than $30 million to France in order to compensate relatives of the victims of the bombing. More recently, racist attacks against sub-Saharan Africans, including nationals of Chad, Niger and Sudan, reportedly led to dozens of deaths and scores of injuries. How can we count on a country with Libya's track record to oppose the use of force to crush political dissent around the world? Talk about lip service! And who would second the motion? China, Syria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Zimbabwe join Libya on the commission. These countries also deny their citizens many basic civil liberties and human rights. If it were not so tragic, it would be a farce. Libya's election should cause the U.S. to re-examine its relationship with the U.N. Do we want to be giving our hard-earned tax dollars to the U.N. so tyrants and thugs can use the Commission on Human Rights to score propaganda points? And it's going to get worse! Syria takes charge of the U.N. Security Council in August 2003. This is the same country that is listed by the State Department as one of seven principal supporters of international terrorism. Syria in charge of the U.N. Security Council should send a shiver down the spine of every freedom-loving American. This August, my opening metaphor about the fox guarding the henhouse will become obsolete. This summer, expect the inmates to assume complete control of the asylum. David Copley is a sophomore Finance and Real Estate major from Bellevue, Wash.

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