THE WEIRS TIMES & THE COCHECO TIMES, Thursday, June 2, 2011


9


HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL MERRY-GO-ROUND UN ITED N A -


by John J. Metzler Syndicated Columnist


TIONS—It’s one of the tradi- tional Rites of Spring at the United Na- tions, the elec- t ion of new members to the Human Rights Coun-


cil, the 47 member deliberative body viewing and monitoring the pulse of civil and political rights the world over. The full 192 member General Assembly votes for new members within regional groups to serve three year terms. As in the past, most slates presented candidates who went unopposed Ironically given the composi-


tion of some of the Geneva-based Council membership, with coun- tries like China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia sitting in judg- ment of global human rights is- sues is like having Tony Soprano sit on a Senate sub-committee on organized crime. In the African group Benin, Bo-


tswana, Burkina Faso and Congo were elected, uncontested. Well done for Botswana, one of the continents longtime democra- cies and a relatively prosperous place where free enterprise and civil liberties are part of the land- scape. But Congo? You have to be kidding. The Brazzaville gov- ernment presents a tawdry model of what’s wrong in the develop- ing world, a lack of rights and political liberties. The respected human rights watchdog group Freedom House rates Congo as Not free” while the Economist describes it as an “authoritarian regime.” West African Benin and Burki-


na Faso hold decent political records. Balloting for the Asian Group, though uncontested, saw India, followed by Indonesia, Philip- pines and Kuwait. Again good for multi-ethnic India, a work- ing sectarian democracy, which despite the still terrible under- tow of poverty, has been able to keep its democratic structures. India deserves a place as does modern Indonesia, a multi- eth- nic archipelago state which has positively transformed itself into a secular Muslim society.


While


both India and Indonesia were founders and political pillars of the old-nonaligned movement, today both countries are look- ing to enterprise to encourage a more open economy and to underpin their civil and political structures. The Philippines remains a work-


ing if not corruption-challenged democracy and an old and true American friend. India, Indo- nesia and the Philippines are called “flawed democracies,” by the Economist. Originally Syria was going to


run for a seat in the Asian Group. Yet political backlash to the cur- rent crackdown on civilian pro- testers put the Assad regime out of the running. The United States, and Euro-


pean countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands strongly lobbied against Syria’s bid for the council seat. At the last minute Kuwait decided to run and picked up the seat un- opposed. Libya who ludicrously won a


seat on this very Council last year, had its membership sus- pended, just a few months ago, given its governments actions during the ongoing revolt. This example of suspending Libya, and the prospect of electing Syr- ia, a serial persecutor of its own people, was a political bridge too far even for the majority of the UN General Assembly’s voting members. In the Eastern European state


category, competition became more interesting as three coun- tries ran for two seats. The Czech Republic handily won with 148 votes while Romania gained 131. Both were elected. Georgia how- ever lost with 89 votes, largely due to Russian vigorously lobby- ing against her candidacy. For the Western European state category, the two seats were un- challenged and handedly won by Austria and Italy. Bravo, both are good choices as Austria and Italy remain sterling democracies and positive examples of human rights. . The Latin American and Ca- ribbean state selection saw four countries contesting three seats. Chile, Costa Rica and Peru were elected. Without question Chile and Costa Rica remain sterling democracies and a positive ex-


by Thomas Sowell Syndicated Columnist


amples of economic development. Peru for its part has impressively increased political and economic freedoms in the past decade. Nicaragua lost its bid for the


Latin American group and hap- pily so. Given the eroding human


rights situation in Nicaragua, and the country’s cozy ties with Chavez in Venezuela, this poses no great loss. The newly elected Council members will serve for three years.


See METZLER on 15 DEPENDENCY AND VOTES


Those who regard gov- ernment “en- titlement” pro- grams as sac- rosanct, and regard those who want to cut them back as calloused or cruel, picture a world very different from


the world of reality. To listen to some of the defend-


ers of entitlement programs, which are at the heart of the present financial crisis, you might think that anything the government fails to provide is something that people will be deprived of. In other words, if you cut spend-


ing on school lunches, children will go hungry. If you fail to sub- sidize housing, people will be homeless. If you fail to subsidize prescription drugs, old people will have to eat dog food in order to be able to afford their meds. This is the vision promoted by many politicians and much of the


media. But, in the world of real- ity, it is not even true for most people who are living below the official poverty line. Most Americans living below


the official poverty line own a car or truck-- and government en- titlement programs seldom pro- vide cars and trucks. Most people living below the official poverty line also have air conditioning, color television and a microwave oven--and these too are not usu- ally handed out by government entitlement programs. Cell phones and other elec-


tronic devices are by no means unheard of in low-income neigh- borhoods, where children would supposedly go hungry if there were no school lunch programs. In reality, low-income people are overweight even more often than other Americans. As for housing and homeless-


ness, housing prices are higher and homelessness a bigger prob- lem in places where there has been massive government inter- vention, such as liberal bastions like New York City and San Fran-


See SOWELL on 32


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