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afrol News, 9 August - African governments' nomination of Libya as chair of the next United Nations Commission on Human Rights has not been well recieved outside the continent due to Libya's bad reputation in the Western world and the country's tradition of human rights violations. Africa is due to chair the next session of the UN commission on a rotational basis, and Libya was nominated by the African regional group. Libya's nomination was confirmed at the recently concluded inaugural summit of the new African Union. The commission will begin its annual session in March 2003. The nomination "undercuts" the new commitment of African governments "to promote human rights and good governance," the US group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement today. HRW normally rises above the doctrines of US foreign policies and only directs itself against Libya's human rights record in this case. - Countries with dreadful rights records should never be in charge of chairing the Commission on Human Rights, said Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "Libya's long record of human rights abuses clearly does not merit such a reward." The US group said Libya's nomination violated commitments African leaders had made to promote human rights and good governance through the New African Partnership for Development (Nepad). Nepad's steering group comprises Presidents Mbeki of South Africa, Wade of Senegal, Obasanjo of Nigeria, Moi of Kenya and Khaddafi of Libya. - It's a real setback for African governments' stated new commitment to human rights, commented Mungoven. The Nepad establishes a code of governance supporting basic freedoms and a system of peer review among African governments to hold each other to account for human rights violations, among other things. The scheme has received qualified support from international donors, including members of the G-8 group of industrialised nations. Libya's appointment to the steering group of Nepad has already raised the eyebrows among supporters of Nepad. "Putting Libya forward as Africa's choice to lead the world's human rights forum should really ring alarm bells," Mungoven said, seemingly having in mind the general aversion against Khaddafi's Libya in the Western world. HRW reminds that "over the last decade, Libya has detained government opponents for years without charge or trial, prohibited the formation of political parties or independent non-governmental groups, and muzzled its press. In the past, the Libyan government has also been responsible for torture, 'disappearances' and the assassination of political opponents abroad." In a letter to Presidents Obasanjo, Wade and Mbeki, the US group called on Nepad leaders "to withdraw Libya's nomination or spell out publicly the clear benchmarks for African participation in the commission, consistent with Nepad's goals." Donor governments considering financial support to Nepad "should make their concerns known and call for Libya's withdrawal." - African leaders promised to develop an effective system of peer review under Nepad, Mungoven said. "Now that commitment is being put to the test in the world's leading human rights forum," he added.
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