UN General Assembly asked to send strong signal to Human Rights Council

Reporters Without Borders appealed for vigilance by United Nations member states as the UN General Assembly was poised today to endorse a reform package adopted by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. “Among decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council is one, taken in June, to not renew the mandates of the special rapporteurs on Cuba and Belarus, two of the world's worst press freedom predators,” the organisation said. “Other countries such as Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo have since then also requested the termination of the mandates of the special rapporteurs on the human rights situation in their countries. “There is concern that these special rapporteurs - whose work is essential - are going to be phased out. We call on the General Assembly not to endorse this development and to send a strong signal to the Human Rights Council. “This council, which was created nearly a year and a half ago, has yet to prove its effectiveness. The wheeling and dealing between member states that discredited the former Human Rights Commission has not gone away. And the end of the mandates of certain special rapporteurs is disturbing. Today, it is the General Assembly's duty to ask the council for explanations and to adopt all necessary measures so that the council can finally do what it is supposed to do - combat human rights violations throughout the world.” It was only at the very last moment before the expiry of the midnight 18 June deadline set by the UN general assembly that Luis Alfonso de Alba, Mexico's representative and the council's outgoing president, went before the council and forced through his draft resolution on working procedures. De Alba portrayed his proposal as a compromise although most of the delegates were unaware of its content. Canada's representative challenged this solution and demanded a debate, but his request was rejected by 46 votes to one (his own). Reporters Without Borders is particularly shocked by the Human Rights Council's decision to terminate the mandates of the Cuba and Belarus rapporteurs. This setback is the result of a deliberate policy on the part of these countries' dictatorships to obstruct the rapporteurs. Press freedom in Cuba Three journalists have been convicted of “pre-criminal social dangerousness” since Raúl Castro took over as acting president in 26 July 2006 after his brother, Fidel, fell ill. One is Oscar Sánchez Madan, the Cubanet website's correspondent in Matanzas province, who was sentenced to four years in prison in a secret trial held immediately after his arrest. His family was unable to attend and he was not represented by a lawyer. The other two, who also received prison sentences, are Raymundo Perdigón Brito, one of the founders of the independent Yayabo Press agency, and Ramón Velázquez Toranso of the Libertad news agency. Harassment of dissidents currently takes the form of intimidation by the State Security (the political police), sudden summonses for questioning at police stations, and political brutality. Access to Internet cafés is also strictly regulated. According to the (illegal but tolerated) Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, Cuba's prisons are currently holding 246 prisoners of conscience, including 24 dissident journalists. They continue to be mistreated by their guards and to be held in cells that are unfit for habitation, and their health has suffered as a result. Press freedom in Belarus Belarus was placed 151st out of 169 countries in the 2007 world press freedom index. This was Europe's worst ranking. Belarus is also one of Europe's last Stalinist-style dictatorships. The police recently arrested journalists prevently, before an opposition demonstration. The state's monopoly of newspaper distribution has resulted in the disappearance of independent publications from almost all news stands. The government's preferred tool for silencing dissident publications is administrative harassment - seizure of issues, refusal to register a newspaper's address (making it illegal to continue publishing), non-renewal of rental contracts for premises, and so on. The government recently turned its attention to the Internet where, in its view, “anarchy reigns.” A commission of lawyers has been created to propose regulations that would restore online order. President Lukashenko has referred to China as a model for managing the Internet.