China, Russia, Israel in UN dock for rights records

China, Russia, Israel in UN dock for rights records

GENEVA (Reuters): Israel's use of force against Palestinians
in the occupied territories and continuing Russian abuses in
Chechnya will be under the spotlight at the UN human rights forum
opening on Monday, diplomats and UN sources said.

The United States has also pledged to put China in the dock
for alleged repression of the banned Falungong spiritual group
and serious violations in Tibet. But Beijing is likely to escape
formal censure as it has for the last decade, they added.

Colombia, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq
and Sudan will also have their records scrutinized at the annual
six-week session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

This year, activists including Human Rights Watch have also
expressed alarm about the credentials of some members of the 53-
state body, whose job is to examine violations worldwide.

"The UN Commission on Human Rights is the world's most
important body dealing exclusively with human rights, yet the
Commission is being increasingly contaminated by the presence of
governments which systematically abuse human rights," Reed Brody,
advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, told a briefing.

Its 14 new members include a host of countries widely
criticized for serious abuses: Algeria, the Democratic Republic
of Congo, Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

"Having governments like these on the Commission ... is like
having the foxes guarding the chicken coop," Brody said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson -- who has
made trips in the past year to hot spots including China,
Russia's North Caucasus region, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip
-- will address the opening session.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, French President Jacques
Chirac and Congolese President Joseph Kabila are due to speak on
March 30.

The continuing bloodshed in the Middle East is the greatest
continuing crisis to be debated this year, but Israel is unlikely
to cooperate with any UN initiatives, diplomats say.

At least 425 people -- 347 Palestinians, 65 Israelis and 13
Israeli Arabs -- have been killed since the Palestinian uprising
began in late September after peace talks became deadlocked.

"The question of how the Palestinian question is handled will
have a profound effect on the whole Commission on Human Rights,"
an EU diplomat in Geneva told Reuters. "But we have no illusions
about the position of the Israelis and Americans."

In October, at a special session, the Commission adopted a
resolution presented by Arab and Islamic countries condemning
Israel for "war crimes and crimes against humanity".

It also set up a UN commission of inquiry, whose three
independent experts went to the territories last month, and is
due to report back to the Geneva forum around March 27.

But Israel has not cooperated with the probe, which is
expected to denounce its clampdown and excessive use of force,
diplomats say. The United States, the Jewish state's main ally,
accuses the Commission of a long-held bias against Israel.

The EU is taking the lead in negotiations with Russia to
persuade it to address allegations of serious abuses against
rebels and civilians in separatist Chechnya, diplomats say.

Human Rights Watch and the London-based group Amnesty
International have demanded that the Commission launch an
international probe into killings and torture in Chechnya.

The Bush administration has announced it will put forward a
resolution criticizing China for serious violations including
alleged repression of freedom of religion and expression.

But China, which has wide support among developing countries
at the forum, has used procedural maneuvers to avoid any
examination of its record every year since the June 1989 killing
of student protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

"We would like a real debate on China. But we don't have much
hope of defeating China's traditional 'no action motion'," the EU
diplomat said.