Indonesia has reservations on Annan's human rights proposal

Indonesia has reservations on Annan's human rights proposal

Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post/Geneva

Indonesia, which chairs the United Nations Commission on Human
Rights this year, has some reservations about the proposal to
abolish the agency and replace it with a smaller council as
suggested by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Nevertheless, Indonesia used its position to persuade other
commission members to begin discussion on the proposal, at least
to find out where they stand.

"There are other ways besides abolishing the commission to
make human rights one of the central themes for the United
Nations," Ambassador Makarim Wibisono, who is chairing the
commission, told The Jakarta Post.

Makarim met with Kofi Annan on Thursday shortly before the
secretary-general delivered a speech at the commission's 61st
session, during which he appealed to members to take up his
proposal and come up with an early agreement.

The senior Indonesian diplomat said the commission would begin
deliberation on the proposal on April 12 in Geneva, but he made
no commitment as to whether or not the discussion could be
completed as fast as Annan wished.

Annan in Geneva elaborated on his proposal, first broached in
his report entitled Larger Freedom detailing bold reforms for the
United Nations.

On human rights, the paper said the Commission on Human
Rights, with 53 members, has simply grown too large and
cumbersome to be effective in tackling human rights problems,
citing as examples the failure of the world to adequately respond
to the genocide in Rwanda last year and the tardy response to the
trouble in Darfur, Sudan this year.

A council, with less members, would be able to respond faster
and more effectively, so the argument goes.

But the idea behind this proposal is to make human rights one
of the central themes for the world body, along with security and
development.

Recognizing that the commission lacks credibility and
effectiveness, Makarim said a better solution would be to assess
the reasons behind this rather than to simply abolish it and
replace it with a smaller council.

Makarim, who will chair the commission for the coming year,
said he had already tried to fix one problem in the commission,
and had actually made some inroads.

He was referring to the "naming and shaming" practice adopted
by some of the commission members, which only served to force the
opposite parties to become defensive, to solidify solidarity with
others, and put up resistance.

In this year's session, which opened on March, 14, there have
been less politics of this kind relative to last year, and thus
the debate had been more productive under Makarim's chairmanship,
according to delegates who regularly attend the meetings.

Other problems dodging the commission include the even-handed
approach of the commission in selecting which human rights to
deal with (with the bias going strongly against developing
countries); the failure of countries to treat human rights as
indivisible and focusing on civil and political rights while
neglecting economic, social and cultural rights; and the methods
that have become outdated.

Makarim also noted that the commission only receives two
percent of the United Nations' budget, which is hardly sufficient
to sustain an effective operation. Unless the budget is
increased, a smaller council would be just as ineffective, he
argued.

He said he had already discussed informally with many
delegates Annan's proposal. "Many countries support the spirit of
making human rights one of the central issues for the United
Nations. But when it comes to the question of structure and
organization, we have a divided house."