New countries in the dock?

Draft resolutions are circulating on Belarus, Turkmenistan and North Korea

ADRIEN-CLAUDE ZOLLER

UNTIL the last moment one is never sure that a draft resolution on massive human rights violations in a country will be effectively tabled by the governmental delegations, even when their diplomats have formally announced it.

During the current 59th session, the growing opposition to country resolutions (see Human Rights Features, 31 March-6 April) complicates matters. Hard negotiations are taking place in the corridors and few observers are aware of what exactly is going on.

A list of four countries under confidential examination (the 1503 Procedure) is circulating in press circles: Chad, Djibouti, Liberia and Uzbekistan.

As for the public procedure, it seems clear that China and Iran shall escape further scrutiny. Most delegations speak of these two situations in terms of "critical dialogue". However, we all know what that means - it means that realpolitik rules.

At the end of this fourth week of the session, talks are nevertheless focusing on countries which would appear for the first time on the list. Draft resolutions are circulating on Belarus, Turkmenistan, and North Korea.

Besides this, there will be Chairperson's Statements on Colombia, Haiti, West Sahara and, hopefully, East Timor, despite fierce resistance from Indonesia. Resolutions will be submitted to renew existing mandates on Congo-DRC, parts of former Yugoslavia, Burundi, Sudan, Palestine (as well as other resolutions on the Arab Occupied Territories), Burma (Myanmar), Afghanistan, Iraq Cambodia and Somalia. 

Most likely new attempts will be made this year on resolutions on Chechnya and Zimbabwe.

In view of the composition of the Commission, many debates could result in a tight vote. As reported in last week's issue of Human Rights Features, the vote on Sudan requires the most attention to avoid losing the one existing country mandate.