U.S. Delegate to Human Rights Commission Chats Online July 20

From The Human Rights Project

This is the unedited transcript of Mz. Goli Ameri's internet chat on Human Rights issues. The chat was courtesy of the U.S. State Department. Mz. Ameri is a US Delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR)

Goli Ameri
US Delegate to the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights

Name: John Matel Good afternoon. We already have a few questions, so we can start right away. Let me remind everyone that we publish a weekly review of human rights on our webpage. The most recent is available at: Weekly Review of Developments in Human Rights and Democracy, on our webpage http://usinfo.state.gov/eur. If you have comments about this chat, please email me at matelja@state.gov. Let’s start.  [July 20, 2005 09:16]

Name: Marina Why does the U.S. not speak out more on human rights abuses in places like Uzbekistan and Belarus? [July 20, 2005 09:16]

Name: Goli Ameri Thank you for the question. During the 61st Commisson on Human Rights in Geneva in the spring, the US did in fact table a resolution with our European Union Allies on the human rights situation in Belarus. The mandate was to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur. I believe we made progress on shedding light on the situation of freedom there. Last year at the Human Rights Commission, Uzbekistan was singled out for its human rights abuses and Ambassador Williamson brought the following to the attention of the media and the other delegates : "In Uzbekistan there were at least four new torture deaths in custody during the year and continued reports of torture with impunity and unfair trials. We hope Uzbekistan will soon publish and begin implementation of its National Action Plan against torture, including the introduction of habeas corpus. Meanwhile, harassment and arrests of political opponents, including independent journalists and activists, continued, as did registration problems for opposition political parties and nongovernmental organizations." ¬†[July 20, 2005 10:51]

Name: Odil What is U.S. doing to fix human rights abuse?  [July 20, 2005 09:17]

Name: Goli Ameri I was very proud to be part of the US Delegation to the UN Commisson on Human Rights this year because the issue of human rights is extremely important to the United States and to President Bush's administration. Freedom, democracy and human rights all go hand in hand. Free and democratic countries do not abuse the rights of their citizens. In fact they are beholden to their citizens. The promotion of democracy and freedom is a cornerstone of the foreign policy of the administration. And we can already see the results with elections in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, the Ukraine amongst others. [July 20, 2005 10:55]

Name: (Anonymous) Why do American soldiers feel that they must degrade political prisoners to get their point across? For Example the Guantanamo Bay prisoners' treatment, especially the muslim prisoners? Altough many have said that it was untrue... [July 20, 2005 10:55]

Name: Goli Ameri There are many reasons why I have come to love the United States. One is because of the integrity of its people especially its men and women in uniform. Second it's because the US is the most self-questioning and self-corrective system in the world. The mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was a grave mistake by a handful of soldiers and it was not tolerated. The US judicial system is now actively at work. Those soldiers have been brought to trial. In the US when mistakes happen, everyone responsible tries to ascertain that the system is fixed and that the mistake does not happen again.  [July 20, 2005 11:07]

Name: Abdurashid Why does U.S. push human rights reforms in some parts of the world, but not others with the same abuses? [July 20, 2005 10:56]

Name: Goli Ameri I concur that in past, the US might have been more critical of certain regimes and not sufficiently of othrs. As I said in a previous question, human rights, freedom and democracy are the cornerstones of this administration's foreign policy. Here is a quote I like very much from one of President Bush's recent speeches: "We will not repeat the mistakes of the past, appeasing or excusing tyranny and sacrificing freedom in the vain pursuit of stability. We have learned our lesson. No one's liberty is expendable." [July 20, 2005 11:12]

Name: Akram Why does UN need reforms? Can the USA reform the UN? [July 20, 2005 11:13]

Name: Goli Ameri Since I've returned from the UN Commission on Human Rights, this has become my favorite question! As I wrote in a recent editorial those proposing UN reform, are not against the UN. In fact they harken back to what the UN was created to do. There are certainly parts of the UN that function well. But others, like the human rights commission have completely lost sight of why they are there. Over 30% of the commission's membership are human rights abusers. They band together, derail resolutions and play politics while the lives and the freedom of their people are in jeopardy. Sometimes they don't even allow condemnatory resolutions to come up for absurd bureacratic technicalities. There is no accountability and little oversight. Bad combination for any large organization! [July 20, 2005 11:21]

Name: (Anonymous) If we look around the world we can see many countries calling themselves democratic, but with such diverse applications of the term, doesn’t it make the concept rather meaningless? Behind all the contingencies what is it about all these countries that make them democratic? [July 20, 2005 09:18]

Name: Goli Ameri I'm a big believer in simplifying concepts rather than making them more complex than they need to be. Democratic countries have certain important charactersitics in common: freedom of press, freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, women's rights, right to property. If these attributes are there, then the country is democratic. If they're not there, then it's not democratic. The Community of Democracies is an association of nations committed to the promotion of democratic principles within the UN and other international organizations. These nations took part in a Democracy Caucus at this year’s Commission—and last year's UN General Assembly—as a network of countries that share a common commitment to freedom and democracy, a network to advance resolutions and initiatives consistent with democratic values.  [July 20, 2005 11:32]

Name: Tim Receveur Question submitted for Hasnaoui... Hello...I note that in more of the contempt of the human rights there is an insufficient work by the governments for the publication of the cultures and the values of the universal declaration of the human rights and the International Conventions aiming at the protection of the human rights. Is there any program of work for the popularization of human rights in the arabo-Moslem word aiming peace?  [July 20, 2005 11:30]

Name: Goli Ameri I certainly see a wave of political change not only in the Arab/Muslim countries but all over the world. Let's quickly review some of the recent events: Georgia’s Rose Revolution and Ukraine’s Orange Revolution freed millions and inspired countless more who are still living under despotism. People around the world saw citizens of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Palestinian Authority choosing their own governments and knew that they too should have that right. In Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East, the people have raised their voice for a true democracy with free and fair elections and a sovereign nation free from foreign occupation and influence. I get the sense that democracy is on the march everywhere, and the United States certainly feels that it is the imperative of our time to rally to this cause.  [July 20, 2005 11:39]

Name: Nurlan As a former citizen of Iran, how do you view the human rights situation there? Do you think that elections there were fair?  [July 20, 2005 11:09]

Name: Goli Ameri Elections are free and fair when any candidate is free to run for office. The candidates in Iran were vetted first before they could even run. When I ran for congress in Oregon last year, no one asked me a series of questions first to determine if I was eligible to . It was up to the people to decide if they agree with my platform. That's free and fair elections. [July 20, 2005 11:46]

Name: (Anonymous) Do you think that Human Rights Issues ought to outweigh strategic priorities when it comes to our relations with other nations, including our allies? For example, with Saudi Arabia? [July 20, 2005 11:35]

Name: Goli Ameri Freedom, democracy and human rights are a strategic priority of President Bush's administration. Although I wrote this in another answer, let me quote the president again and I believe it will answer your question. "We will not repeat the mistakes of the past, appeasing or excusing tyranny or sacrificing freedom in the vain pursuit of stability. We have learned our lesson. No one's freedom is expendable." I think every word in this quote has meaning. We have seen the beginnings of a democratic movement in Saudi Arabia with the recent municipal elections.  [July 20, 2005 11:54]

Name: Adam Kesher Dear Goli, Hello. The US and EU introduced the Draft Resolution on Situation of Human Rights in Belarus. Is it planned to develop and introduce similar resolutions on, say, Kazakhstan, which is notoriously known for having political prisoners, suspicious deaths of independent journalists, banning of the political parties, provocations and attacks on the opposition leaders etc.? Best wishes, Adam Kesher, Ph.D.  [July 20, 2005 11:57]

Name: Goli Ameri The issue of Kazakhstan was discussed at this year's commission. I would personally like to see the EU play a stronger role in the promotion of freedom, democracy and human rights in Eastern Europe. [July 20, 2005 12:07]

Name: John Matel Thank you Ms. Ameri and all those who wrote in questions. We never have enough time to answer every one, but I hope that we did manage to address most of the topics. A description of this discussion will be available soon on our webpage at http://usinfo.state.gov/eur. I encourage you all to participate in our web discussion next week with Carol Adelman on U.S. foreign assistance. You will be surprised. Please look for details on our webpage next week and register to participate at iipchat@state.gov John Matel  [July 20, 2005 12:07]