Judgment Day for Qaddafi's Rights Record

Until the Libyan rebellion began, the world had no trouble shaking Qaddafi's hand and tolerating, if not condoning, his homicidal eccentricities.

On Sunday, the Toronto Star ran a headline “Human Rights Council burnished Libya’s image.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong. A more accurate headline would have been “Libya on the Human Rights Council Tarnishes the UN’s image.”

And that is putting it mildly.

The thoughtless headline is not the fault of the author – U of T Political Science Professor Aurel Braun – who excellently pointed out the lunacy of appointing Gaddafi to have anything to do with human rights.

The only way he observes them, is to violate them.

Yet until rebellion, the world had no trouble shaking his hand and tolerating, if not condoning, his homicidal eccentricities.

Now that Gaddafi’s foot is on the banana peel, the Canadian government is expressing disapproval and sanctions -- now that it’s safe. All governments do this, not just the Canadian one.

As the old saying goes, if you’re going to kick a man, safest to wait until he’s down – or going down, as Gaddafi apparently is.

It wasn’t that long ago that U.S. President Barack Obama was shaking Gaddafi’s hand, and avoiding sensitive topics.

Prof. Braun succinctly itemized some of the outrages perpetrated by Gaddafi – sponsoring the 1988  sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie that killed 270;  the bomb in the Berlin disco that killed American servicemen – and for which President Reagan ordered an air strike on Gaddafi in reprisal. That worthy gesture was almost 24 years ago in 1986.

When it comes to human rights – look at Gaddafi prosecuting five Bulgarian nurses whom he falsely accused of infecting children with the AIDS virus. Ridiculous, but only murmurs of disapproval from the international set.

There was discreet rejoicing after President George Bush invaded Iraq, and Gaddafi announced he was abandoning weapons of mass destruction – though he was still willing to help North Korea’s Kim Jong Il.

Prof. Braun is righteously indignant that last year in a secret ballot, Libya received 155 votes from 192 countries to serve on the UN’s Human Rights Council, which is pledged to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.”

That vote didn’t “burnish” Libya’s or Gaddafi’s image, it made a mockery of the UN’s Human Rights Council, formed in 2006 after the previous Human Rights Commission - in place since 1946 - had effectively discredited itself.

Now that democratic world leaders are tut-tutting and deploring Gaddafi, the question could be asked: What in hell are China, Cuba, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia doing on the UN Human Rights Council?

These countries (and other UN members) have a record of abusing their own people and violating every principle of human rights.

But the same leaders who now want Gaddafi out, are the ones who cow-tow to China and gently avoid offending Beijing. Idiots. Don’t they realize that China can’t be offended?

China has only national interests. If Beijing can persuade the rest of the world to turn a blind eye to its harvesting of living organs, crushing dissension and executing people for alleged political and economic crimes, it will do so. Business takes precedence over principles.

Libya, whose people are repressed but have a comparatively high standard of living and literacy, is only one of many latent rebellions in the Middle East today.

One wonders when dissent will move south and eliminate Gaddafi’s friend and soulmate -- Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, whom African leaders are reluctant to criticize until they are certain he’s on the way out.

Tweet