US Features
Outgoing Annan cites human rights failures
By JT Nguyen Dec 8, 2006, 20:39 GMT
New York - In one of his last public speeches as UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan Friday said the international community has failed to protect human rights, citing inaction to stop the continued killing of civilians in Sudan's Darfur region.
'How can an international community which claims to uphold human rights allow this horror to continue?' Annan asked a conference organized by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
'There is more than enough blame to go around,' he said.
The conference and Annan's address was an early commemoration of International Human Rights Day on Saturday.
Annan in particular has made human rights a priority of his 10- year leadership of the UN, which expires on December 31, when he hands over to Ban Ki-moon of South Korea.
Human rights, development and security are the three main pillars of the UN, Annan noted, calling for advances in all three areas to achieve the goal of enhancing life around the world.
'But I'm not sure how far I have succeeded, or how much nearer we are to bringing reality of the UN in line with my vision of human rights as its 'third pillar,' on a par with development, peace and security,' Annan said.
He said the atrocities and killing committed in Darfur are the most glaring failure to protect human rights. He said some governments have considered the UN concept of responsibility to protect as neo-colonialism.
'This is utterly false,' he said. 'We must do better. We must develop responsibility to protect into a powerful international norm that is not only quoted but put into practice, whenever and wherever it is is needed.'
Responsibility to protect includes dispatching UN forces to try to put a stop to the killing like the massacre of up to a million people in Rwanda in 1994. The UN Security Council has tried to send a peacekeeping force to end the fighting in Darfur, but the strong opposition from the Sudanese government has prevented such a deployment.
The ethnic fighting in Darfur since 2003 has killed more than 300,000 people and made more than 2 million refugees. The UN said the situation is worsening, not improving, and its efforts have been held in check by Khartoum who considers an international troops as a colonizing force.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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We see the limits of the 'all peaceful' approach. We need to have 2 styles of response: a peaceful response toward democratic peaceful governments, and a more hostile response to non-democratic and non-peaceful governments. Negotiations with Sudan and Zimbabwe is about as useful as negotiations with North Korea, Iran, Syra, as was Hitler. Are we worried about stepping on Kim Jong Ill's 'mandate of the people'? We need a backruptcy court for failed states; democratic backruptcy, moral bankruptcy, and societal bankruptcy. Colonialism should come back for failed states, as long as it is based on responsibility and duty instead of power, control, and greed. With auditable transparancy and openness.
spot on. Ghandi once sais people prefer their own bad government to someone elses good government. I wonder if they would feel that way after a generation of bad government?
The man has done the best job he could with idiots like the first few
writers having their representitives on the war wagon for other oil rich the countries.
Sudan unfortunately is not rich in oil and so America could'nt care less about a few more dead brown people.
As for south African White supremisists having their land stolen back by its
rightful owners. Good for them .
i believe in 1921 the irish should have taken back all lands and properties from
the westbrits who had stayed behind.In the 1980s margaret thatcher of england made an aggreement with bob mugabi that 10 years after the revolution he could pay a fair price for the land and take it back. He did pay a fair price. He let the colonists spend another 10 years in his country an let them live which is a lot more than they did for the local people who they raped and robbed for two hundred years. If I were a black man in charge of the UN Id do as he did.
Well done Kofi.
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And What a terrific Job You Did, Kofi...Dec 8th, 2006 - 21:15:51
Taking all that Oil-for-Food money really helped those Kurds in Iraq, by perpetuating their persecution for years.
You really stood up for those S.African farmers who had their land confiscated.
You made some really useless progress on human rights in Africa, no doubt because the cowards who run those nations put you in place to stifle debate
You really made a case for helping the situation in Darfur, by doing absolutely nothing to get local support, from an area that you have the most influence.
Yes, Kofi, it's hard to see you go.(Not!)
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