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NEWS
Things get a
little chilly for Canada at United Nations: Human rights abuses: Cuba,
four others join Iran in calling for censure
Steven Edwards
CanWest News Service
24 November 2006
National Post
All but Toronto
UNITED NATIONS - Some of the countries most popular with Canadians as
holiday destinations have refused to help Ottawa fight off a bid by Iran
to condemn Canada's record on human rights.
In a showdown at the United Nations, Cuba joined Iran and four other
countries supporting Tehran's call for the world body to censure Canada
over its treatment of native Canadians and immigrants. Various other
countries popular with Canadian tourists stopped short of speaking up
for Canada by abstaining. Among them were China, Thailand, Singapore,
Barbados, Costa Rica and South Africa.
The backbone of support came from Western democracies. The European
Union, Australia and New Zealand went on record saying Iran's
anti-Canadian draft was retaliation for Canada's leadership at the UN on
Tuesday in seeing Iran's human rights record condemned.
Human rights resolutions at the world body are meant to name and shame
countries that abuse their citizens, but pass or fail, they typically
reveal self-interested alliances.
Against the backdrop of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, Canada has
provided considerable political and economic support for Cuba over the
years, despite the island's internationally documented lapses in
respecting human rights.
Canadian tourists have made Cuba one of their top five destinations.
Statistics Canada figures show 517,900 Canadians visited Cuba last year,
spending more than $457-million.
"That's almost a quarter of all the tourists Cuba received last year,"
said Maria Werlau, a Cuban exile who runs the human rights Free Society
Project from New Jersey and has written on the importance of tourism to
Cuba.
"For Cuba to take this stance on a measure even they know is politically
motivated is a cheap shot, and Canadians need to be informed about how
Fidel Castro's government is repaying them for their indirect support of
his regime."
Cuban officials could not be reached for comment. But in a speech at the
UN last month on Canada's draft resolution condemning Iran, Jorge
Cumberbatch of the Cuban mission suggested Ottawa was doing Washington's
bidding.
"Canada has become an accomplice in the war of adventures of its
imperial neighbour," he said.
Despite the accusation, Canada this month voted for a UN resolution
calling on the United States to end its embargo of Cuba. This is the
fourth consecutive year Canada has introduced -- and seen passed -- a
resolution condemning Iran's human rights record.
Cuba and Iran, meanwhile, have been growing closer. On a 2001 visit to
Tehran, Mr. Castro reportedly said the two countries can "bring America
to its knees."
The Iranian draft expressed a series of "grave" and "particular"
concerns about the economic well-being and treatment of aboriginal
peoples and immigrants in Canada.
It also "deplore[d] the worrying situation of women prisoners" in
Canada, a clause some experts believe was inserted in retaliation for
Canadian condemnation of the 2003 torture and murder of Zahra Kazemi, an
Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, in a Tehran prison.
"There are many human rights advocates in Canada, including aboriginal
leaders; they can freely speak up; they are not in jail for having
expressed their opinions or claimed their rights," John McNee, Canada's
ambassador to the UN, said as he defended Canada's record just before
the vote Wednesday.
China's representative said he hoped Ottawa would "improve its human
rights situation." Almost 161,000 Canadians visited China last year,
leaving behind more than $304-million.
Abstaining without comment were Thailand, visited last year by 87,000
Canadians who spent $140-million; and Singapore, visited by 66,400 who
spent more than $41-million.
Other Canadian tourist destinations that abstained were Antigua &
Barbuda, Belize, Ecuador, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines and Trinidad
& Tobago.
The resolution was rejected 107-6, with 49 abstentions, but even some of
the countries that supported Canada said they were doing so only because
they would rather see no resolutions at all targeting the conduct of
specific countries.
Uzbekistan and Venezuela were among this group, two countries that have
been accused of human rights abuses.
Besides Cuba, Iran received backing for its anti-Canadian draft from
North Korea, Syria, Myanmar and Belarus.
Black & White Photo: Adalberto Roque, Agence-France Presse / Canadians
spent more than $457-million visiting Cuba last year, but the
island-nation backed Iran and four other countries in calling for the
United Nations to censure Canada over its treatment of native Canadians
and immigrants.
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