{"id":206069,"date":"2018-03-27T22:15:20","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T05:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=206069"},"modified":"2018-03-29T10:16:36","modified_gmt":"2018-03-29T17:16:36","slug":"u-n-rights-council-adopts-chinese-call-for-win-win-cooperation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2018\/03\/u-n-rights-council-adopts-chinese-call-for-win-win-cooperation\/","title":{"rendered":"U.N. Rights Council Adopts Chinese Call for Cooperation"},"content":{"rendered":"

China has long faced accusations of interference with human rights work by and at the United Nations, including obstruction of inspections<\/a>, intimidation of activists<\/a>, and other suppression of civil society participation<\/a>. In 2015 it mounted an unsuccessful attempt to allow countries to criticize NGOs anonymously during the U.N. accreditation process<\/a>. The following year, it was part of a group of nations that blocked applications for U.N. consultative status by NGOs<\/a> including the Committee to Protect Journalists. In May last year, citing the expulsion of a Uyghur activist from the U.N. headquarters in New York despite full accreditation, Human Rights Watch\u2019s Sophie Richardson wrote that Chinese rights abuses have threatened to \u201cinfect\u201d the organization<\/a>. HRW subsequently issued an extensive report on China’s efforts to obstruct and co-opt U.N. rights mechanisms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These efforts continued last week, when the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a Chinese resolution on international cooperation<\/a><\/strong> by a vote of 28 to one\u2014the United States\u2014with 17 abstentions. From The New York Times’ Nick Cumming-Bruce:<\/p>\n

Without specifying any immediate action, it called for \u201ca community of shared future for human beings\u201d and \u201cmutually beneficial cooperation in the field of human rights\u201d \u2014 words reflecting \u201cthe very purpose of the United Nations,\u201d according to Yu Jianhua, ambassador for China, whose initiative it was.<\/p>\n

Western officials and rights organizations, however, saw another purpose at work. They share deep concern about the wider intent behind those phrases, seeing them as tools in a developing effort to reshape international norms on rights and make the world a safer place for autocrats.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] \u201cThis is China stepping out of the shadows to play a more assertive role and to use its increasing leverage globally to get what it wants,\u201d said Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] The resolution adopted on Friday appeared to double down on that objective. The first draft circulated by Chinese diplomats echoed language from the speeches of President Xi Jinping, extolling the merits of \u201cwin-win\u201d cooperation and the importance of \u201cforging a new form of international relations.\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reuters’ Stephanie Nebehay offered comments from U.S. diplomat Jason Mack<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear that China is attempting through this resolution to weaken the U.N. human rights system and the norms underpinning it,\u201d Mack said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018feel good\u2019 language about mutually beneficial cooperation is intended to benefit autocratic states at the expense of people whose human rights and fundamental freedoms we are all obligated as states to respect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] Mack, referring to Chinese spokespeople, added: \u201cThey have been clear about their intent to glorify their head of state by inserting his thoughts into the international human rights lexicon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA true example of cooperation in promoting and protecting human rights would be for China to release citizens it has wrongly detained or to protect the right of religious minorities to freely practice their religion,\u201d he said. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Foreign Policy’s Colum Lynch reported another “win” for China on Monday<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, has quietly begun to dismantle a key cell within his office charged with ensuring that the international body\u2019s sprawling political and humanitarian agencies promote human rights.<\/p>\n

The move comes mere months after China, with the support of Russia and other critics of the U.N. human rights mission, led a successful effort in an obscure but powerful U.N. budget committee to block a request by Guterres to fund the cell, which was established in 2014.<\/p>\n

The development is just one of the latest signs that Beijing and Moscow are gradually gaining ground in their geopolitical struggle against the West to roll back decades of advances on human rights at the U.N. But human rights proponents claim that the U.N. chief, as well as the United States and European countries, has done too little to resist the trend.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] \u201cChina is the real playmaker here. It has cleverly combined positive messaging over climate change and development with an increasingly uncompromising approach to limiting human rights,\u201d says Richard Gowan, a U.N. expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. \u201cIt can get away with this because a lot of diplomats view Chinese engagement at the U.N. as insurance against Trump walking away [from multilateralism].\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More, from Julian Borger at The Guardian<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

The funding of the office of the high commissioner for human rights in Geneva has also been cut. The current high commissioner, Zeid Ra\u2019ad Hussein, has announced that he will be stepping down this year and not seeking another term in the post, explaining to his staff that the lack of global support for protecting human rights made his job untenable.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] \u201cThe fifth committee has become a battleground for human rights,\u201d Louis Charbonneau, the UN director for Human Rights Watch, said. \u201cRussia and China and others have launched a war on things that have human rights in their name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can get a mandate for human rights work in the security council, but then Russia and China go behind the scenes to defund it,\u201d Charbonneau said. \u201cAnd the countries that pay lip service to human rights are not pushing back. But the question is are we going to let them win?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChina has real political momentum at the UN now,\u201d Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council for Foreign Relations, said. \u201cIt is now the second biggest contributor the UN budget after the US, and is increasingly confident in its efforts to roll back UN human rights activities. It is also pushing its own agenda \u2013 with an emphasis on \u2018harmony\u2019 rather than individual rights in UN forums. And a lot of countries like what they hear.\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Human Rights Watch’s Geneva director criticized those countries which merely abstained last week despite vocal reservations about the resolution:<\/p>\n

\n

A failure of courage for each State which explained why #China<\/a>\u2019s \u201cmutually beneficial cooperation\u201d resn distorts internatnl framework – but only abstained. How can defenders in China have confidence you\u2019ll stand with them, if you won\u2019t stand agst a resn you know is wrong? #HRC37<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pZJFUpmMj3<\/a><\/p>\n

— John Fisher (@JohnFisher_hrw) March 23, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n