Military

DATE=01/23/03

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=LIBYA / U-N HUMAN RIGHTS

NUMBER=6-12802

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: This week at the United Nations Geneva office, Libya assumed the chairmanship of the U-N Human Rights Commission. Many American newspapers see that as a contradiction, as we hear now from V-O-A's _________________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: As of Monday, Najat Hajjaji became chairwoman of the Commission, which oversees how the world's nearly 200 nations treat their citizens. The howls of protest from the American press are loud and predictable. Many newspaper editorialists write that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has ruled the North African nation ruthlessly since 1969, jailing or killing dissidents and engaging in international terrorism. We begin our sampling in the Midwest, where Ohio's Columbus Dispatch likens the choice to sending a fox to guard the henhouse.

VOICE: Libya should be encouraged in its efforts to behave better and earn its way out of pariah-nation status, but it's an unfunny joke to put Libya in charge of the United Nations effort on human rights, thanks to the organization's system of rotating the leadership of important agencies. It's hard to imagine a worse choice, except perhaps [Zimbabwe's] Robert Mugabe. Surely the African countries could have chosen one of their number with a better record.

TEXT: Jacksonville's Florida Times-Union is even more blunt in its assessment.

VOICE: If anything demonstrated the futility of the United Nations as constituted, it is the selection of a rogue state to oversee human rights. Libya's citizens did not elect their leader. The government represses abuses and tortures its citizens. It sponsors terrorism on other nations. Yet, the United Nations has placed Libya at the head of its Commission on Human Rights, largely at the request of African nations Libya has been bribing with money it collects from [its] rich oil deposits.

TEXT: In California, The Los Angeles Times sums up its view with this headline: "Libya [is] Wrong for [the] U-N Job," while in Oklahoma, The Tulsa World says:

VOICE: Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon occurrence. Most regions, when it is their turn to name a chairman, appoint a country that is less likely to be too tough on violators. After all, many of the countries nominating the chairman have abysmal human rights records of their own.

TEXT: Colorado's Rocky Mountain News in Denver and Charleston's Post and Courier in South Carolina call the choice "a travesty," while The New York Times suggests that just possibly, some good may come from the choice.

VOICE: The line between farce and tragedy can be blurry. This was certainly true earlier this week when Libya was selected chairman of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. It was an act of such absurdity that it may finally force some serious thinking about reforming the commission. If such change does not occur, that body will pass from a state of confusion to one of utter irrelevance.

TEXT: Across Manhattan, The New York Post simply quotes U-S House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas for its editorial.

VOICE: This outrageous action will provoke even closer scrutiny of the U-N within Congress. The immoral elevation of his dictatorship to its chairmanship is utter hypocrisy.

TEXT: With that comment, we conclude this sampling of reaction to the new U-N Human Rights Commission chairman.

NEB/ANG/RH/FC