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Spanish— Today, authoritarian regimes do not hide. In fact, they don’t even try. They like to strut their stuff at dialogue tables, talk about the repression of the weakest and even join human rights committees. And nowadays, oppressions are better disguised through agreements, memoranda, reports, communiqués, and mere pronouncements. Ironically though, that is not the worst thing; the worst thing is that there are bureaucratic allies for such purposes. Today, for example, the United Nations qualifies as one of them.
The signs are palpable, and the inclination of the balance is less and less concealed. Therefore, it is necessary to remember and keep in mind those moments when a body, created to promote social progress, the improvement of living standards and human rights, lowers its head and cedes ground to authoritarianism.
The upcoming visit of Alena Douhan to Venezuela, as UN envoy, made the occasion favorable to open a count where the democracies of the world do not want to be. A review to relive the worst blunders this organization has had in favor of socialist and dictatorial regimes.
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UN envoy advocates for regimes in Iran, Syria, Cuba, and Venezuela
Alena Douhan’s visit was announced last year. Delcy Rodríguez, one of the most prominent faces of Chavismo, was in charge of confirming her arrival on February 1. The official is from Belarus. She now serves as one of the 44 UN special rapporteurs on the “negative impact of unilateral coercive measures.”
Douhan will be in the country until February 12. This stay is four times longer than that of Michelle Bachelet, who, in only three days, concluded that “the humanitarian situation has deteriorated extraordinarily.”
Douhan’s previous statements give clues as to how this experience in the Caribbean country will end. In her first report delivered to the Human Rights Council in July of last year, just months after taking office, she complained about US sanctions against the regimes of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, and her homeland Belarus.
In her view, the US “imposes broad trade embargoes as well as targeted sanctions that often involve financial restrictions against entities and individuals.” Douhan, instead of denouncing their serious abuses, blamed the US sanctions for the problems in those countries.
In the document, she argues that “since the pandemic began, the Office of Foreign Assets Control has blocked the US assets of five foreign owners and operators of vessels carrying Venezuelan oil. These include the Swiss trading arm of Russia’s Rosneft and four companies based in Greece and the Marshall Islands that own registered vessels.”
These remarks are in a recent balance sheet, where she admitted that she observes with “concern” that OFAC prepared the inclusion of 50 oil tankers to its blacklist for having collaborated with the Venezuelan state oil sector. This “constitutes a new attempt to cut off the fuel trade between Iran and Venezuela.”
For now, the figure of Joe Biden in the White House reassures her. At least that is the perception. From her Twitter account, she “welcomed” the “willingness” to review the sanctions in the course of the pandemic. She hopes that “sanctions will be lifted or at least mitigated.”
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China, Russia, and Cuba in the Human Rights Council.
In October 2020, Cuba, Russia, and China were elected to the UN Human Rights Council. As of January 1 of this year, they are part of this appendix of this organism, according to Infobae.
These three countries are at the top of the list in terms of domestic human rights violations. Now, the paradoxical thing about this is that the Cuban regime obtained 88 % of the votes, that is, 170 of the 192 valid votes to join the Council. Russia and China received 82% and 72% of the votes, respectively.
In the presentation of its candidacy, Havana highlighted the “participatory and democratic character” of its political system. Here the joke writes itself. It is worth noting that the only legally recognized party in Cuba is the Communist Party. Fidel Castro was a militant there, his brother Raúl Castro, and also the current ruler, Miguel Díaz-Canel, come from there.
Opponents of the Cuban regime are persecuted, arrested, imprisoned, and prevented from leaving the country. There are hundreds of complaints about this, and the number of exiles is increasing. This election raised the number of non-democratic countries in the Human Rights Council from 51% to 60%, UN Watch stressed.
The case of China is not far from this scenario. Xi Jinping’s regime, as well as the Chinese Communist Party, are publicly singled out for the genocide of the Uyghur minority in the northwestern Chinese province of Xinjiang.
Their persecution of dissidents and activists under the umbrella of the National Security Law is another piece of evidence that adds to the thick and infamous book of outrages of the Chinese regime.
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WHO praised China for its “transparency” in dealing with COVID-19.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the WHO has behaved erratically. The head of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, began as a denialist about the magnitude of the coronavirus and then belatedly acknowledged it and applauded China’s “transparency.”
Subsequently, when WHO declared the international public health emergency, Tedros said, “The Chinese government is to be commended for the extraordinary measures it has taken to contain the outbreak,” adding that China had set “a new standard” in epidemic responses.
Such praise comes as no surprise. China is the second-largest donor to the WHO, second only to the United States. In 2019, the Asian giant handed over 44 million USD and then offered 20 million USD more to deal with the coronavirus.
Even as evidence showed that Chinese officials sought to silence those sounding the alarm and underreport cases, Tedros praised Xi Jinping’s leadership.
The WHO has also been a key partner in the regime’s siege against one of its closest territories, Taiwan. In recent years, Taipei has been stripped of its WHO status. This is attributed to Beijing’s “one China, two systems” policy.
The World Medical Association (WMA) condemned this behavior of excluding 23 million people from these treaties and maintains that Taiwan’s inclusion is a health issue, not a political one.
There are many examples of how the UN today is plagued by socialists. These cases are just an eye-opener, but also enough to understand how politics and repression take new forms and ways of attacking. It mimics. Hiding crimes is not an option. Now, dictators have understood that the perfect crime is the one that is done while everyone is watching.
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