Annan Blasts Global Failure on Darfur Horror
States Must Respect Rights in “War on Terror”
(New York, December 8, 2006) – The outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today delivered a ringing condemnation of the world’s failure to halt the bloodshed in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said today. He also warned against violating human rights in the fight against terror, saying governments that abandon the moral high ground play into the hands of terrorists.
In a speech to 500 guests organized by Human Rights Watch, Annan questioned whether he had succeeded, after 10 years in office, in making the United Nations into an effective defender of human rights. “To judge by what is happening in Darfur, our performance has not improved much since the disasters of Bosnia and Rwanda”, Annan said. “Sixty years after the liberation of the Nazi death camps, and 30 years after the Cambodian killing fields, the promise of ‘never again’ is ringing hollow.”
Annan’s speech, in honor of International Human Rights Day on Sunday December 10, 2006, marks his farewell to the post he has held for two terms. He used the occasion to set out steps that UN members and the incoming secretary-general should take to improve the situation, starting with the need to build upon the “momentous doctrine”, agreed by world leaders last year, of the responsibility to protect against crimes against humanity.
“We must develop the responsibility to protect into a powerful international norm that is not only quoted but put into practice, whenever and wherever it is needed,” Annan said.
(MORE) http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/12/07/global14793.htm
Please also see:
Annan says UN has often failed to deliver
on protecting and promoting human rights http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20911&Cr=human&Cr1=rights
Human Rights Day 2006
HUMAN RIGHTS AND POVERTY
http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2006
States Must Respect Rights in “War on Terror”
(New York, December 8, 2006) – The outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today delivered a ringing condemnation of the world’s failure to halt the bloodshed in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said today. He also warned against violating human rights in the fight against terror, saying governments that abandon the moral high ground play into the hands of terrorists.
In a speech to 500 guests organized by Human Rights Watch, Annan questioned whether he had succeeded, after 10 years in office, in making the United Nations into an effective defender of human rights. “To judge by what is happening in Darfur, our performance has not improved much since the disasters of Bosnia and Rwanda”, Annan said. “Sixty years after the liberation of the Nazi death camps, and 30 years after the Cambodian killing fields, the promise of ‘never again’ is ringing hollow.”
Annan’s speech, in honor of International Human Rights Day on Sunday December 10, 2006, marks his farewell to the post he has held for two terms. He used the occasion to set out steps that UN members and the incoming secretary-general should take to improve the situation, starting with the need to build upon the “momentous doctrine”, agreed by world leaders last year, of the responsibility to protect against crimes against humanity.
“We must develop the responsibility to protect into a powerful international norm that is not only quoted but put into practice, whenever and wherever it is needed,” Annan said.
(MORE) http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/12/07/global14793.htm
Please also see:
Annan says UN has often failed to deliver
on protecting and promoting human rights http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20911&Cr=human&Cr1=rights
Human Rights Day 2006
HUMAN RIGHTS AND POVERTY
http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2006