The announced failure of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC),

Last week the United Nations held elections to the newly created United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), successor to the failed UN Commission on Human Rights.

The 53 members elected (for a period of 2 years plus one) include Algeria, China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia all of which have excellent human rights records as is widely known. These countries were previously key players in undermining the effectiveness of the now-defunct “Commission on Human Rights”, and so it is to expect that they will try to play the same role on the new Council, steering it away from confronting UN members with their human rights abuses.

Ironically, just before the election, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom issued its 2006 ANNUAL REPORT, which presents the immaculate records of China, Cuba, Pakistan, the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia. Here some excerpts about the records of those countries as to religious freedom [source: newsbyus.com]

Cuba: “Religious belief and practice continue to be tightly controlled in Cuba, where the government rarely permits the construction of new places of worship. A new law on religion, adopted last year and meant to ‘legalize’ certain religious activity, actually reinforces the government’s efforts to maintain control over religious practice. Reports indicate that at least three Protestant house churches have been closed, confiscated, and/or demolished since the new law went into effect. In the past year, both registered and unregistered religious groups continued to experience varying degrees of official interference, harassment, and repression.” [Source: ANNUAL REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM; May 2006, p. 91.]

China: “Every religious community in China is subject to serious restrictions, state control, and repression. The most severe religious freedom abuses are directed against Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, Roman Catholics, house church and unregistered Protestants, and spiritual groups such as the Falun Gong – abuses involving imprisonment, torture, and other forms of ill treatment. Though the Chinese government issued a new Ordinance on Religion in March 2005, its provisions, in fact, restrict rather than protect religious freedom, offering Party Leaders more extensive control over all religious groups and their activities.” [ANNUAL REPORT; p. 83]
Pakistan: “…a number of the country’s laws, including legislation restricting the Ahmadi community and laws against blasphemy, frequently result in imprisonment on account of religion or belief and/or vigilante violence against the accused. These religious freedom concerns persist amid the wider problem of the lack of democracy in Pakistan, an obstacle the current government has done little to address. …Given the importance of Pakistan in the U.S. government’s efforts against terrorism, the failure of the Pakistani government to implement genuine religious freedom reforms is a cause for serious concern.” [ANNUAL REPORT; p. 89]

The Russian Federation: “Since the [United States] Commission [On International Religious Freedom] expressed strong concern in its May 2003 report that the Russian government was retreating from democratic reform and endangering significant gains on human rights, including freedom of religion or belief, it has become increasingly clear that this is a deliberate policy of the Russian government. … The country’s progress toward the rule of law and protection of religious freedom and other human rights is now in peril.” [ANNUAL REPORT, 159.]

Saudi Arabia: “The repressive Saudi government continues to engage in an array of severe violations of human rights as part of its repression of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief. Abuses include: torture and cruel and degrading treatment or punishment imposed by judicial and administrative authorities; prolonged detention without charges and often incommunicado; and blatant denials of the right to liberty and security of the person, including coercive measures aimed at women…” [ANNUAL REPORT, 190.]