Published On:Wednesday, December 23, 2009

By TANEKA THOMPSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

tthompson@tribunemedia.net

MINISTER of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette defended the country's "enviable" human rights record and criticised US Ambassador Nicole Avant for what he termed as "misrepresentation" of the Bahamas' position on human rights issues.

In a four-page press release outlining the Government's reasons for abstaining on a recent United Nation's vote on three human rights resolutions regarding the actions of Iran, Burma and North Korea, Mr Symonette said the Bahamas chose not to vote because of "factual errors" in the resolutions, which were highlighted by the ambassador of Iran.

Additionally, there were no rebuttals to these criticisms from the co-sponsors of the resolution when the matter was before the UN's Committee for consideration, he said.

"Furthermore there were no proposals from the co-sponsors of the resolution to request a separate vote on each of the substantive paragraphs of the resolution, which would have allowed countries to express their positions on 'controversial' sections," said Mr Symonette's statement, which accompanied the full text of the Bahamas' statement to the UN during consideration of the resolutions and the UN member state voting record.

"When the matter was considered in the Plenary on December 18, 2009, the Bahamas abstained, as it did in the Third Committee, along with 59 member states. Forty-nine member states voted against and 74 voted in favour," he continued, stressing that the Bahamas did not vote against the resolutions.

Mr Symonette, the country's deputy prime minister, said the Bahamas has complied with important sanctions against Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea under the UN Security Council Resolution, adding that the Bahamas is sharp-eyed in their implementation.

His statements came in the wake of stinging criticism from Ms Avant who last week issued a public statement faulting the Government for its decision.

In her remarks, Ms Avant noted that formerly, the Bahamas was consistently one of the "brave souls" in the region that stood up for human rights. She said it is the "fervent hope" of the United States that the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries that abstained or voted against the resolutions will reconsider.

She also chided the Bahamas' explanation for abstaining and its statement that the issues raised in the resolutions should be addressed during the Human Rights Council's (HRC) Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which each country submits to every four years.

"The problem with this argument is that Iran has not facilitated the visit of a single rapporteur or independent expert of the Human Rights Council to its country in over four years. . .Iran's review is February 2010, Burma in 2011, and DPRK at the end of 2009. If we were to do what the Bahamas suggests and wait for the UPR, this would mean the international community would say nothing about these situations in the meantime," Ms Avant wrote, in part.

According to Mr Symonette, Korea underwent its UPR on December 7 adding that Iran will be subject to the same on February 15, 2010.

"Consequently these countries are about to be exposed to the full glare of the intense spotlight of this dedicated organ of the United Nations for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms," he said, adding that a number of the co-sponsors of the relevant resolutions are members of the HRN and can ensure intense scrutiny on the three countries in question.

* The full text of the Bahamas' position on the matter as relayed to the UN will be printed in tomorrow's Tribune.