UNITED NATIONS, March 29 -- When the UN's Human Rights Committee reviews the record of a country like Uzbekistan, of what value is it? Uzbekistan persecutes political opponents and religious minorities: for example, it has locked up a UNICEF-funded AIDS activist by calling his pamphlets blasphemous.
Last week Inner City Press asked Committee members if Uzbekistan's record was getting better or worse. "That's not the way we address it," replied Krister Thelin, a Swedish member of the Committee. "I will not engage at this time in any grading exercise. I hope you can respect that." Video here, from Minute 32:43.
Is Uzbekistan's record better or worse than New Zealand, which was also being reported on? We don't compare, was the answer, along with a coy pointing to the fact that Uzbekistan has been asked to report again in three years, while New Zealand has been given five years, the "top grade."
Perhaps it's this garbled or non-speak which for example allowed former Police bassist Sting to recently take money to play a concert for the daughter of Uzbek strongman Islam Karimov.
When confronted, Sting said he thought the concert was "sponsored by UNICEF."
But Inner City Press asked UNICEF spokesman Chris de Bono, twice, and both times was told the UNICEF had nothing to do with Ms. Karimova's concert featuring Sting.
With so little said at the press conference, one had to go back to the UN's own write up of the Committee's proceedings on Uzbekistan. Therein, at page 9, one finds the blissfully unaware comments of one "Hellen Keller" of Switzerland who "said she was particularly impressed by the blue booklet the delegation had provided to the Committee." You might ask, how did she know it was blue? Or, what would have has thought of the requirment by neighboring Turkmenistan that all children read the leader's book, Ruhnama?
