Pax Gaea Human Rights World Post

Islands of tranquilty roil with political chaos

It wasn't until I undertook a global survey of countries that I came to realize how many could be classified as island nations. In fact 85, nearly 1/3 of all recognized national sovereignties could be classified as either archipelagic (The Marshall Islands, for example) or island centric (e.g., Greece) as the majority of its landmass or population is based on an island. Three of the previous five reports were of island nations. At one time, most island nations were in essence, islands unto themselves as both geography and limited communications made their processes much slower, deliberative and independent of the broader world beyond their watery border. But with the global saturation of media and instant communication even the most isolated locales found themselves able to not only access, but carve out niches in a highly globalized society.

Globalization and the world wide economic crisis delivered a devastating blow to the politics and economy of Iceland. Relatively isolated for nearly a 1,000 years except to commercial fisherman and extended families in Scandinavia, Iceland first came to the global stage as host nation for the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev Summit in the capital city of Reykjavik. In an effort to expand beyond it traditional aquacultural income, Iceland has evolved into a banking center which became heavily overcapitalized in comparison to its annual Gross Domestic Product. Its failure to safeguard against national bank failures led to the resignation of Prime Minister Geir Harde and the election of Johanna Sigurdardottir, Iceland's first female Prime Minister and the world's only openly gay and same-sex married world leader. While an example of Iceland's progressive social nature, the U.S. State Department's annual Human Rights Report cites racial discrimination and violence against women as the primary rights concerns of the nation. The United Nations Committee on Torture cites concerns in Iceland's lack of clear definition with respect to torture as its biggest rights issue. While Amnesty International echoes concern for Iceland's refugee and immigration policies, Human Rights Watch hasn't issued a report on Iceland since 2001, and that was in conjunction with the Global Child Soldier and Land Mine Reports. Freedom House's annual survey gives Iceland its highest marks. Iceland acknowledges the scourge of periodic violence against women is a recent UN statement and the steps they are making to eliminate it from society. Unfortunately, both Iceland's Ombudsman and Human Rights Centre seem to take a low key, inactive role in society as few current reports have been published.

On the opposite end of the freedom and democracy scale is Turkmenistan. Much of its oppressive nature is was institutionalized during the ironclad rule of President Niyazov, a hold over from the Soviet days who retained absolute power over the nation for over 20 years. His sudden death in December 2006 left a power vacuum as the Turkmenistan constitution made no provision of succession for Turkmenbashi, the "Father of Turkmenistan", the title assumed by Niyazov who declared hiimself "President For Life." Its status as a world supplier of natural gas led to a rapid reorganization of executive authority being vested in a deputy minister, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, who has promised to institute democratic steps. Though detailed, the U.S. State Department Human Rights Report takes a soft approach in its criticism of Turkmenistan as it is expanding its support of developing the nation's natural gas sector. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, likewise highlighted the growth in religious tolerance in this post-Soviet, Muslim-dominant society. Amnesty International stresses the need of Turkmenistan to free environmental activists, one of many pressure groups which suffer oppression under Turkmenistan's omnipresent leadership while Human Rights Watch broached a more detailed list of rights abuses in questioning the wisdom of economic assistance from Europe. Freedom House continues to list Turkmenistan as one of the most oppressive regimes. The government, however, sees itself as positively expanding freedom, particularly, the press with the creation of a Democracy and Rights Journal. Likewise, the National Institution of Human Rights and Democracy, a quasi-governmental body, cites its efforts to institute UN recommendations to expand the rights of women. The Helsinki Foundation, however, gives a slighter dimmer view of rights progress in publishing an analysis by the British Commonwealth detailing the status of rights in Turkmenistan. It is commendable that Turkmenistan is attempting to expand rights in the nation. At the same time, while it is laudable that the United States, Europe and the United Nations are incentivizing the process through aid and trade expansion, those expansions in capital should be synced to demonstrable growth in liberty and democracy so that yet another nation does not benefit from a tyranny dividend.

With a little over 40,000 citizens Saint Kitts and Nevis heralds one of the most stable democracies in the Caribbean. Independent since 1983 it is a member of the Commonwealth and heavily dependent on tourism. It boasts one of the best human rights records in the region with the U.S. State Department reporting excessive force, poor prisons and violence against women as its biggest issues. It has been nearly a decade since Saint Kitts and Nevis has undergone review by the U.N. Human Rights Council which likewise cited issues pertaining to women, particularly their minimal political participation. Amnesty International cites their unique status as one of the few nations in the Americas that still carries out capital punishment, most recently in 2008. Human Rights Watch hasn't reviewed their status since 2004 when they noted their hosting a Caribbean Forum on homophobia and AIDS. Freedom Watch gives Saint Kitts and Nevis the highest marks for democracy as Prime Minster Douglas has recently began restructuring the government to strengthen anticorruption, antiterrorism, and antitrafficking
laws. These were among a number of sweeping changes instituted by Douglas, one receiving condemnation by the High Court which was critical of the government's efforts to reapportion and potentially gerrymander constituent districts. Another, the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry, is being challenged in court by the opposition party. Lacking a comprehensive human rights body, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative fills much of that breach, particularly regarding transparency and government accountability with a campaign for Caribbean nations to enact a "Know Your Rights Day". Perhaps it is easy to understand how small nations with stable societies feel little need to provide internal human rights oversight. Likewise, as international groups have to channel their limited dollars to provide analysis in less stable countries means that places like Saint Kitts and Nevis undergo less frequent scrutiny. However, as the repeal of capital punishment is the cornerstone of so many rights organizations, it seems that more frequent review would shine a brighter light more frequently on a place that is easily overlooked. And, perhaps, with more frequent review, more societal ills would be revealed.

With respect to stability, few nations in Africa enjoyed more so than Gabon. Located on the Atlantic Gold Coast,
Gabon was led by Omar Bongo for over 40 years, first as a single party then, later as a multi-party democracy. Though opposition parties have frequently declared the votes invalid, both Gabonese citizens and African leaders looked to Bongo for leadership who was viewed as a mediating force in Africa. Upon his death, son Ali Bongo ran as the leader of his father's party and won a highly disputed presidential contest. The U.S. State Department cites their poor human rights record which includes, ritual killing, torture, police and government corruption, violence against women and human trafficking as the primary concerns. It has been five years since Gabon has stood for review at the U.N. Human Rights Council which criticized the status of women's rights. Amnesty International has not reviewed Gabon individually for some time however they were a signatory of a multi-organization rebuke of Gabon's incarceration of human rights and environmental activists. More recently Human Rights Watch included Gabon's Bongo in a report of foreign dictators of poor nations who live in luxury in the U.S. while their people go without. Freedom House's annual report downgraded the status of Gabon primarily due to the nation's crackdown of NGO's and civil society leaders. During a recent visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, President Ali Bongo vowed to make the spread of democracy and crack down on corruption in Gabon signature reforms of his administration. While Gabon has an Ombudsman institution in place, virtually no cases have been reported in years. Most internal human rights criticism comes from the opposition party's human rights NGO "Bongo Doit Partir Gabon Nouveau" who view the recent election of Ali Bongo as the perpetuation of a one-party dictatorship. It is still too early to determine whether Ali Bongo will institute real reform in Gabon that does indeed make the political process more democratic and transparent just as it is premature to determine if Ali will have the same mediating impact as his father.

Few places on earth conjure a more idyllic image as does French Polynesia. Spanning some 2 million square miles of the South Pacific (equal in size to continental Europe) and comprised of 130 islands in six groups, French Polynesia is an overseas territory of France. Dependent upon both tourism and development dollars from the motherland, commercial and political life in French Polynesia centers around the Marquesas Island Chain anchored by the capital city of Papeete on Tahiti Island. As it is a territory of France, the U.S. State Department includes them in the annual review of France thus making it difficult to specifically ascertain specific rights abuses in French Polynesia. This is further reiterated in the most recent U.N. Human Rights Council report on the Rights of the Child. Even more poignant is how Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Freedom House follow suit by providing absolutely no oversight of this distant and vast part of our world containing nearly 300,000 people. It is this isolation that gave France the incentive to make French Polynesia a focal point of post World War II era nuclear weapons testing. As one of the five nuclear states France tested 200 weapons in French Polynesia from 1966 until 1996 leading to confrontation with both anti-nuke protesters and indigenous populations uprooted from the islands selected for testing and likewise poisoned from contact with fallout. Bitterness over nuclear testing and victim compensation have served to create political divisions roughly formed along the question of independence.The three primary coalitions have been dominated by three men, Gaston Flosse, Oscar Temaru and Gaston Tong Sang. Over the last few decades each have contested and repeatedly won the Presidency of French Polynesia, presently held by Tong Sang. France has long fought against providing compensation for victims of nuclear testing in French Polynesia. This is most often fought in the courts which tends to side with France. The ability of the three political coalitions to craft legislation that challenges France and the courts leads to the instability of the ever shifting coalitions. As highlighted by Philip Schyle, President of the Territorial Assembly, getting the French government to admit fault dominates the nation's human rights battle. The Human Rights Ombudsman of France tends to weigh in support of compensation for the victims in French Polynesia. On the local level, however the Human Rights League of French Polynesia is focusing on Women's Rights and the on-going issue of domestic abuse, an on-going theme in French Polynesian society recently put to prose.

While globalization may offer economic opportunity to even the most remote of place, with it should come a commitment to human rights oversight. We can not, on one hand, exploit the resources of distant nations and, on the other hand, fail to take responsibility for assuring the rights and democratic development of those people who are now providers and consumers. If we are to upset the tranquility that comes with cultural isolation we are equally responsible that chaos is not all that is left in globalization's wake.

Labels: French Polynesia, Gabon, human rights, Iceland, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Turkmenistan

posted by Dave Carroll @ 4/04/2010 11:57:00 AM