UN names Mozambique among countries not giving access to human rights investigations

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UN names Mozambique among countries not giving access to human rights investigations

9:22 CAT | 20 Sep 2016

DW / Reports on human rights violations have intensified with the military conflict

Military conflict in Mozambique has multiplied allegations of human rights. The UN’s attempts to investigate recent allegations of violence by government forces have been thwarted by the authorities’ refusal to grant access.

Mozambique is one of the countries listed by the United Nations (UN) as hindering its work of supervising human rights and investigating abuses, according to information released on Tuesday during a forum in Geneva.

According to the UN, authorities in Mozambique, Ghana, Eritrea and Ethiopia, where there are reports of recent acts of violence and repression by government forces, have refused to allow UN experts to assess the complaints.

Such unwillingness to cooperate with the possible violations of human rights investigations is increasingly evident in a number of countries, the body says.

Allegations of human rights violations

Speaking at the opening session of the Human rights Council, High Commissioner Zed Read al-Hussein said: “After two years as High Commissioner, I believe it is important for me to share with you in this oral update our concern over an emerging pattern: the growing refusal on the part of an increasing number of Member States to grant OHCHR, or the human rights mechanisms, access – either to countries generally, or to specific regions, when that access is requested explicitly, or in other instances to engage with us.”

“I classify as refusals of access all unreasonable delays, elaborately ritualized and unreasonably prolonged negotiations, and responses to specific requests which seem to seek to fob us off with inadequate alternatives to real, fact-based assessment. Access delayed is access denied: two weeks is surely amply sufficient to secure a decision from all relevant officials,” al-Hussein said.

Unlike on previous occasions, al-Hussein actually named the countries that refused to cooperate with the UN, citing China as an extreme case, having refused entry to UN human rights body for 11 years now.

“Discussions with China over the past 11 years regarding an official mission by successive High Commissioners have so far failed to produce an actual commitment to move ahead with a visit,” he said.

The High Commissioner also mentioned Venezuela, which has denied his representative in Latin America a visa, and Turkey, which does not allow UN officials access to the southeast of the country, where serious human rights violations are reported.

Despite all these difficulties, Zed warned that his office will not yield to attempts to hinder their work. “States may shut my office out – but they will not shut us up; neither will they blind us. If access is refused, we will assume the worst.”

Source: Deutsche Welle