Namibia ‘does not condone HR violations anywhere’

GOVERNMENT does not condone human rights violations anywhere in the world, says Deputy Foreign Minister Lempy Lucas, despite Namibia abstaining from voting on such issues at the UN General Assembly several times.

Lucas was responding to a question from Jurie Viljoen of Monitor Action Group (MAG) in the National Assembly last Thursday.Viljoen had asked whether Namibia voted for or against a resolution adopted by the UN in December, condemning Iran’s alleged torture, increased executions, violent repression of women and the rise of discrimination against Christians, Jews, Sunni Muslims, Bahai and other minorities. The UN has passed 21 resolutions since 1985 expressing ‘deep concern at serious human rights violations’ by Iran.According to Lucas, Namibia abstained from voting in the UN General Assembly ‘when certain countries are targeted or accused of human rights violations, because of politicisation, double standards and selectivity on the part of the sponsors of these country-specific resolutions’. ‘This has been a conscious and persistent position,’ Lucas added.According to her, some developed countries condemning human rights violations in developing countries have poor human rights records themselves.’It is an indisputable fact that should any developing country attempt to criticise the situation of human rights in a developed country, such an attempt is met with stern warnings and threats of withdrawal of development assistance,’ Lucas told MPs.’Western Sahara and Palestine are a case in point, because the occupying powers continue to violate human rights (there) with impunity while some of their allies turn a blind eye.’Namibia does not have the capacity to independently verify violations of human rights in any country, the Deputy For-eign Affairs Minister added.’There should be a level playing field in condemning, investigating and scrutinising such incidents in all member states of the UN.’