Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 28 december 2019
UN official: Past decade has seen human rights `backlash'

By EDITH M. LEDERER Gilmour said human rights
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — were worse during the Cold
The past decade has seen War between the U.S. and
a backlash against human the former Soviet Union,
rights on every front, espe- "but there wasn't a push-
cially the rights of women back as there is now."
and the LGBT communities, He pointed to the fact that
according to a top U.N. hu- in the past eight years or
man rights official. so, many countries have
Andrew Gilmour, the outgo- adopted laws designed to
ing assistant secretary-gen- restrict the funding and ac-
eral for human rights, said tivities of nongovernmental
the regression of the past organizations, especially
10 years hasn't equaled human rights NGOs.
the advances that began And he alleged that pow-
in the late 1970s — but it is erful U.N. member states
serious, widespread and re- stop human rights officials
grettable. from speaking in the Secu-
He pointed to "populist rity Council, while China
authoritarian nationalists" and some other members
in North America, South "go to extraordinary lengths
America, Europe and Asia, to prevent human rights
who he said are taking In this June 14, 2019, photo provided by the United Nations, Andrew Gilmour, assistant secretary- defenders (from) entering
aim at the most vulnerable general for human rights, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in Sudan and the (U.N.) building even,
groups of society, includ- South Sudan at U.N. headquarters. let alone participate in the
ing Myanmar's Rohingya Associated Press meetings."
Muslims, Roma, and Mexi- In March 2018, for example,
can immigrants, as well as He didn't name them but like conditions exist. the past decade, Gilm- Russia used a procedural
gays and women. He cited appeared to be refer- Gilmour is leaving the Unit- our — a Briton who previ- maneuver to block then-
leaders who justify torture, ring to China's internment ed Nations on Dec. 31 af- ously worked in politics and U.N. High Commissioner for
the arrests and killing of camps in western Xinjiang ter a 30-year career that journalism — said he didn't Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad
journalists, the brutal re- province, where an esti- has included posts in hot want to appear "relentless- al-Hussein from addressing
pressions of demonstrations mated 1 million members spots such as Iraq, South ly negative." a formal meeting of the
and "a whole closing of civil of the country's predomi- Sudan, Afghanistan, the "The progress of human Security Council, the U.N.'s
society space." nantly Muslim Uighur mi- Palestinian territories and rights is certainly not a lin- most powerful body, Gilm-
"I never thought that we nority are being held; and West Africa. Before taking ear progression, and we our said.
would start hearing the detention centers on the up his current post in 2016, have seen that," he said. Zeid was able to deliver his
terms 'concentration United States' southern he served for four years as "There was definite progres- hard-hitting speech soon
camps' again," Gilmour border, where mostly Cen- director of political, peace- sion from the late '70s until after, but only at a hurriedly
told The Associated Press tral American migrants are keeping, humanitarian and the early years of this cen- organized informal council
in an exclusive interview. being held while waiting human rights affairs in for- tury. And we've now seen meeting where he decried
"And yet, in two countries to apply for asylum. Both mer Secretary-General Ban very much the counter- "mind-numbing crimes"
of the world there's a real countries strongly deny Ki-moon's office. tendency of the last few committed by all parties in
question." that concentration camp- Despite his dim view of years." Syria.q

Montenegro adopts law on religion amid protests by pro-Serbs

The vote early Friday fol- are demonstrating tonight," president has accused the
lowed a day of nation- opposition leader Andrija Serbian Orthodox Church
wide protests by supporters Mandic said during the in- of promoting pro-Serb poli-
of the Serbian Orthodox cidents. cies and seeking to under-
Church who say the law The law, approved by 45 mine the country's state-
strips the church of its prop- ruling coalition lawmakers, hood since it split from
erty, including medieval says religious communities much larger Serbia in 2006.
monasteries and churches. would need to produce Montenegrins remain divid-
The government has de- evidence of ownership of ed over whether the small
nied that. their property from before Adriatic state should foster
Trying to prevent the vote, 1918, when Montenegro close ties with Serbia.
the pro-Serb lawmakers joined a Balkan kingdom. Hundreds of pro-Serb op-
hurled what appeared to Montenegro's population position supporters on Thurs-
be a tear gas canister, or of around 620,000 is pre- day staged an all-day pro-
a firecracker, and tried to dominantly Orthodox Chris- test against the law, block-
Police officers guard the parliament building in Podgorica, Mon-
tenegro, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019, during a protest against a pro- destroy microphones in tian and the main church ing roads and entrances to
posed law regarding religious communities and property. the parliament hall. Plain- is the Serbian Orthodox the cities. Dozens of riot of-
Associated Press clothes police wearing gas Church. A separate Mon- ficers used metal barriers to
masks intervened, detain- tenegrin Orthodox Church prevent the crowd, includ-
PODGORICA, Montenegro after chaotic scenes in the ing 24 people, including 18 isn't recognized by other ing Orthodox priests, from
(AP) — Montenegro's par- assembly that resulted in opposition lawmakers. Orthodox Christian church- reaching the parliament
liament adopted a con- the detention of all pro- "We are ready to die for our es. building where lawmakers
tested law on religious rights Serb opposition lawmakers. church and that's what we Montenegro's pro-Western debated the bill.q