A new UN Human Rights Council was formed earlier this year in place of the much criticised UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC).
The UNHRC was seen as a bad joke by many, since several of its members had atrocious human rights records themselves, but were part of a commission aimed at promoting human rights globally. Recent elections to the new council were completed and 47 countries were elected. Amongst those elected were countries with very questionable human rights records such as Cuba, China, Russia, Algeria and Tunisia to name but a few. Responding to the election of Cuba to the council, John Bolton, the US envoy to the UN said, "That simply says that the deficiencies from the previous commission may well now still be carried over."
Interestingly America that was once the champion of human rights in the world did not stand for election in the new council. Even its criticism of the council was fairly muted ignoring countries with the worst human rights abuses such as Russia and China in favour of criticising Cuba.
America has completely lost any moral high ground with regards to human rights today. The establishment of the 'torture camp' in Guantanamo Bay, CIA rendition flights, and the abuses at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison have left America in the same league as China, Russia and many Muslim countries with regards their human rights record.
US Vice-President Dick Cheney speaking at a conference in Lithuania recently attacked Russia's human rights record, saying "the government has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of her people". Russian President Vladimir Putin responded in his annual state of the nation speech on 11th May saying, "Where is all this pathos about protecting human rights and democracy when it comes to the need to pursue their own interests? Here, it seems, everything is allowed and there are no restrictions whatsoever."
It's not just America that has degenerated in to behaviour normally associated with some of the worst governments in the world. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch commenting on the elections to the new Human Rights Council said, "The new council has better tools and a better membership than the old commission." From a lesser of two evils principle this may be true, as Uzbekistan that boils its political opponents alive cannot be compared to Cuba that just imprisons them. However, under the guise of fighting terrorism Britain that once prided itself on being a country of justice and with a clean human rights record has also committed serious abuses.
British troops in Iraq have been caught on camera abusing and torturing prisoners in Basra. At home, the anti-terror legislation has led to hundreds of Muslim homes being raided and Muslims being detained in prison without charge.
In December 2003 Anti-Terrorist Police burst in to the house of Babar Ahmed, brutally assaulting him in front of his wife. He sustained over 50 injuries to his body, two of which were life-threatening. During this attack Babar was placed in the prayer position and asked, "Where is your God now?" Babar remains imprisoned without charge pending his extradition to America.
In an emotional letter printed in the Guardian signed by a group of innocent Algerian prisoners held without charge in Long Lartin Prison. They said, "We are Algerian men who have now been locked up in prison in this country for as long as five years. We know that we face torture in our country of origin, but some of us have come to the decision that a quick death is preferable to the slow death we feel we are enduring here. We have watched some of our members go mad under the strain; we have watched our families suffer and some of us believe that the only thing that we can do is to go forward into the fire, even though we believe we will be burnt.
Having made that decision, we now find that the Algerian embassy says it is the Home Office that is not cooperating with them. We believe that the Home Office prefers to keep us here as a particular form of hostage, for political purposes, and to continue to inflict cruelty upon us, until, they hope, all of us will feel compelled to go."
Even many innocent non-Muslims have been arrested for no other crime than voicing their political opposition to the Iraq war. Maya Evans was arrested and charged for standing in Whitehall and reading out a list of British soldiers killed in Iraq. Walter Wolfgang heckled Jack Straw, the previous Foreign Secretary, during his speech to the Labour Party conference by shouting "That's a lie" as Mr Straw justified keeping British troops in Iraq. After being manhandled by stewards and ejected from the conference he was detained under the Terrorism Act after trying later to re-enter the conference.
Britain also openly supports some of the worst perpetrators of abuses such as Russia's Vladimir Putin, Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf and Egypt's Husni Mubarak. It's no wonder then that Britain just like America has lost any moral high ground with regards criticising other countries abuses. Earlier this year Blair criticised Venezuela urging it to abide by the rules of the international community. In response Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said, "Mr Tony Blair you have no moral right to tell anyone to respect international laws, as you have shown no respect for them, aligning yourself with 'Mr Danger' [President Bush] and trampling on the people of Iraq." On a recent visit to London Hugo Chavez completely snubbed Tony Blair and instead met with other politicians.
The world is crying out today for a state that upholds justice and will work sincerely to alleviate oppression in the world. This state is the Islamic Caliphate State.
The Caliphate will uphold the fundamental rights of justice and will not: break its treaties, torture and abuse prisoners, imprison people without charge, oppress minorities and spy on its citizens. These fundamental rights are enshrined within statutory Islamic Law (shariah) and cannot be reversed by legal precedent or the whims of any government. This provides stability and security to its own citizens allowing them to live their lives without worrying about losing their rights some time in the future as we see happening frequently within Britain nowadays. This also makes the Caliphate a stabilising force internationally.
The politicians within the Caliphate will strictly adhere to implementing this law due to their belief in Islam that they will face accountability for all their actions when they die. This belief will create trustworthy and responsible politicians, not politicians who say one thing and do something else. They are chosen for their merit rather than due to "political favours". Having said this, members of the government are not divine and can make mistakes and can commit abuses. For this reason a strong and effective accountability process exists through an independent judicial court called the Unjust Acts Court, which has the power to impeach any government official including the Caliph if they breach their ruling contracts and commit injustice.
These are just some aspects of the Caliphate that will make it a force for promoting good within the world.
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