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Human rights versus national insecurity
I didn't manage to watch the Democrats debate on TV last night, but I noted in the Washington Post an interesting exchange about Pakistan and whether national security should trump human rights (see excerpt after the jump). I think that any view of "national security" that doesn't include human rights is short-sighted to start with.
The 3D Security Initiative does great work on this subject - their 3 D's are development, diplomacy, and defense - noting that "Security means freedom from fear and freedom from want."
On foreign policy, the candidates dealt with questions on Pakistan, Iraq and Iran. The lengthiest discussion was about how the United States should deal with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who has declared a state of emergency, rounded up dissenters and put opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest. All said the United States should increase pressure on him, but they differed on how far to push him.
This led to a debate about whether there are times when human rights should take precedence over national security. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said he would condition aid to Pakistan as a way of asserting the preeminence of human rights. Obama said the two are complementary, but Clinton and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) said national security should always be the first priority of any president.
The candidates took up the issue of Iran during a session that included questions from the audience but restated their long-standing positions, which find Clinton at odds with her rivals over a Senate resolution labeling the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.
- Democratic Contenders Step Up Attacks in Debate - washingtonpost.com, 11/16/07
Security and Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal
The current state of emergency in Pakistan, the masive arrests of legal, social and political persons raises in a stark way the relation between human rights and security, in particular the safeguard of the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan. I post below, a press release of my appeal to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) of which Pakistan,India and Iran are permanent observer states. Some, even in peace circles, have not followed the work of the SCO which groups China, Russia and the Central Asian States of the former USSR. It is important to use, when possible, regional security bodies. There is unfortunately no such security organization in the Middle East, thus the need for creating every time a new type of meeting, such as the proposed Annapolis Conference for Israel-Palestine-USA and potentially others. Although the SCO has not worked directly on the nuclear issue, the Pakistan situation may be a challenge that will produce a creative respose. Thus my appeal to their Secretary General.
Rene Wadlow
Press Release 17 November 2007
Citizens of the World Call Upon Shanghai Cooperation Organization
To Help Secure Pakistan Nuclear Arsenal
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which Pakistan is a permanent observer State, has a prime duty to help secure the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan after the state of emergency set in motion on 3 November 2007 by President General Pervez Musharraf. In a message to Mr Bolat K. Nurgaliev, Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Office to the United Nations, Geneva, of the Association of World Citizens stressed that “the possession of nuclear weapons and long-range delivery systems transforms the situation in Pakistan from a national matter to one of world importance. General Musharraf’s misguided actions have led to massive arrests and rumours of a possible counter military coup and unpredictable actions by military factions.
As Citizens of the World, we have long been concerned with the control, reduction, and finally, total abolition of nuclear weapons.”
Rene Wadlow, chief representative to the UN, Geneva, of the Association of World Citizens, underlined the dangers to the member States of the SCO as well as to the other permanent observer States — India and Iran — of an unsecured nuclear arsenal in the current unrest in Pakistan. Wadlow quoted 11 November 2007 report in the Washington Post that “The United States has developed contingency plans to safeguard Pakistani nuclear weapons if they risk falling into the wrong hands. The newspaper quotes an unnamed former US official as saying: If an attempt were made by the US to seize the weapons to prevent their loss, it could be very messy.”
Therefore, world citizens call upon the SCO for a speedy regional approach to assure the security of the nuclear arsenal as well as an immediate return to a constitutional rule of law in Pakistan.
For additional information, please contact Rene Wadlow, Representative to the UN, Geneva, of the Association of World Citizens at wadlowz@aol.com
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