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本帖最后由 I'm_zhcn 于 2009-5-15 09:38 编辑
【中文标题】暴君专桌
【原文标题】A table for tyrants
【登载媒体】纽约时报
【来源地址】http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/opinion/11havel.html
【译者】 krypton
【翻译方式】人工
【声明】本翻译供Anti-CNN使用,未经AC或译者许可,不得转载。
【原文库链接】http://bbs.m4.cn/thread-164190-1-1.html
IMAGINE an election where the results are largely preordained and a number of candidates are widely recognized as unqualified. Any supposedly democratic ballot conducted in this way would be considered a farce. Yet tomorrow the United Nations General Assembly will engage in just such an “election” when it votes to fill the vacancies on the 47-member Human Rights Council.
想象一下一个选举的结果是事先预定的,而且很多候选者都是不合格的。像这样的民主选举都是一场闹剧。然而明天联合国安理会就会参与这样一场“选举”,即选取填补人权理事会47个席位中的空缺席位。
Only 20 countries are running for 18 open seats. The seats are divided among the world’s five geographic regions and three of the five regions have presented the same number of candidates as there are seats, thus ensuring there is no opportunity to choose the best proponents of human rights each region has to offer.
只有20个国家角逐这18个空缺。这些席位是按地理区域化分的。五个区域中的三个区域都提交了与席位相同的候选者,因此这就根本无法选出各个地区提供的最佳人权支持者。
Governments seem to have forgotten the commitment made only three short years ago to create an organization able to protect victims and confront human rights abuses wherever they occur.
政府似乎已近忘记了仅仅三年前才做出的组建一个保护受害者和反对发生人权滥用的组织。
An essential precondition was better membership. The council’s precursor, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, was folded in 2006 mainly because it had, for too long, allowed gross violators of human rights like Sudan and Zimbabwe to block action on their own abuses.
一个基本的前提是更好的会员组成。理事会的前身,联合国人权委员会2006年彻底失败,主要是因为它长期以来允许向苏丹和津巴布韦这样恶心的人权违反者阻止对他们自身人权滥用采取的行为。
The council was supposed to be different. For the first time, countries agreed to take human rights records into account when voting for the council’s members, and those member-states that failed to, in the words of the founding resolution, “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights” would find themselves up for review and their seats endangered. For victims of human rights abuses and advocates for human rights worldwide, the reforms offered the hope of a credible and effective body.
理事会因该与之不同,这是各国第一次同意重视参选和未能参选成员资格国家的人权纪录,以示决心坚定。“支持推进和保护人权的最高标准”将成为各国审视自己的席位是否坚固的标准。对于人权滥用的牺牲中和世界上的人权提倡者这项改革将成为可信有效的实体。
Now, it seems, principle has given way to expediency. Governments have resumed trading votes for membership in various other United Nations bodies, putting political considerations ahead of human rights. The absence of competition suggests that states that care about human rights simply don’t care enough. Latin America, a region of flourishing democracies, has allowed Cuba to bid to renew its membership. Asian countries have unconditionally endorsed the five candidates running for their region’s five seats — among them, China and Saudi Arabia.
如今,原则已近对私利让步,各国政府同意恢复联合国成员国之间交换投票权,这使各国将优先考虑政治而非人权。具有竞争性的表明那些关心人权的国家还关心的不够。拉丁美洲这些民主繁荣的国家已经允许古巴参与以补充其成员数目。亚洲国家无条件的签署同意其角逐该地区五个席位的国家,——其中包括中国和沙特阿拉伯。
In past years, Western countries encouraged rights-respecting states from other regions to compete for election. This year, they have ceded the high ground by presenting a non-competitive slate for the council elections. New Zealand withdrew when the United States declared its candidacy, leaving just three countries — Belgium, Norway and the United States — running for three seats.
过去几年来,西方国家一直鼓励其他地区的尊重人权的国家角逐选举资格。今年,他们放弃高姿态介入,取而代之的是为理事会选举提交一份非竞争性的篮板。美国宣布其候选资格后新西兰退出角逐,只剩下比利时、挪威和美国竞争三个席位。
Even where competition is guaranteed, it is minimal. In the Eastern Europe region — which under the United Nations’ rules includes all countries behind the former Iron Curtain, including my own, the Czech Republic — the countries running for re-election are Azerbaijan and Russia, whose human rights records oscillate from questionable to despicable. Only Hungary has stepped forward to compete for the region’s two seats. The reluctance of Eastern European states to reclaim leadership from human rights abusers does not inspire confidence.
即使保证了竞争力,也是有限的。西欧地区——美国规则下的国家包括前铁幕国家,也包括我的国家捷克——参与重新选举的国家是阿塞拜疆和俄罗斯——这些国家的人权记录在可疑和可鄙之间徘徊。只有匈牙利站出来角逐两个席位其中之一。西欧国家不情愿的收回人权滥用者的领导权没有激励信心。
Like the citizens of Azerbaijan, China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia, I know what it is like to live in a country where the state controls public discourse, suppresses opposition and severely curtails freedom of expression. It is thus doubly dismaying for me to see the willingness of democracies in Latin America and Asia to sit by and watch the council further lose its credibility and respect.
对于阿塞拜疆,中国,古巴、俄罗斯和沙特阿拉伯的居民,我知道住在这些政府控制公共布道,镇压反对者、严格控制言论自由的国家是什么样子。因此看到拉丁美洲和亚洲的人权停滞不前,理事会再次失去其信用和尊重,我更加气馁。
Activists and journalists in Azerbaijan and Cuba have already appealed to the international community not to elect their nations to the Human Rights Council. States committed to human rights and the integrity of the council cannot remain indifferent. Countries must express solidarity with the victims of human rights abuses and reclaim the council by simply refusing to vote for human rights abusers in this shamefully uncontested election.
阿塞拜疆和古巴的活动分子和记者已经向国际社会呼吁不要将他们国家选入人权理事会。将人权视为责任和理事会中正直人士不能仍然保持中立。各国应该和人权滥用受害者团结起来收回理事会——只需拒绝在这次无耻的毫无竞争的选举中给那些人权滥用这投票就行了,这很简单。
Vaclav Havel was the president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003.
Vaclav Havelwas 1993~2003捷克总统 |
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