Washington Post
By JAMEY KEATEN The Associated Press Tuesday, February 6, 2007
PARIS -- Nearly 60 countries signed a treaty on Tuesday that bans governments from holding people in secret detention, but the United States and some of its key European allies were not among them.
The signing capped a quarter-century of efforts by families of people who have vanished at the hands of governments.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, left, welcomes Argentina's first lady, lawmaker Cristina Kirchner as top officials from more than 50 countries were signing a new international treaty, Tuesday Feb.6, 2007 in Paris, banning forced disappearances, capping a quarter-century of efforts by families of those who vanished at the hands of governments.(AP Photo/Jacques Brinon) (Jacques Brinon - AP)
"Our American friends were naturally invited to this ceremony; unfortunately, they weren't able to join us," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters after 57 nations signed the treaty at his ministry in Paris.
"That won't prevent them from one day signing on in New York at U.N. headquarters _ and I hope they will."
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined comment except to say that the United States helped draft the treaty, but that the final text "did not meet our expectations."
McCormack declined comment on whether the U.S. stance was influenced by the administration's policy of sending terrorism suspects to CIA-run prisons overseas, which Bush acknowledged in September.
Many other Western nations, including Germany, Spain, Britain and Italy, also did not sign the treaty. France introduced the convention at the U.N. General Assembly in November and it was adopted in December.
Many delegates expressed hope that other nations will sign by year-end. Some European nations have expressed support for the treaty, but face constitutional hurdles or require a full Cabinet debate before signing, French and U.N. officials said.
The treaty was officially opened for signature at Tuesday's ceremony in Paris. It will enter into force after 20 countries ratify it, usually by a parliamentary vote.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour called the treaty an important step both in preventing injustices common years ago and barring newer abuses that often fall through regulatory loopholes.
Arbour said the United States had expressed "reservations" about parts of the text, but declined to elaborate, and she urged U.S. officials to sign and ratify it. She noted that America often backs activities of the UNHCR without formally signing on to them.
She called the treaty "a message to all modern-day authorities committed to the fight against terrorism" that some past tactics are now "not acceptable, in a very explicit way."
The convention defines forced disappearances as the arrest, detention, kidnapping or "any other form of deprivation of freedom" by state agents or affiliates, followed by denials or cover-ups about the detention and location of the person gone missing.
Nations that eventually ratify the text would enshrine victims' rights, and would require states to penalize any forced disappearances in their countries and enact preventative and monitoring measures.
French officials, who led the effort, counted more than 51,000 people who were disappeared by their governments in over 90 countries since 1980, Douste-Blazy said. Some 41,000 of those cases remain unsolved.
"Men and women disappear every day on every continent, for defending human rights, for just opposing their governments' policies or simply because they want justice," Douste-Blazy said. "The situation could not continue to go unpunished. It required a strong response from the international community."
Latin American states like Argentina, once plagued by disappearances, are now owning up to much of the violence that left hundreds of thousands dead or disappeared in the 1970s and 1980s. Disappearances were also a common Nazi tactic in World War II.
Argentina's first lady, lawmaker Cristina Kirchner, took part in the signing. She was in Paris in an effort to raise her profile before a potential presidential bid.
U.S. Declines to Join Accord on Secret Detentions
By Molly Moore Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, February 7, 2007
PARIS, Feb. 6 -- Representatives from 57 countries on Tuesday signed a long-negotiated treaty prohibiting governments from holding people in secret detention. The United States declined to endorse the document, saying its text did not meet U.S. expectations.
Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said the treaty was "a message to all modern-day authorities committed to the fight against terrorism" that some practices are "not acceptable."
Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier in Sierra Leone, joins Ann Veneman, head of UNICEF, and French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy at a conference on the issue in Paris. (By Christophe Ena -- Associated Press)
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment, except to say that the United States helped draft the treaty but that the final wording "did not meet our expectations."
The Associated Press reported that McCormack declined to comment on whether the U.S. stance was influenced by the Bush administration's policy of sending terrorism suspects to CIA-run prisons overseas, which President Bush acknowledged in September.
"Our American friends were naturally invited to this ceremony," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said after the signing here. "Unfortunately, they weren't able to join us. That won't prevent them from one day signing on in New York at U.N. headquarters, and I hope they will."
Some U.S. allies in Europe also declined to join, among them Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy.
The convention defines forced disappearance as the arrest, detention or kidnapping of a person by state agents or affiliates and subsequent denials about the detention or location of the individual.
The treaty, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December, has been pushed for nearly a quarter-century by rights groups and the families of individuals who have disappeared at the hands of various governments. It also addresses the international debate over the rights of terrorism suspects.
At a separate gathering, a non-binding accord banning the use of child soldiers was signed here Tuesday by representatives of 58 countries, including African nations that have been harshly criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups for arming children. The United States did not participate, saying that it objected to some of the wording of the documents but that it remained committed to its treaty obligations on the issue.
Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, described the agreement as having "a great political value" in pressuring national armies, paramilitaries and opposition forces to stop using children as combatants.
"What this conference has shown is that there is a great deal of political commitment to ending the unlawful recruitment of children," said Rima Salah, deputy executive director of UNICEF, the United Nations' advocacy agency for children, which co-sponsored the conference with the French government. "What needs to be done now is to harness this commitment and turn it into concrete action on the ground."
U.N. and human rights groups estimate that as many as 300,000 children younger than 18 are used worldwide in armed conflicts as soldiers or servants for soldiers. They say girls in particular are often sexually abused and exploited by militaries and armed groups.
The accord calls for an immediate halt to recruitment of children, the release of those now serving in militaries or paramilitaries and the expansion of programs for reintegrating the youngsters into their communities and societies.
Among the countries signing the accord were Congo, Chad, Sudan and Uganda, all of which the United Nations has singled out on the abuse of children by armed factions and militaries. Burma and the Philippines, which the United Nations has also cited, did not take part in the conference or sign the agreement, UNICEF said.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague considers the use of children younger than 15 in armed conflicts a war crime and announced last week that Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo will be tried on charges of recruiting child soldiers as young as 10.
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