The Scrutinator

Summary: The UN Commission on Human Rights has little credibility, as a quarter of its members are essentially repressive states. Out of the 53 member states, 13 are given the worst ("Not Free") rating by Freedom House (a human-rights watch-dog group).

Further, 16 more member states, rated "Partly Free," have either political or civil ratings of 4 or greater (teetering between "Free" and "Not Free"). That leaves 24 out of 53 members--a minority.

Analysis: UN Human Rights Commission Membership (2005) vs Freedom House's 2003 Country Rating shown below. Freedom House uses a 1 to 7 scale, where 1 = most free, 7 = least free. Political and civil freedom rated separately. See also the CIA World Factbook

Totalitarian states: Bhutan, China, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Guinea, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Swaziland, Zimbabwe.

Teetering between "Free" and "Not Free" (4 or more, either political or civil): Armenia, Burkina Faso, Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Ukraine.

Member	Freedom House Rating (Political/Civil)
Argentina	Partly Free (3/3)
Armenia	Partly Free (4/4)
Australia	Free (1/1)
Bhutan	Not Free (6/5)
Brazil	Free (2/3)
Burkina Faso	Partly Free (4/4)
Canada	Free (1/1)
China	Not Free (7/6)
Congo	Partly Free (6/4)
Costa Rica	Free (1/2)
Cuba	Not Free (7/7)
Dominican Republic	Free (2/2)
Ecuador	Partly Free (3/3)
Egypt	Not Free (6/6)
Eritrea	Not Free (7/6)
Ethiopia	Partly Free (5/5)
Finland	Free (1/1)
France	Free (1/1)
Gabon	Partly Free (5/4)
Germany	Free (1/1)
Guatemala	Partly Free (4/4)
Guinea	Not Free (6/5)
Honduras	Partly Free (3/3)
Hungary	Free (1/2)
India	Free (2/3)
Indonesia	Partly Free (3/4)
Ireland	Free (1/1)
Italy	Free (1/1)
Japan	Free (1/2)
Kenya	Partly Free (4/4)
Malaysia	Partly Free (5/5)
Mauritania	Partly Free (5/5)
Mexico	Free (2/2)
Nepal	Partly Free (4/4)
Netherlands	Free (1/1)
Nigeria	Partly Free (4/5)
Pakistan	Not Free (6/5)
Paraguay	Partly Free (4/3)
Peru	Free (2/3)
Qatar	Not Free (6/6)
Republic of (South) Korea	Free (2/2)
Romania	Free (2/2)
Russian Federation	Partly Free (5/5)
Saudi Arabia	Not Free (7/7)
South Africa	Free (1/2)
Sri Lanka	Partly Free (3/4)
Sudan	Not Free (7/7)
Swaziland	Not Free (6/5)
Togo	Not Free (6/5)
Ukraine	Partly Free (4/4)
United Kingdom	Free (1/1)
United States of America	Free (1/1)
Zimbabwe	Not Free (6/6)

By The Scrutinator @ 10:07 AM