SOUTH AFRICA:Stung by criticism of its voting record at the United Nations, the South African government has accused the international community of applying "double standards" in the way it defends human rights.
In a statement that critics have described as "virulently anti-western", the South African department of foreign affairs said UN resolutions on human rights "have always targeted mainly the developing countries".
It said: "No resolutions are ever brought and passed to address human rights situations in developed countries or global human rights problems created by developed countries . . . Because of this a mockery is made of human rights."
The outburst comes as South Africa tries to fend off accusations that it has used its temporary membership of the UN Security Council to defend gross human rights abusers, including Sudan, Burma and Zimbabwe.
In its latest spat with western governments, South Africa voted down a resolution condemning rape as a weapon of war.
Pretoria cited various technical objections to the resolution but human rights activists believe South Africa is merely trying to protect Sudan and a number of other African states from criticism over the abuse of women in conflict situations.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of Geneva-based UN Watch, said South Africa had aligned itself with "a certain faction at the UN that defines human rights scrutiny as a western plot".
"The irony here is that South Africa was the greatest beneficiary of international and UN human rights actions. Now, they don't want those same actions to be taken in other countries," he said.
In a report earlier this year, UN Watch claimed South Africa had the worst voting record at the UN Human Rights Council, along with China, Russia, Pakistan, Algeria and Saudi Arabia.
Mr Neuer said Pretoria had since been "consistent" in opposing human rights initiatives at security council and general assembly levels, using "frivolous pretexts" to obstruct resolutions such as that against government-sponsored rape.
South Africa's permanent representative to the UN, Dumisani Kumalo, defended his country's stance on the resolution at the weekend, saying it was opposed to the "politicisation of rape". He noted women had been systematically raped in the Balkans after the collapse of Yugoslavia and "no one at that time called on the general assembly to pronounce against that tragedy".
The South African government issued a detailed follow-up statement after a Sunday newspaper took it to task over its voting record at the UN. It read: "While many western countries and western non-governmental organisations are only concerned about civil and political rights, South Africa on the other hand and many other countries are concerned about all human rights - civil and political; and social and economic."
Tom Wheeler, researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said Pretoria was increasingly alienating itself from western governments by adopting a "pragmatic, pro-African approach rather than a principled human rights stance".