When Nelson Mandela came to power in 1994 in post-apartheid South Africa as its first democratically elected leader, he promised a new foreign policy for the nation that would uphold human rights. “Human rights will be the light that guides our foreign affairs,” he stated then. The African nation, reborn after years of isolation and apartheid, would be a “beacon of hope” to the oppressed in the world.

The government at first appeared to be true to its word. It enacted a new constitution that protected not only classical liberties, but also banned all discriminations, included a right to adequate housing, reproductive health care, and even to “have the environment protected.” The death penalty was also abolished and nuclear weapons finally publicly abandoned.

How far the nation has to from that light unto the world...

In recent years South Africa is no longer a nation that stands up for human rights but one that is keen to cozy up to every tyrant in the world.

In 2006 South Africa won a non-permanent rotating seat on the UN Security Council for the first time. Since then it has been working with Russia and China to dilute any resolution dealing with human rights. South Africa has argued that the Security Council should not concern itself with such matter and instead leave it to the UN Human Rights Council.

Its record on the Security Council speaks for itself: the nation has voted against sanctions on Zimbabwe, Myanmar’s military junta (for crackdown on peaceful protests), and it is now leading an effort to suspend the ICC’s prosecution of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir for his role in the alleged genocide in Darfur.

As for leaving things to the UN Human Rights Council: South Africa has voted to stop monitoring human rights abuses in Uzbekistan, despite torture there, and in Iran where executions have greatly increased even for minor offenses.

It’s unfortunate that a nation with such a promising new beginning would go the way South Africa has gone. As Nobel Peace Prize winner and anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu puts it: “A betrayal of our own noble past.”