ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses charges that the Commission has been partisan and ineffective before drawing conclusions about its future prospects. Thomas Franck contrasted the Commission's severe attack on Chile's violations with its innocuous response to similar abuses in Poland. Judging by the time spent in drafting and the norms adopted, the Commission appears to have given higher priority to Western sponsored political and civil than to Third World initiated economic and social standards. The political balance tipped once again, however, when the membership increased to forty-three in 1980, and a more complex voting pattern emerged. Some critics have concluded that politically motivated double standards, selective enforcement, and disparate treatment totally discredit the Commission's enforcement program. Western democracies have national legislatures which, like the Commission, generate competition for group and regional advantage by politically selected representatives. Torture, political detention, and mass killing will recur as long as citizens remain subject to authoritarian political structures.
