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US
disappointed by new rules for UN human rights
watchdog
Yahoo! News. P. Parameswaran,
June 20, 2007.
WASHINGTON(AFP) - The United States said
Tuesday it was disappointed by new rules
adopted by the UN Human Rights Council and
accused the fledgling institution of denying
its own members voting rights.
The Geneva-based human rights watchdog
decided on its ground rules after fractious
wrangling Tuesday.
"The United States is disappointed
by the Human Rights Councils first year
and by the seriously flawed 'institution
building' package announced today, said
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
He charged that the council focused almost
exclusively on close US ally Israel and
failed to address "serious human rights
violations" in countries such as Myanmar,
Zimbabwe, North Korea, Belarus and Cuba.
The 47 members of the council, presided
by Mexico's Luis Alfonso de Alba, agreed
to continue their scrutiny of Israel and
sought the abolition of independent rights
experts monitoring Cuba and Belarus.
"Unfortunately, today the President
of the Council announced a new rules package
making these problems even worse, by terminating
the mandates of the UN Rapporteurs on the
Governments of Cuba and Belarus, two of
the worlds most active perpetrators of serious
human rights violations, and singling out
Israel as the only country subject to a
permanent agenda item," McCormack said.
The council, of which the United States
is only an observer, was formed last year
to replace the discredited UN Human Rights
Commission.
As part of a compromise proposed by de
Alba, council members agreed that current
rights monitors "could continue serving,
provided they have not exceeded the six's
years term limit."
Under that rule, 10 country rights monitors
had their mandates renewed. Only monitors
for Belarus and Cuba were not renewed, as
they have served over six years.
The United States said it was also concerned
about what it called "procedural irregularities"
employed to deny council members the opportunity
to vote on the agenda.
"The Human Rights Council was intended
to be the worlds leading human rights protection
mechanism. Its proceedings should be a model
of fairness and transparency," McCormack
said.
"Instead, in the interest of political
expediency, procedural irregularities denied
members the right to an up or down vote
on principled human rights concerns -- a
right guaranteed by the rules of the institution,"
he said.
The council rejected an attempt by Canada
to reopen the consensus deal.
The Canadian representative to the talks
claimed not to have given his assent to
the deal brokered by de Alba but it was
rejected by the other members.
Canada had objected to the suppression
of the independent rights monitors for Cuba
and Belarus.
The Geneva negotiations had gone down to
the midnight (2200 GMT) Monday deadline
set by the UN General Assembly. Eleventh-hour
disputes included conflicts over the rights
monitors and a demand by China for an increase
in the threshold for passing a country-specific
resolution to a two-thirds majority.
China only gave up insisting on a two-thirds
majority at the last minute, in exchange
for tougher language on how country resolutions
are brought to the council, diplomats said.
Ambassador Michael Steiner of Germany,
which currently holds the presidency of
the European Union, conceded the deal was
not perfect but argued it offered the best
opportunity to further the council's mission
of protecting human rights.
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