U.S. to Vote Against New Rights Council

U.S. Will Vote Against New U.N. Human Rights Council; Says Abusers Could Still Be Elected

The United States will vote against a proposal to create a new panel at the United Nations to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission, Washington's U.N. ambassador said.

The U.N. General Assembly will take up the resolution Wednesday, and a vote is likely even though assembly president Jan Eliasson has insisted he wants the new Human Rights Council to be approved by consensus of the 191 U.N. member states.

The United States argues that right abusers could still be elected to the new body under the proposed rules. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton insisted Tuesday the only way forward was to reopen negotiations, but Eliasson said members told him this would open "Pandora's Box."

The Americans want members of the council to be elected by a two-thirds vote, not the simple majority now called for, to help keep rights abusers out. They also want the text to explicitly bar any nation from joining the council if it is under sanction by the United Nations. The current draft says only that such measures would be taken into account when deciding membership.

UNforutnately there is an UNhappy update, if I saw that first, I would have posted it. The UN must be abolished.

UN creates new rights council over US objections

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1729005

The United Nations General Assembly created a new U.N. human rights body by an overwhelming majority on Wednesday, ignoring objections from the United States.

Ambassadors broke out in sustained applause when the vote was announced: 170-4 with 3 abstentions. Joining the United States in a "no" vote were Israel, Marshall Islands and Palau — but not American allies in Europe or Canada.

Belarus, Iran and Venezuela abstained.

As the pre-eminent international rights watchdog, the 47-seat U.N. Human Rights Council is to expose human rights abusers and help nations draw up rights legislation.

It would replace the 53-country Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission, which in recent years has included some of the world's most notorious rights violators.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told the assembly that rules for the new council were too weak to prevent rights violators from obtaining seats.

"We did not have sufficient confidence in this text to be able to say that the Human Rights Council will be better than its predecessor," Bolton said. "That said, the United States will work cooperatively with other member states to make the council as strong and effective as it can be."

In the meantime they can't make up their mind about sanctioning Iran.

Bolton compares Iran threat to Sept 11 attacks (but with nukes)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597158/posts

Just like September 11, only with nuclear weapons this time, that's the threat. I think that is the threat," Bolton told ABC News' Nightline program.

Russia and China are resisting proposals from Britain, France and the United States for a council statement that would express "serious concern" about Iran's nuclear program and asks it to comply with demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The statement does not threaten sanctions.

Vote against it, then support it.

By Colum Lynch - Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 15, 2006; Page A14
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns assured U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and General Assembly President Jan Eliasson by telephone that the United States will formally oppose the creation of the council in a General Assembly session Wednesday but supports its overall mission, U.S. and U.N. officials said. ...
"We have very high standards for human rights at the United Nations, and won't be able to support the proposal because the new institution falls short of those standards," Burns said in a telephone interview. "But we also want to see the U.N. succeed, and so we hope the human rights council can be strengthened over time so that they can deal effectively with real world problems, such as Darfur and Burma. So we'll look for ways to support with the aim of strengthening it."
U.N. Rights Council Gets U.S. Support

March 16, 2006, 6:24AM
Rights Council to Get First Test in May
By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer
The United States was isolated in its opposition, backed only by staunch allies Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau. Three countries whose human rights records have been criticized _ Venezuela, Belarus and Iran _ abstained.
After voting "no" on the resolution, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told the assembly "the real test will be the quality of membership that emerges on this council and whether it takes effective action to address serious human rights abuse cases like Sudan, Cuba, Iran, Zimbabwe, Belarus and Burma." ...
"Absent stronger mechanisms for maintaining credible membership ... we did not have sufficient confidence in this text to be able to say that the Human Rights Council would be better than its predecessor," Bolton told the assembly.
"That said, the United States will work cooperatively with other member states to make the council as strong and effective as it can be," he said. "We will be supportive of efforts to strengthen the council."
U.S. officials said Washington opposes withholding money from the U.N. budget, which will fund the new council, with an initial pricetag of $4.3 million. But Bolton said no decision has been made on whether the United States will seek a seat.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3727425.html

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