Annan says rights body harming UN (Ya' Think!?!?)

BBC ^ | 2005/04/07 | BBC

[visagoth]

Annan says rights body harming UN

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has accused the UN Human Rights Commission of failing to uphold human rights and said a new, permanent body is needed.

Speaking in Geneva, Mr Annan said the commission was undermining the credibility of the entire UN.

Human rights groups say the body's member nations are too concerned with protecting their national interests.

Current members include Sudan, Zimbabwe, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia - all accused of rights abuses.

			Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself Kofi Annan

"We have reached a point at which the commission's declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system," Mr Annan said as he addressed the commission's annual six-week session at its Swiss headquarters.

"Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself," he said.

Greater status

As part of his programme of UN reforms, Mr Annan wants to create a smaller Human Rights Council, whose members must uphold the highest human rights standards.

Mr Annan said the UN needs the new council if it is to prevent appalling suffering occurring around the world.

He said the council must be more accountable and more representative.

It would, he explained, allow for a more comprehensive and objective approach, which, in turn, would produce more effective assistance.

"The main intergovernmental body concerned with human rights should have a status, authority and capability," Mr Annan said.

Sudan controversy

The commission was launched in 1946 to uphold human rights worldwide, and has 53 members.

Libya chaired the commission in 2003, despite opposition from the US and human rights groups.

In his annual address last year, Mr Annan warned that the conflict in Sudan's province of Darfur bore worrying similarities to the Rwandan genocide.

The commission had before it strong evidence of atrocities being committed in Darfur and of the Sudanese government's involvement in them, but no resolution was passed condemning Sudan.

Instead, Sudan was elected to the commission for another year.

There is talk of a resolution this year, but the countries drafting it include Sudan itself and Zimbabwe, also in the spotlight for human rights violations.

Activists also want the commission to condemn the US for its treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4419333.stm

Published: 2005/04/07 11:29:24 GMT

© BBC MMV

[DTogo]

I almost expected to see the word "Scrappleface" somewhere.

[armymarinemom]

Kofi has hutzpah. He really would be the type to kill both of this parents and then beg the courts for sympathy for because he is an orphan.

[Go Gordon]

"Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself," he said.

True to form, Kofi is only worried about public perception, not results. He's such a useless butt wipe. Why he isn't thrown out on his ear is beyond me.

[P8riot]

So the answer to one ineffective group is to create another ineffective group?

[Publius6961]

How many years did it take this mental midget to figure that out?

[Honcho]

Old Kofi is just trying to save his a$$ from the "Oil-for-Food" program. He's hopeing that by tossing the US a few bones we'll turn our heads on the matter.

[Certified Horticulturist]

"... a new, permanent body is needed."

Actually, less UN is needed; in fact, NO UN is needed.

[trubluolyguy]

LOLOL....re-new...hehehe(breathing heavy from the belly laughs) ....LOLOL public ....heheheh, confidence.LMAO!!!!


Why do you stop raping the young wherever you go. Stop protecting dictators. Stop meddling in the affairs of free nations. Then we might consider what you have to say you sanctimonious son-of-a-bitch.

[trubluolyguy]

"Why do you"

do=don't.

[Destro]

The UN should not have a Human Rights body. The UN is an organization where nations meet and negotiate on a national level as equals before the UN treaty. When the UN goes into such things as determining individual human rights they violate the national sovereignty of member nations and set themselves up as a world Govt. above those of the member nation.

The UN should be (sorry) more like the EU in that only nations that meet a certain standard can become a member - the way they should not be like the EU is that they must not be allowed to be the basis of a one world govt.

[Realism]

The UN should not have a Human Rights body. The UN is an organization where nations meet and negotiate on a national level

Yep, I would even be ok if it acted as a 3rd party mediator for feuding nations, but thats it. They can't handle any more than that without screwing up.

[colorado tanker]

I don't think the Commission should be replaced. The Commission very accurately portrays to the world just what the UN is, mostly a club of thugs, dictators, communists and fascists who have cobbled together a majority in the UN General Assembly to protect themselves from any human rights scrutiny. To portray the UN as something it is not, as Kofi suggest, would be hypocritical.

[PeterFinn]

I accuse the UN of violating human rights, national sovereignty, and common sense.

Get the UN out of the US and get the US out of the UN.

UNtenable

UNmerciful

UNnatural

UNnecessary

UN-American.