Posted on 05/09/2006 4:46:51 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
FIVE nations seen by rights groups as among the world's worst abusers have been elected along with 39 other countries to the United Nations' new Human Rights Council in a first round of voting.
Russia, China, Cuba, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, identified by New York-based Human Rights Watch as unworthy of membership on the new UN body, were among those winning seats. But two others on the group's list, Iran and Azerbaijan, failed to win membership on the first ballot.
Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth said it was inevitable some rights foes would win seats but "the important step is that we have made real progress" over the discredited Human Rights Commission, shut down in March.
"It doesn't guarantee that the council will be a success, but it is a step in the right direction," Mr Roth said.
The United States, an outspoken critic of the old human rights commission, had decided against seeking a seat this year after voting against its creation, arguing barriers were too low to keep rights abusers from winning a seat.
Elected on the first ballot were 13 African nations, 13 Asian states, three from Eastern Europe, eight from Latin America and the Caribbean and seven from the United Nations' Western Europe and other states regional bloc.
Eastern Europe was allocated a total of six seats, and a second round of voting was set in an effort to fill the remaining three.
The council's architects had set a high bar for victory - attracting the votes of at least 96 UN members, an absolute majority of the General Assembly's 191 nations.
Iran and Azerbaijan were among those falling short of that mark.
Another country that came up short was Venezuela, which has come under fire from a number of global rights groups for a deteriorating record under President Hugo Chavez.
Iraq, whose rights performance has come under renewed UN criticism following the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, also failed to win a seat.
Rights champions generally agree the new membership criteria are more stringent for the new body than for the old.
Election is by secret ballot and governments must undergo regular reviews of their domestic rights records while serving on the council.
The Human Rights Commission had been elected by a recorded vote of the 54-nation Economic and Social Council and most contenders ran unopposed after nomination by regional blocs.
The commission was shut down after a number of rights-abusing nations won seats and began to work together as a bloc to defeat critical resolutions against any one of them.
Vying for the council's 47 seats were 63 announced candidates, down from 64 yesterday after Kenya withdrew from the race.
That left Africa with just 13 candidates for its 13 seats, the sole region where there was no competition for spots.
Sounds like a bunch of Liberals.
Man, if that doesn't sum up the UN and the goofy humps who work there, I don't know what does.
The Human Rights Commission was chock full of horrific human rights abusers, so the giants of science at the UN disbanded it, and formed the much better Human Rights Council, with Russia, China, Pakistan, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia on board.
And this idiot claims "real progress." What a hoot. I'm just thrilled to be picking up the tab for this farce.
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Defund the UB. It will be fun watching it rot.
I meant UN
Strange, I'm watching a guy on TV who wrote the book "The U.N.Exposed". He is really running the U.N. down.
And every word is probably true.
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