U.S. out Armenia in...

[Berj]

the UN human rights body.

 

This sounds ... (in mind: funny, tricky, nasty etc.) GREAT !!!

[Berj]

Washington enraged at ouster from UN rights panel

By Mustapha Kamil

 

New Straits Times

05 May 2001

 

THE American diplomatic community was enraged after the US was on Thursday

voted off the Geneva based United Nations Human Rights Commission for the

first time since 1947.

 

The 53-member commission was established to investigate abuse around the

world. Three seats allocated for western nations were up for grabs in a

ballot within the UN Economic and Social Council, but the US came in fourth

after France, Austria and Sweden.

 

In the balloting at the UN headquarters, France got 52 votes, Austria 41

votes, Sweden 32 and the United States 29.

 

Republicans in the US Congress immediately lambasted the results while others

criticised President George W. Bush's administration for not giving enough

importance to the UN and some vital rights issues.

 

There were also accusations that a group of nations that frequently violates

human rights had ganged up to throw the US out.

 

The US representative at the UN, James Cunningham, told reporters he was

disappointed and that the US "wanted so much to serve on the committee".

 

Washington has yet to appoint an ambassador to the UN since ambassador

Richard Holbrooke left early this year.

 

Critics, however, said the voting also reflected member countries'

displeasure with Washington's continued holding back of its US$1.7 billion

(RM6.4 billion) debt to the UN although it has agreed in principle to pay up.

 

Ironically, the ouster of the US and Congress' strong criticism of the world

body came the same day UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a group of former

US ambassadors in New York that "needless irritants between the UN and

Washington have been removed by the US agreeing to settle its outstanding

dues." "I believe our special relationship is beginning a new decade on a

better footing, with greater mutual understanding and appreciation," Annan

told the US Council of Ambassadors.

 

The US, along with Russia and India, has served on the commission since its

inception.

 

Some diplomats at the UN said the US had not been forthcoming in supporting

human rights issues in recent years while others said Washington's decisions

on various other issues, including Bush's missile defence shield initiative,

were not liked by many countries.

 

While many could not immediately believe the US was voted off, some raised

eyebrows at those voted in. South Korea, Pakistan, Chile, Mexico, Croatia and

Armenia, Togo, Uganda, Sudan and Sierra Leone are the new entrants.

 

Apart from the US, others who lost their seats are Iran, Latvia and

Azerbaijan.

 

Meanwhile, AP reports that UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson hoped

the US "will return speedily as a member of the commission," saying it has

made "a historic contribution".

 

But Cuba's Foreign Ministry released a statement in Havana on Thursday night

saying that the vote was proof of "the arrogance and coercive methods" it

claimed that Washington regularly employs in international organisations. It

expressed hope that the United States would "take note of the pertinent

conclusions of this lesson," said the statement, carried by Cuba's Prensa

Latina news service.

[MJ]

I think the US is paying the price for the bombing of the pharmaceutical companies in Sudan, the civilian bridges of Belgrade, for opposing banning of the landmines, etc.

 

But the irony is that Sudan, Pakistan, Cuba, etc have become members of the same commission...

[bellthecat]

...and the bombing of Iraq, and of Libya, and its sanctions against Iraq / Libya / Cuba, and its unquestioning support for Israel and Turkey, and the huge percentage of the US population that its judicial system has incarcerated, and its carefree use of the death penalty, and the tearing up of international treaties (Kyoto,
missile treaty, etc), and its stance on environmental issues, and its belligerent and uncareing outlook regarding trade barriers, and because it has George W. Bush as president, .and ..and ...and.

Steve

[MJ]

Steve,

 

I agree with a part of your list, and disagree with another part of it. But perhaps this is not the place to argue about them.

[Azat]

The sad part is countries like Sri Lankan, Cuba, China are in. You know that "Human Rights" are less important to these countries than the United States.

[Azat]

Congress votes to freeze U.N. dues

 

Final installment won’t be paid unless U.S. gets back on rights’ commission

 

WASHINGTON, May 10 - U.S. lawmakers delivered on their threat to punish the United Nations on Thursday by approving an amendment to withhold some back dues until the United States wins back its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Despite a warning from the White House that the vote would further inflame relations with the United Nations, Congress backed the measure by a wide margin.

 

"I THINK THERE’S an injustice there that ought to be addressed," House Speaker Dennis Hastert said of the ouster of the United States from the panel that still counts as members Sudan, China and Libya, "some of the greatest perpetrators of human rights abuses in the world."

The House, debating the State Department authorization bill for 2002-2003, also voted to keep the United States out of the International Criminal Court.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday that a congressional decision "would be extremely damaging" to America’s ability to cooperate in multilateral organizations.

Boucher said it would raise questions about the reliability of U.S. participation in these groups and about its willingness to pay its fair share.

But many lawmakers, outraged by the United States’ ouster from the rights’ commission as well as the International Narcotics Control Board, indicated they wanted to send a message to the United Nations.

In an effort to work out a compromise, Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, and ranking Democrat Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., wrote an amendment to the measure that would allow the $582 million payment already set aside for this year.

But it would also prevent the remaining $244 million owed to the United Nations from being paid until the United States is returned to the Human Rights Commission.

Lantos said the exclusion of the United States from the human rights commission was "outrageous" but "we should not compound the damage by withholding the bulk of our arrears payments to the United Nations."

A senior House aide said the vote on the amendment is set for Thursday. The overall bill will be voted on next Wednesday, he said.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Tex., had said Thursday he was outraged by the U.S. ouster, which effectively reduced the United Nations "to the status of a farce."

The United States has been on the human rights commission for more than 50 years since Eleanor Roosevelt helped create it.

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Armey and other conservatives are particularly upset that Sudan, where Armey said gross human rights violations against Christians and others occur daily, remains on the Geneva-based human rights commission.

"I can’t imagine a greater affront" to the cause of human rights than "to expel the greatest champion of human rights" from the U.N. human rights commission, he said.

Sudan is also on the State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism.

 

WHITE HOUSE WARNING

Boucher’s message of caution to Congress was reinforced by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

He said that while the United States is disappointed at the loss of the seat on the human rights commission, President Bush "feels strongly that this issue should not be linked to the payment of our arrears to the U.N. and other international organizations."

 

The United Nations also responded with concern over the congressional action. "The Secretary-General [Kofi Annan] feels that any effort to punish the organization for what was a democratic process that involved action by member states would be counterproductive," said Fred Eckhard, a spokesman for Annan.

"So we are just hoping that they don’t shoot the messenger, either target the whole membership or target the bureaucracy for what has happened," he said.

 

ANGER AT BUSH

Last week’s vote to oust the United States from the human rights panel and give the three seats up for grabs by Western nations to France, Austria and Sweden provoked anger on both sides of the aisle in Congress.

But some congressional Democrats have blamed the Bush administration for the surprise U.S. loss, saying it had ignored the world body and angered key friends with its initial policies.

Bush has been criticized for pulling out of the Kyoto climate change treaty, going ahead with plans to build a national missile defense, and refusing to ratify the treaty creating an international criminal court.

"The administration’s unilateralism has angered the hell out of our European allies," said Sen. Joseph Biden, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who said anything that endangered the second $582 million U.N. arrears payment would be "a gigantic mistake."

Others, including several U.N. diplomats, said the Bush administration failed to bring in political heavyweights to counter anti-U.S. sentiment and clinch the vote needed to keep its seat on the human rights commission.

A member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations, speaking on condition of anonymity, said American diplomats had asked for help from higher-ups in Washington for their lobbying efforts but did not get that.

But Betty King, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, insisted the State Department "worked the capitals" of the voting nations. "It was a coordinated effort between New York and Washington and Geneva."

 

NBC’s Mike Viqueira and Andrea Mitchell in Washington, Linda Fasulo at the United Nations, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

 

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/569959.asp?0na=21025C0-