As the pre-eminent international rights watchdog, the 47-seat UN Human Rights Council is to expose human rights abusers and help nations draw up rights legislation. It would replace the 53-country Geneva-based UN Human Rights Commission, which in recent years has included some of the world's most notorious rights violators.
US Ambassador John Bolton told the assembly the rules for the new council were not strong enough to prevent rights violators from getting a seat. But he said the United States would cooperate with the body. "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," Mr 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." Cuba, which had distributed four amendments, voted in favour, although it stated many objections and called the council a creation of the West, which would be used to "unjustly condemn Third World countries".
| Since that's where most of the human rights violations are. |
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan first proposed the new council last year as part of sweeping reforms of the world body. But his blueprint was watered down in the resolution. The seats would be distributed among regional groups: 13 for Africa, 13 for Asia, six for Eastern Europe, eight for Latin America and the Caribbean and seven for a block of mainly Western countries, including the United States and Canada.
| Tells you everything you need to know to look at the distribution of members: where are they going to find 13 countries in Africa that don't abuse human rights? Ditto for Asia, where Iran, Burma and Bangladesh will inevitably find their ways onto the new 'Council'. And the better countries of the world make do with 7 seats: odds are the U.S. won't be on the 'Council' very often. We should be dancing the minuet to this farce. |