GENEVA - The UN Human Rights Council faces critical choices in a session beginning on Monday that will determine the future of one of the world bodyÂ’s most important rights watchdogs, a senior official said here. The | Except for Israel, which will be condemned monthly. |
The disagreements, which are expected to bubble to the surface in a public debate from Wednesday, largely revolve around the strength and scope of the Council’s action and the way member states can influence its findings. “We are entering a phase particularly from Monday which is going to be critical for the Council,” the current chairman of the UN Council, Mexican ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, said. “It will be effective in as much as its own political standing evolves,” he told journalists.
| Translation: it's hopeless. |
The most contentious issues include the exact format of the scrutiny of the 192 UN members, maintaining experts that probe violations in specific countries which are regarded as extreme cases, and the CouncilÂ’s agenda, diplomats said.
“De Alba’s proposal is a delicate balance between many positions,” said Peter Splinter, Amnesty International’s delegate in Geneva. “It’s an interesting basis but it shouldn’t be weakened any further otherwise we’ll end up with something that’s even weaker than the Commission,” he added.
African countries are also trying to impose a code of conduct on the UN’s human rights experts or special rapporteurs. Human rights group have warned that the original African code amounted to a straitjacket. Meanwhile, China has also sought a two-thirds voting majority to accept resolutions that target specific countries, diplomats said. “There is no possibility to get an agreement on that provision in the Human Rights Council,” De Alba said.
The eight EU countries in the Council have repeatedly warned that they cannot give way on some basic principles even if significant progress has been made in shaping the fledgling body, diplomats said.
| Everyone's going to take their ball and head home. |