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U.S. Reinstated to UN Human Rights Commission
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Last
year the U.S. was voted off the UN Human Rights Commission
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WASHINGTON,
April 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States on
Monday, April 29, thanked members of the United Nations for
reinstating it onto the UN Human Rights Commission but took a swipe at
the panel's members for not addressing "gross" abuses at
this year's recently concluded session.
State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the commission would
“benefit from the U.S. presence” after it was kicked off last year
for failing to adequately address issues of human rights violations.
The U.S. was specifically criticized for its failure to address human
rights violations aimed against the Palestinians by Israel.
"When the commission fails to examine human rights situations it
sends the wrong signal to those who struggle daily for their
freedom," Boucher said, enumerating U.S.-perceived shortcomings
at the last meeting.
"In
this past session, the commission failed to address gross violations
of human rights in China, Chechnya, Iran and Zimbabwe," he told
reporters.
Despite
heavy U.S. lobbying, no country introduced a resolution on China at
this year's session and attempts to call attention to abuses in
Chechnya, Iran and Zimbabwe failed.
Boucher
suggested that those resolutions would have stood a better chance if
Washington had been on the panel.
"We
believe the commission can and should support UN member states that
work to uphold universal standards of human rights in their own region
and we believe that experience has shown that the commission works
best when the United States is a full voting member," he said.
Boucher
did note favorably that the commission had passed a resolution on the
human rights situation in Cuba.
Earlier,
the United States was elected by acclamation at a meeting of the
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the parent body
of the Geneva-based commission.
Australia,
Germany and Ireland were elected to the three other seats on the
commission reserved for members of the West European group of nations
which includes a handful of other western democracies. There were only
four candidates for the four seats in that group.
Last
year, the United States scored lowest among five candidates for the
four seats, and was voted off the commission for the first time since
the commission was established in 1947.
The
embarrassing defeat, coming in the first months of the administration
of U.S. President George W. Bush, came close to upsetting an agreement
for payment of more than 900 million dollars in U.S. debts to the
world body.
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