The Bush administration will not seek a seat this year on the new UN Human Rights Council, marking the first time in more than half a century that the United States has chosen not to pursue membership in the United Nations principal rights organization.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday that the US will be an observer on the UN council and will probably run for a post next year – assuming the 47-member agency proves its commitment to promoting human rights.
Council advocates and some Republicans in Congress said the decision will deprive the United States, which has been at the forefront of UN human rights efforts for five decades, a chance to shape the new council in its crucial first year.
The decision was influenced in part by concerns that the US might have failed to win one of the seven seats reserved for Western governments.
The Bush administration has faced sharp criticism at the UN for alleged abuse of terrorism detainees. Meanwhile, Cuba and China, which have troubled human rights records, stand a strong chance of winning election to the council by secret ballot in May, according to senior US and UN diplomats.
The Human Rights Council was established in March to replace the 60-year-old Human Rights Commission, which had been derided in recent years for allowing countries with abysmal rights records, such as Sudan and Zimbabwe, to join and thwart criticism of their actions.
The United States, which was voted off the commission for one year in 2001, has always sought membership in the UN agency since its creation in 1946.
The US was one of only four countries to vote against the March 15 resolution that created the rights council, arguing that the resolution failed to set high enough standards to block abusers from joining. At the same time, the US agreed to help fund the reformed agency and support its goal of holding abusers to account.
Senate Majority Leader, Republican Bill Frist, wrote to President Bush Thursday to say that US “participation in this new, unreformed council only undermines our own credibility and confers unwarranted legitimacy.”
– I am very concerned that your administration now may provide financial support to this discredited council, and may even seek a seat on this body, he wrote.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan joined human rights organizations in expressing disappointment at the US decision.
Kilde: The Push Journal
