UN to elect new human rights body

UN to elect new human rights body

The UN General Assembly is holding elections on Tuesday to choose 47
countries out of 64 candidates to sit on the new UN Human Rights Council.

It replaces the Human Rights Commission, discredited for having members
with terrible rights records.

Each nation standing for election has had to pledge to promote human rights.

Rights activists say some of the worst offenders are not running but
there are candidates with dubious records, including Cuba, China and Iran.

"Inevitably, there will be some governments on the new council who
shouldn't be there," Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch told the
Associated Press news agency.

But campaigners hope it will be less politicised and more willing to act
on abuse than its predecessor.

Embarrassment

A sign of progress is the fact that a number of recent commission
members had even not dared to seek membership of the new council, Mr
Roth said. These include Sudan, Zimbabwe, Syria, Nepal, Eritrea and
Ethiopia.

The old Human Rights Commission had become an embarrassment, says the
BBC's Laura Trevelyan at UN headquarters in New York.

The creation of the Human Rights Council is seen as a key component of
overall reform of the United Nations.

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SEATS
Africa: 13
Asia: 13
Latin America and Caribbean: 8
Eastern Europe: 6
Western Europe and others (incl US, Canada, Israel): 7

However, the United States was against the council's creation, arguing
that it did not go far enough to prevent countries with bad rights
records from winning seats.

US Ambassador John Bolton has said the US, which is not standing, will
work with other member states "to make the council as strong and
effective as it can be."

The regional composition of the new council is based on population. To
get a seat a country must be elected by a majority vote of the
191-member General Assembly.

The UN says on its website that "member states will take into
consideration a candidate's contribution to the promotion and protection
of human rights.

"Upon election, new members will commit themselves to cooperating with
the Council and to upholding the highest standards in the promotion and
protection of human rights."

Yvonne Terlingen of Amnesty International told AP: "All human rights
organisations will now closely watch how and if these important promises
will be put into practice."

The Council will be based in Geneva and is expected to hold its first
meeting on 19 June.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4754169.stm

Published: 2006/05/09 12:42:33 GMT