The United States would vote against the current compromise
proposal for the new UN Human Rights Council, US Ambassador John
Bolton said Monday.
Bolton told reporters at UN headquarters in New York that the
proposal circulated Thursday is not acceptable, saying "we are very
disappointed with the draft."
He said his instructions are "to reopen the negotiations and to
try and correct in the manifold deficiencies in the text of the
resolution or alternatively to push off consideration of the
resolution for several months to give us more time."
The US ambassador warned that if the President of the General
Assembly intends to bring the matter to the floor of the General
Assembly within a day or two for a vote, the United States "will
call for a vote and vote no."
Bolton further explained that the United States is disappointed
with the proposal because some kind of important and effective
change is missed in the new council.
"We remain committed to trying to convince other nations that
cosmetic reform alone is not sufficient that we need real change in
the way the UN decision making mechanism functions," he
stressed.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday called on
the United States to support the draft resolution, saying "although
not everyone is happy, the new draft is the best we can get after
months of intensive negotiations."
He told reporters in Geneva that "if we get into line-by-line
negotiations, it will lead to major delays and could cause a
problem."
Annan admitted on Thursday after the draft resolution came out
that "there are important elements in it that ensure that the
Council will be more than a cosmetic change."
But he insisted that "I hope the General Assembly will adopt
this draft resolution within the next few days."
The president of the General Assembly unveiled Thursday a new
draft blueprint for creating a human rights council with higher
status and greater accountability than the much-criticized Human
Rights Commission.
The latest text of the draft resolution is the product of many
months' efforts to reach consensus among member states. World
leaders agreed at a UN summit in September, 2005 to create a new
body to replace the 53-member Commission on Human Rights.
However, some developed countries, led by the United States,
have insisted that each member of the rights council needs to get
the support of a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly. They
also wanted a smaller, more nimble body of about 30 and proposed
disqualifying any nation under sanctions in the UN Security
Council.
It is widely believed that the new Council should be established
by mid-March, just before the Human Rights Commission convenes its
annual world conference.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies February 28, 2006)
