UN General Assembly head urges US to join rights council or at least work with it

March 21, 2006
The Jamaica Observer
Original Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20060320T200000-0500_101044_OBS_UN_GENERAL_ASSEMBLY_HEAD_URGES_US_TO_JOIN_RIGHTS_COUNCIL_OR_AT_LEAST_WORK_WITH_IT.asp


WASHINGTON (AP) - Swedish diplomat Jan Eliasson, president of the UN General Assembly, urged the United States yesterday to join a new UN Human Rights Council or to work closely with the group if it will not join.

He also said 60 countries from the European Union and elsewhere have assured the United States they would not consider council memberhip for countries that are under sanctions for human rights violations.

I hope very much the United States sees that it is in its interest to be part of this body. I hope they come to the conclusion that it is workable, Eliasson, a former Swedish ambassador to the United States said after a speech at the National Press Club.

Eliasson noted that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns have said they will cooperate with the body and make it work as well as possible. He met with Rice and Burns and members of Congress during his visit to Washington.

The US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said last week that no decision has been made on whether the US would join the council. The Bush administration has made no secret of its suspicions that rules under which the council would be formed would allow wholesale rights abusers to become members.

Four countries including the United States voted no against 170 yes votes and three abstentions Thursday when the UN General Assembly elected to replace the discredited UN Human Rights Commission with the council.

Besides the 170 voted in favor of the council, Eliasson said it was endorsed by human rights groups and Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

If we hadn't taken that step last week, I think we would have created a vacuum in the United Nations, he said. He suggested that negotiations would have dragged on for months if not years.

Eliasson said the United States as the most powerful country in the world and provider of 22 per cent of the UN budget should be involved in some of the most important work the United Nations does in human rights.

He said even a country that is not a member of the council, could participate in the council's work, and the United States has a history of closely following human rights issues.

But you are in a stronger position if you are inside, Eliasson said.