Congress Readies Curb on U.N. Funding
By Russell Berman
July 5, 2007
The New York Sun
Original Source: http://www.nysun.com/article/57823
WASHINGTON — A push to ban federal funding of the United Nations Human Rights Council is gaining strength in Congress, as lawmakers grow increasingly agitated over the Geneva-based panel's targeting of Israel.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved a bill introduced by Senator Coleman, a Republican of Minnesota, that would bar American funding of the council for at least two years. Mr. Coleman said he may try to attach the legislation to an upcoming foreign operations appropriations bill when it reaches the Senate floor in the next few weeks.
The move comes as the council has received intense criticism at the end of its first year in existence for singling out Israel — and no other country — for human rights violations while removing independent investigators from Belarus and Cuba, known as two of the most repressive states in the world.
After a year of operation, the only thing the council has accomplished is to create a platform to shield human rights abusers from criticism and launch vitriolic attacks against one country — Israel, Mr. Coleman said, adding that the panel's ineffectiveness was due in large part to its including Cuba and other known rights violators as members. This is akin to the fox guarding the henhouse and will only ensure that it remains irrelevant in promoting human rights.
The United States, he said, should not dignify the hypocrisy of this organization with the support of U.S. tax dollars.
America opted not to seek membership on the council when it was formed to replace the much-maligned Human Rights Commission. It declined again this year, largely citing the panel's focus on Israel. Mr. Coleman's bill would ensure that no funding America provides to the United Nations would go to the council.
His legislation follows a similar effort in the House, which last month passed an amendment prohibiting council aid by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican of Florida.
Mr. Coleman's version was amended by the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Biden of Delaware, to sunset after two years and include a waiver that allows the president to ignore it if national interest warrants. Without the waiver, the bill was likely to face resistance from the State Department, an aide to Mr. Coleman said.
While the State Department has been highly critical of the council, it generally does not support funding restrictions and has not taken a position on the bill.
In approving the Coleman measure last week, the Foreign Relations Committee also voted to increase American funding for U.N. peacekeeping missions and to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in back dues to the world body.
Mr. Coleman, a former mayor of St. Paul, Minn., has emerged as a leading critic of the United Nations in his first term in the Senate. He led calls for the former secretary-general, Kofi Annan, to resign over the oil-for-food scandal, and he was a staunch supporter of the former American ambassador, John Bolton. President Bush had designated Mr. Bolton as a recess appointment but had to remove him after Democrats repeatedly blocked his confirmation.
Along with other members of the Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Coleman met last month in Washington with Mr. Annan's successor, Secretary-General Ban, and expressed his concerns about the council and other issues on the U.N. agenda. Through a spokesman, Mr. Coleman said Mr. Ban agreed that the Human Rights Council was a disappointment, but he was more optimistic in its chances for reform.
In a follow-up letter last week, Mr. Coleman told Mr. Ban that his support for continued American funding for the United Nations was conditional and reiterated his critique of the council, writing that it was nothing more than a shining example of U.N. reform failure.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Ban said the secretary-general does not comment on legislation of member states. She referred to a statement from his office on June 20, in which the secretary-general offered praise for some achievements in the council's first year but said he was disappointed at the council's decision to single out only one specific regional item given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world.
Even if it passes the full Congress, however, the bill's practical impact is questionable, particularly if it includes the waiver that allows the Bush administration essentially to disregard it. It is a symbolic bill, a U.N. diplomat said yesterday.
Nonetheless, it will keep pressure on the Human Rights Council as it heads into its second year. The body has passed nine resolutions citing human rights violations by Israel, the only country it has condemned. Its three statements on Darfur have been less critical, and it has been silent on countries such as North Korea, Cuba, and Libya.