China Gets The Same Number of Votes As the U.S. on the U.N.’s Human Rights Council

May 13, 2009
By Patrick Goodenough
CNS News
Original Source: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=48045


Cuban delegates examine the vote results after their country, whose human rights record is frequently criticized, won re-election to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday, May 12, 2009. (U.N. Photo by Eskinder Debebe)
(CNSNews.com) – There were no surprises Tuesday when the U.N. General Assembly filled 18 seats at the Human Rights Council in a voting exercise that drew criticism for its lack of competition and the high level of support enjoyed by countries with poor human rights records.
 
Despite appeals by numerous advocacy groups for member states to reject the candidacies of incumbents Cuba, China, Saudi Arabia and Russia, all retained their seats without difficulty.
 
China obtained the same number of votes as the United States – which stood for the first time – while Cuba got just four votes fewer than the U.S. and Saudi Arabia only 13 fewer.
 
The one bright note for human rights observers was Azerbaijan’s failure to get re-elected. Running for one of two available seats in the Eastern European group, Azerbaijan lost to Russia and Hungary.
 
The departure of Azerbaijan and arrival of newcomer Hungary brought a slight change to the complexion of the 47-member Human Rights Council:
 
-- The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), whose performance in the Geneva-based body has stoked controversy, loses one seat, now controlling 15.
 
-- The number of council members designated “free” by the democracy watchdog Freedom House rises by one, to 23. They remain a minority overall, though, a fact Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, described Tuesday as “inexcusable and outrageous.”
 
Eastern Europe and Africa alone of the five regional groups offered any competition at all in Tuesday’s vote, as the other three, Asia, Latin America and the Western group, put forward closed slates – the same number of candidates as there were seats available.
 
Even so, advocacy groups had urged governments not to vote for regimes with poor records: even in a closed slate vote, had a country not achieved a simple majority (97 votes in the 192-member General Assembly) in three rounds of voting, its bid would have failed. In such an event, further rounds would have been held, allowing new candidates to enter.
 
Yet apart from Azerbaijan, which received 87 votes, no other candidate country failed to reach the 97-vote threshold. China obtained 167 votes, Cuba 163 and Saudi Arabia 157.
 
In the Western group, the U.S. received 167 votes, fewer than the other two candidates in the group, Norway (179) and Belgium (177).
 
Other countries to receive more votes than the U.S. included Jordan (178), Kyrgyzstan (174), Bangladesh (171). The latest U.S. State Department assessment of global human rights reports abuses in all three countries, including torture, abuse, arbitrary arrest, harassment, media restrictions and religious discrimination.
 
The U.N. resolution that established the council in 2006 requires member states to take into account candidates’ human rights records when voting and says council members “shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.” Before Tuesday’s vote, the presiding officer reminded the assembly of that requirement.
 
‘We’ve not been perfect ourselves’
 
The Bush administration steered clear of the Human Rights Council, arguing that it was little better than its discredited predecessor, the U.N. Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR).

: U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice is congratulated by delegates at the U.N. headquarters in New York City after the U.S. wins a seat on the Human Rights Council for the first time on Tuesday, May 12, 2009. (U.N. Photo by Eskinder Debebe)
Speaking after the vote, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said the U.S. still believed the council was flawed, but would work “with a broad cross-section of member states to strengthen and reform” it.
 
“Obviously there will always be some countries whose respect and record on human rights is sub-par,” Rice said, adding, “We have not been perfect ourselves, but we intend to lead based on the strong, principled vision that the American people have about respecting human rights, supporting democracy.”
 
Asked at a media stakeout after the vote about “the U.S. human rights policy and whether it merits being on the Human Rights Council,” Anne Bayefsky of Eye of the U.N. replied: “When the likes of Saudi Arabia, China and Cuba get elected … we have a lot to worry about, and your concern should be not that the world’s biggest democracy should be elected but that the others should be elected. It’s a travesty.”
 
Ros-Lehtinen said radical reform of the council’s standards and membership criteria was needed, noting that 80 percent of country-specific council resolutions in its three years of existence have targeted Israel.
 
Without reform first, she said, “U.S. membership will not change this grim reality – it will only legitimize the council’s anti-freedom, anti-U.S., anti-Israel actions.”
 
Legislation introduced in January by Ros-Lehtinen includes provisions restricting U.S. participation in, and withholding funding for, the council.
 
The U.N. Transparency, Accountability and Reform Act has 85 co-sponsors in the House, all Republican. The only Democrat to support it when introduced, Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, withdrew his backing two weeks later.
 
Hillel Neuer of Geneva-based organization U.N. Watch welcomed Azerbaijan’s defeat, but voiced disappointment about the success of “all the other repressive regimes.”
 
“The U.S will surely have its hands full as de facto head of the opposition, a small group that, depending on the issue, will range from one to 15,” he said.
 
“The dream of Eleanor Roosevelt is ever more distant on a day that wrongly elevates the Chinese Communist Party, Havana and the House of Saud.”
 
(Roosevelt was the first chairperson of the U.N. Commission for Human Rights, helped to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and co-founded Freedom House.)
 
Secret ballot
 
Last week, members of the Community of Democracies – more than 100 governments at the U.N. that have committed themselves to democratic norms – reiterated the importance of electing only those candidates for the council which contribute to promoting and protecting human rights worldwide.
 
Nevertheless, Tuesday’s tallies indicate that, when it came to voting, a number of those Community of Democracies countries gave China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Russia the nod.
 
“China and Russia are among the most powerful countries in the world, but countries
could have used the secret ballot to withhold the necessary votes from both, based on their extremely poor rights record,” said Paula Schreifer, advocacy director at Freedom House.
 
Yap Swee Seng, executive director of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, said the lack of competition in three of the regional groups was cause for concern, and urged “countries that care about human rights … to challenge and defeat rights abusers in future elections.”
 
A key criticism of the council is the fact it adheres to the U.N. custom of “equitable geographical distribution” – 13 seats are allocated to Asia, 13 to Africa, eight to Latin America, seven to the Western group and six to Eastern Europe.