http://www.usunnewyork.usmission.gov/press_releases/20081031_302.html http://www.usunnewyork.usmission.gov/press_releases/20081031_302.html
October 31, 2008

Statement by Robert S. Hagen, Minister Counselor, U.S. Mission to the United Nations, on the Report of the Human Rights Council, to the Third Committee of the 63rd General Assembly, October 31, 2008 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and let me join with others in welcoming the President of the Human Rights Council to the Committee and thanking him for his report. 
Mr. Chairman, my government's concerns over the actions and overall trajectory of the Human Rights Council have become even more pronounced this year. There have been numerous actions the United States views as contrary to the Council's mandate to promote and protect the cause of human rights around the world. While there were some positive actions taken by the Council, they were again this year outweighed by the actions and, importantly, the inaction of the Council. The Council's performance erodes the UN's role as the pre-eminent advocate for what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls the inherent dignity and…equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family. 
We have consistently and repeatedly made clear our concern with the Council's frequent, disproportionate and biased actions against Israel, and we regret that this was again the case this year. The Council's refusal to amend or even review the mandate on Palestinian areas, despite a recommendation to that effect by the mandate holder himself, demonstrates how deeply held this unbalanced, anti-Israel bias is.
My government has also repeatedly stated our deep disappointment in the treatment given by the Council to freedoms of expression, opinion, and religion in its resolutions and decisions. Again, these are actions the United States cannot support, and indeed about which we have repeatedly expressed our opposition as they are entirely inconsistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of the United Nations itself. We remain concerned by the potential of some of the Council's resolutions to justify restrictions on these very freedoms. 
The Council's continued inaction on the deplorable human rights situations in Zimbabwe, Cuba, Iran, Syria, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and its decision to weaken its involvement in and the mandate for action on the human rights crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan further disappoint us. The elimination of the mandate for the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, similar to the elimination of mandates on Cuba and Belarus in 2007, is another example of the disturbing failure of the Council to ensure it is using all the instruments available to it to protect the human rights of all the citizens of the world as mandated by this Assembly's resolution 60/251creating the Council. 
My government regrets that the Council has limited the time available for non-governmental organizations to speak and participate during Universal Periodic Reviews, and views with concern the Council's efforts to limit NGO participation, including the actions of some member states in attacking certain NGOs through the ECOSOC accreditation process. As the General Assembly stated ten years ago in the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, civil society is an essential partner to all Member States and to the United Nations in safeguarding and ensuring that the rights of all are protected. It is in our interest to work with them as the strong and essential partners they are. It is therefore regrettable that some members of the Human Rights Council persist in taking an us against them attitude toward civil society.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, we hope that the Council and its member states will be able to correct its trajectory in the future. We look forward to working with this Committee and the General Assembly to make the UN accountable to the world's most vulnerable people. We believe the UN and its Member States --- and particularly the victims of human rights violations around the world --- deserve better than what the Human Rights Council has delivered in this past year. When he addressed the General Assembly last month, President Bush urged all member states to work together immediately to reform the Council. This Assembly, and particularly its Third Committee, have a mandate to review the Council no later than 2011. We call on all member states to join us in building a Council that takes seriously its mandate to protect, not erode, universal human rights. 
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.