UNITED NATIONS, March 2: Following a US decision to vote against the proposed draft on the establishment of a human rights council last week, the President of United Nations General Assembly has called on member states to transcend their national positions and forge global solutions.
On Wednesday the proposed council got a major boost as the European Union backed the plan, but Britain has warned that the new body risks isolating Americans. Unlike the current UN Human Rights Commission, the new council would be required to review on a periodic basis the human rights records of all countries, beginning with its members.
The European Union’s consent on the proposed council was achieved after British reluctance to isolate the United States had been overcome.
Britain’s UN ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, said Europeans, while supporting the draft, also recognised ‘that adopting that text without United States support is not good for human rights and it’s not particularly good for the council’.
The existing Geneva Commission has been criticised for allowing some of the worst human rights abusers to use their membership to protect one another from condemnation. General Assembly President Jan Eliasson said the EU’s backing was ‘very good news’, adding ‘it was crucial to get speedy agreement on setting up a new United Nations Human Rights Council’.
