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| Izzy |
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...nm/rights_un_dc
U.S. Enraged as Cuba Returned to U.N. Rights Body
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Cuba was reelected without opposition on Tuesday to the United Nations (news - web sites)' top human rights body, prompting a fierce response by Washington that it was "like putting Al Capone in charge of bank security."
The voting took place in the 54-nation U.N. Economic and Social Council, which two years ago ousted the United States from the Human Rights Commission for the first time since Washington helped found it in 1947. The United States was returned to the body in a vote the following year.
In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) told reporters: "Cuba does not deserve a seat on the Human Rights Commission. Cuba deserves to be investigated by the Human Rights Commission."
In the last month, the Cuban authorities have rounded up 75 dissidents and imprisoned them for terms of up to 28 years. As part of the crackdown, Cuba also executed three men who hijacked a ferry in a failed bid to reach the United States.
"Having Cuba serve again on the Human Rights Commission is like putting Al Capone in charge of bank security," Fleischer said. "It is an inappropriate action that does not serve the cause of human rights in Cuba or at the United Nations."
Cuba's U.N. ambassador, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, accused the United States of executing minors and the mentally retarded people and abusing the rights of Afghan fighters long confined without charges in a U.S. base on Cuban territory.
Britain, whose soldiers last month invaded Iraq (news - web sites) alongside U.S. forces, also won reelection to the Geneva-based 53-nation rights commission, easily fending off a challenge from states which opposed the war and defeating Portugal.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS
Human rights groups said this year's elections carried on a trend of increasing domination of the commission by noted human rights violators, many of whom, like Cuba, were proposed on a regional slate without opposition.
"You have a huge powerful and very well organized bloc that doesn't want any country criticized, opposes U.N. human rights monitoring and wants to weaken the office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights," Joanna Weschler of Human Rights Watch told Reuters.
"It's almost a rule now. You get criticized by the commission or you might be, so you get a seat on the commission and you vote as a bloc against criticism," Weschler said.
Among other members with rights records that have come under fire are Democratic Republic of Congo (news - web sites), Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Countries are nominated for three-year seats on the commission through their U.N. regional groupings. most of this year's candidates were unopposed within their group.
Seats were contested only within the Asian group and the "Western Europe and Others" group, which includes the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Sichan Siv. U.S. ambassador to the Economic and Social Council, briefly walked out of the session following Cuba's uncontested reelection, because, he said, Havana was "the worst violator of human rights in this hemisphere."
Winning a three-year term on the commission were Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mauritania, Bhutan, Indonesia, Nepal, Qatar, Hungary, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Italy and Netherlands.
Reelected to new three-year terms were Britain, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, India, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
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the UN is nothing more then a world wide platform for politics. if only it were to stand for something... a greater good prehaps :rolleyes: |
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| Renegade |
I understand your qualms about the whole Cuba thing, but given the need to have an international body like the UN in some capacity, what would you change about the UN to bring it more in line with what you describe as the quest for "the greater good"?
Trouble is, you can't set up a global political institution and expect politics to not get in the way. If politics undermine relationships between countries, then surely you must expect political wranglings even at the most formal levels? |
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| biodigit |
| Give me a ing break! just because US doesnt agree with it, it makes it all WRONG???? you wanna talk about human rights violations??? Israel had 54 UN resolutions against them regarding their human rights violations. And guess who came rushing over like a $2 dollah bitch??!!?? i bet you cant guess this....the good old U.S of A! they vetoed all the resolutions!! |
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| Izzy |
| quote: | Originally posted by biodigit
Give me a ing break! just because US doesnt agree with it, it makes it all WRONG???? you wanna talk about human rights violations??? Israel had 54 UN resolutions against them regarding their human rights violations. And guess who came rushing over like a $2 dollah bitch??!!?? i bet you cant guess this....the good old U.S of A! they vetoed all the resolutions!! |
well you know what, israel isnt on the human rights committee, and if they were you'd have total right to complain. but cuba making it to the human rights commission, which is lead by libya btw :eyespop:
and btw on israel's specific case of all of the condemnations that The Commission on Human Rights (a body of the UN) has put forth, 26% refer to israel alone (!!!) and yet rouge states like syria and libya have never been critized, talk about being fair. i severaly doubt israel commits a fourth of the worlds human rights violations.
renegade, i agree the UN will be a platform for politics when regardless of how well its organized, though i belive it should at least have the decincey to stand up for what it belives in. maybe have it such that those who want to make it onto the human rights committee have to pass a certain standard of practices? |
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| drewfactor |
| quote: | Originally posted by Izzy
well you know what, israel isnt on the human rights committee, and if they were you'd have total right to complain. but cuba making it to the human rights commission, which is lead by libya btw :eyespop:
and btw on israel's specific case of all of the condemnations that The Commission on Human Rights (a body of the UN) has put forth, 26% refer to israel alone (!!!) and yet rouge states like syria and libya have never been critized, talk about being fair. i severaly doubt israel commits a fourth of the worlds human rights violations.
renegade, i agree the UN will be a platform for politics when regardless of how well its organized, though i belive it should at least have the decincey to stand up for what it belives in. maybe have it such that those who want to make it onto the human rights committee have to pass a certain standard of practices? |
Spot on man. THe UN is an irrelevant piece of . Their failings outweigh anything they good they have done....like Jenin refugee camps, the oil for palaces program (26 billion dollars of Iraq's oil money is still tied up banks..in France nonetheless!!), and how can the countries of the world with the worst human rights records be permanent members on the human rights commission? C'mon! Libya? Cuba? Syria? China? Russia? |
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