News Article by BLOOMBERG posted on May 05, 2001 at 12:16:30: EST (-5 GMT)
Dozen Nations Reneged on Vote Pledges for UN Panel
By Todd Zeranski
Washington, May 4 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. is trying to identify about a dozen countries that reneged on pledges to back it for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
While the U.S. had received assurances of support from more than 40 countries, it got only 29 votes, and U.S. officials don't yet know the ``dozen or so'' countries that abandoned their pledges, Boucher said. Because a number of European Union countries competed for seats on the commission, it is doubtful the U.S. received many votes from Europe, he said.
The U.S. yesterday lost a seat on the rights panel for the first time since it was founded with American backing in 1947, when Eleanor Roosevelt served as its first chairman. Two countries accused by the U.S. of extensive rights violations, Sudan and Sierra Leone, won election to the panel.
``If people feel that in good conscience they can vote for Sudan, then they should have no qualms about voting for the United States,'' Boucher said.
The UN vote not only deprived the U.S. of a voice in a high- profile forum that debates human rights issues, it also stoked criticisms of the body by American lawmakers.
``Countries like China, Cuba and Sudan will no longer be subject to the careful scrutiny that the United States has always demanded,'' said Senator Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement.
China, Resolution
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in response to a reporter's question that he didn't know whether China played a role in persuading countries to reject the U.S. after American diplomats sponsored a resolution critical of China's treatment of its citizens.
China blocked the resolution at the commission last month by rallying support from Russia and many African, Asian and Latin American countries. It called for China to improve the rule of law, release political prisoners and respect the religious rights of Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and Falun Gong followers.
The removal of the U.S. from the rights panel may weigh on a congressional debate over payments of UN dues. The House International Relations Committee approved a budget bill this week that includes $582 million to pay U.S. arrears to the world body, and the measure may go to the House floor as early as next week.
Austria and Sweden replaced the U.S. and Norway as representatives of the Western European and North American group of nations on the commission after a vote yesterday of the 52- member UN Economic and Social Council, which oversees the panel. France was re-elected unanimously, while Austria received 41 votes and Sweden 32.
Bahrain, Croatia and Armenia were elected for the first time, along with South Korea, Pakistan, Chile, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo and Uganda.
Human Rights Watch assailed the election of Sudan, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Togo, calling them a ``rogues gallery'' of human rights abusers. In Sudan, aid agencies report that food assistance is ``sometimes distributed only to those willing to undergo conversion to Islam,'' President George W. Bush said in a speech to the American Jewish Committee yesterday.
`Forceful Advocates'
A civil war in Sudan has pitted the Muslims who dominate the government in the north against Christian and animist rebels in the south. The conflict has drawn increased interest from the U.S. since Sudan began producing oil two years ago.
One-third of the 53 human rights commission members face re- election each year, when non-members such as Austria and Sweden can declare their candidacy. Russia, as successor to the Soviet Union, is the only country to hold its seat since 1947.
The U.S. pledged to work around its ouster from the UN body. ``We're going to
be forceful advocates of human rights, we'll remain that (way) around the world,
and we would hope that would be the criteria that other countries would use to
decide who gets on the commission or who doesn't,'' Boucher
said.