US for creation of UN Human Rights Council as immediate priority
Passage of a resolution to establish the proposed United Nations Human Rights Council is an immediate priority for the United States, says a top State Department official.
The new body, as put forward by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, would replace the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
"The new Human Rights Council should have fewer diversions, more credibility, and preferably fewer members," Mark Lagon, lead official on many United Nations-related policies in State's Bureau of International Organization Affairs, told those attending a B'nai B'rith conference on world challenges October 29.
Lagon said membership would be key to the council's effectiveness. "Currently," he said, "some of the world's most egregious violators of human rights work through their regional blocs to gain nomination and election to the CHR in order to protect themselves from criticism."
These nondemocratic countries then use their position on the panel to work against meaningful resolutions that condemn serious human rights violations by specific states, he said.
Lagon said the existing human-rights mechanisms are broken, and quoted a colleague on the proper makeup of a new council: "The membership must be the firefighters of the world, not the arsonists."
