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US wins seat on UN Human Rights Council

May 13, 2009

The United States won a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday after President Barack Obama reversed a policy that had kept the country off of the international body.

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White flags decorated with the logo of the UN Human Rights Council
Critics say the Human Rights Council needs stricter guidelines for membershipImage: AP

The US received 167 votes in the election in the UN General Assembly, which has a total of 192 members. The assembly also elected 17 other countries to three-year terms on the council, which is based in Geneva.

Former US President George W. Bush had refused to support the council when it was established in 2006. Last month, Obama reversed that policy and announced US intentions to run for a seat.


"We ran because this administration and the American people are deeply committed to the values of human rights," US Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters after the vote at UN headquarters in New York.

US wants reform

Rice said the US planned to work from within to improve the council.

"We have not been perfect ourselves, but we intend to lead based on the strong principles and visions of the American people about respecting human rights, supporting democracy," Rice said.

Since it began work in Geneva in 2006, the 47-member council has been criticized by the United States for a perceived anti-Israel bias.

The revamped Human Rights Council was attacked by the former Bush administration for being toothless and accepting countries with dubious human rights records. But some analysts and politicians say the body is about to get a shot in the arm with the election of the United States to one of the seven Western states allowed on the council.

This year, 18 members will see their six-year mandates expire. There were 20 countries vying for the positions. Some of those countries, such as Cuba, China and Saudi Arabia, have questionable human rights records, but are more or less guaranteed a place. The US will be taking a seat at the table for the first time.

The current Human Rights Council is a reformed version of its predecessor, the UN Commission on Human Rights. That organization was discredited for allowing countries with abominable human rights records – such as Sudan and Zimbabwe – to join and to form powerful voting blocs that critics say stood in the way of change.

Since then, a handful of Western states have had to make do without the voice of the US when addressing human rights concerns through the UN council.

Europe buoyed

US President Barack Obama
Under President Barack Obama, the US has continued moving away from Bush-era policiesImage: AP

Brett Scheafer, a public policy analyst at conservative US think tank the Heritage Foundation, said the Obama administration's decision to turn back towards the council, rather than shun it as Bush did, will be greeted with relief in Europe.

"It's important to point out that other countries, particularly western European countries, wanted the US to be part of the process," he said.

"The Europeans were uncomfortable taking a leadership role on these issues, which traditionally has fallen to the United States and they want the US to be there to lead the issue, to lead this debate and to take the heat for bringing these issues up."

Scheafer said, however, that reform of the council would have been more achievable with the US outside looking in, rather than running for election.

"In doing so they've traded away whatever leverage they may have had with the Europeans to try and get a more effective council out of the review process that is on the horizon."

There are 47 seats on the Human Rights Council and the US's voice only counts for as much as the next country's. But in two years' time the General Assembly is to convene to review the status of the council. Then, it is hoped, the US will be in a position to lend a loud voice to calls for further reform of the body by at least making it harder for some countries with problematic human rights records to get a seat at the table.

Infografik Zusammensetzung Menschenrechtsrat UNO, englisch

US "hypocrisy"

Thomas Hammarberg, commissioner for Human Rights in the Council of Europe, told Deutsche Welle that the US's decision to embrace the council will have no bearing on Europe's advocacy efforts.

"Europe must be active anyhow, because European values, including human rights, must be pursued in the global scene," he said. "Sometimes the United States' activities have been negative to the performance of human rights.

"They continued during the Bush administration to use the rhetoric of human rights, pretending to be the champion of human rights, and at the same time they allowed their soldiers and intelligence officers to use methods which were actually very much against human rights, which created an atmosphere of hypocrisy and double standards when it comes to human rights in the rest of the world."

He admitted though that Europe has dragged its feet on calling on countries such as China to account over their human rights records for fear of jeopardizing trade and economic relations.

"I'm not sure if that will change with the United States, because they have a similar approach, and I just hope that perhaps with the inspiration of the new government in Washington there will be a new approach both from Europe and the United States even when it is inopportune, or when some economic interests might be at risk."

The human rights organization Freedom House recently co-published a study evaluating the 20 candidate countries for the Human Rights Council. Vladamir Shkolnikov, the director of Freedom House in Europe, said the Obama administration's decision to apply for membership will by no means make the job any easier for Europe.

"I would not put it in terms of taking off the burden [off of Europe]," he said. "But to present a united front with Europe and to have solidarity with the EU states … that maybe has not been there during the Bush administration, and to show that the US stands for the same values as the European Union."

Author: Darren Mara/av

Editor: Chuck Penfold