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Uncertainty over the Human Rights Council increases
UNITED NATIONS, March 2.—The
creation of a UN Human Rights Council today appeared
today to be submerged in doubt, without any clear
indication for now of a consensus before March 13,
the date by which it should be approved, PL reports.
Jan Eliasson, the Swiss
ambassador and president of the General Assembly,
has insisted that the beginning of the labors of the
Human Rights Commission in Geneva on March 13 is
crucial for deciding on the creation of the Council.
But to date the United States is
delaying any move on a decision due to its
reluctance to accept the latest draft of this UN
mechanism, presented last week by Ambassador
Eliasson.
John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador,
stated on Monday that that draft is unacceptable to
Washington because it does not include its
conditioned criteria for entry onto the Council nor
its election method of a two-thirds majority.
According to diplomatic sources
here, Bolton has successfully pressured the European
powers to gain a few months’ delay for the approval
of the Council.
In a short statement approved
last night, the 25 members of the EU gave their full
support to the efforts of the president of the
General Assembly to ensure the greatest possible
backing for the swift establishing of the Human
Rights Council.
However, that bloc did not
indicate whether it would have recourse to any
action leading to the approval of the document
presented by Eliasson in order to leave the way open
for the Council’s creation.
Emyr Jones Parry, British
ambassador to the UN, stated that adopting the text
without the backing of the United States would not
be good for human rights or, particularly, for the
Council.
Meanwhile, Kofi Annan, UN
secretary general, admitted his disquiet at the U.S.
position of rejecting the draft resolution that
would facilitate the creation of the controversial
Human Rights Council.
In a brief meeting with the
press at this headquarters he stated that he was
displeased at the position taken by the United
States and did not know how the issue would develop
or be resolved.
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