May 10, 2006
Everyone, you can breathe easier now. It appears that Cuba is slated to join the new U.N. Human Rights Council.
There were 63 countries vying for 47 seats on the new council yesterday. The results of the first round of secret balloting among the UN membership in New York last night revealed that the hopes of human rights organisations, and many Western governments including Britain, that recent reforms would assure a more effective watchdog for abuse had only been partly realised.Yes, the pace of progress at Turtle Bay is positively stunning. In fact, this time around, the guidelines for eligibility were so stringent it detered Zimbabwe, Libya, Sudan and Syria (all members of the last Human Rights council) from even entering the running.Among other countries chosen to take their places on the new panel were Russia, China, Cuba, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, all nations labelled by the New York-based Human Rights Watch as unworthy of membership because of their own records of abuse and repression.
Other countries with similar reputations for violations, which had similarly been striving for membership, were discarded in the vote, notably Iran and Azerbaijan. Venezuela, which has come under criticism for deteriorating human rights conditions since the coming to power of Hugo Chavez, also failed to win enough votes. Iraq also fell short.
Of course, that isn't to say that, had they actually entered the running, they would have fallen short of the necessary votes or anything.
Ah...another U.N. "victory."
For more on this lunacy, see Michelle Malkin's continuing coverage.
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» UN elects Cuba, China, Saudia Arabia from American Phoenix
On May 9, 2006, the United Nations General Assembly elected Cuba, China, Saudia Arabia, Pakistan, Russia, and Azerbajian, inter alia, to its new Human Rights Council. All of these countries are in serious violation of human rights. The Human Rights [Read More]
