BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

21/05/2007

Belarus defeated in U.N. rights council

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS - Belarus was defeated for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council Thursday after a campaign by the United States, key European countries and human rights groups against the former Soviet republic's repressive rights record.

The 192-member General Assembly also elected Bolivia, Bosnia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Madagascar, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, Slovenia and South Africa to three-year terms on the 47-member council.

The Human Rights Council was created in March 2006 to replace the widely discredited and highly politicized Human Rights Commission, and one aim was to keep some of the worst human rights offenders out of its membership. But it has been widely criticized for failing to change many of the commission's practices, including putting much more emphasis on Israel than on any other country.

Nonetheless, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad called Bosnia's victory over Belarus "heartening," noting some have called Belarus "the last dictatorship in Europe."

"This bodes well for the reform of the Human Rights Council that is very much needed and I look forward to working with everyone in the United Nations who is involved in that goal," Khalilzad said. "It should be helpful in our deliberation on the future of our role vis-a-vis the council."

President Alexander Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for more than a decade, quashing dissent and opposition groups. Last year, the United States and the European Union slapped travel sanctions on him and other top government officials.

In the first round of voting, the slates for African, Asian, and Latin American seats were uncontested, and all 10 candidates topped the minimum 97 votes needed with large majorities.

In the second round of voting, Bosnia easily defeated Belarus by a vote of 112 to 72 and Italy defeated Denmark by a vote of 101 to 86.

Belarus' ambassador to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

Nineteen human rights groups appealed to the General Assembly on Monday not to accept Egypt. Earlier this month, a report by two watchdog groups, U.N. Watch and Freedom House, said Angola, Belarus, Egypt and Qatar "are authoritarian regimes with negative U.N. voting records (on rights issues) and are not qualified to be council members."

Last year, the council adopted eight resolutions criticizing Israel for its military actions in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. The only other country to be criticized was Sudan.

Source:

http://www.onelocalnews.com/pioneertimesjournal/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=112162

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