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Common Dreams bericht: 'U.S. Quits Council Race, Possibly Fearing Defeat. UNITED NATIONS - The United States, which has been lambasted for human rights abuses both by members of its armed forces in Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad and by U.S. law enforcement officials in the Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba, has backed out of a hotly contested race for membership in the newly-created U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC).U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack Thursday confirmed Washington's decision not to run for a seat at the upcoming HRC elections scheduled to take place May 9. The widespread speculation at the United Nations is that the U.S. decision may have been prompted by lingering fears it will not be able to muster the 96 votes needed in the 191-member General Assembly. "Since the voting was expected to be by secret ballot, it was very unlikely that the customary strong-arm tactics and political bullying would have helped the United States to get the necessary votes," an Asian diplomat told IPS. "If the United States contested and lost, it would have been a resounding public slap for a country which is a self-styled promoter of human rights but which still justifies abuses in the name of fighting terrorism," he added. The new 47-member HRC will replace a much-maligned 53-member Human Rights Commission that was once home to countries such as Zimbabwe, China, Sudan, Cuba, Iran and Libya, routinely labeled "human rights violators" by Washington. As of Thursday, Cuba, China, Iran and Libya were all candidates for membership in the HRC -- and with a fair chance of being elected. When the United States ran for a seat in the outgoing Human Rights Commission back in May 2001, it suffered a humiliating defeat and was ousted from the panel for the first time since its creation in 1947.' Lees verder:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0407-07.htm