The top UN human-rights watchdog criticized conditions in Cuba and North Korea, but Russia and China avoided censure.
The 53-nation UN Human Rights Commission voted 22-21 on Thursday for a resolution on Cuba proposed by Honduras that "deplored" the sentencing of 75 dissidents to prison terms.
Cuba said the resolution was the work of the US. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the narrowness of the victory represented "a real failure" for Washington.
"It's disappointing it had to be that close," said Richard Williamson, the head of the US delegation.
"The fact is no one can argue repression doesn't happen in Cuba. It's an island prison. It's good to have a resolution putting some pressure on that regime," he said.
Shortly after the vote, the Cuban delegation announced that it had filed a resolution claiming widespread human-rights abuses by the US against detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
Also Thursday, the commission voted 29-8 to condemn North Korea for its precarious humanitarian situation and for systematic and widespread rights violations.
Resolutions were also passed criticizing the human-rights situation in Belarus and Turkmenistan.
However, the commission threw out an EU resolution condemning Russia for its record in war-plagued Chechnya.
Russia mustered support from Cuba, Brazil, India, China and African countries to defeat the motion 23-12.
China also ducked censure when it used a procedural "no-action" motion to block discussion of a US-sponsored resolution criticizing its rights record.
The US resolution had expressed "concern about continuing reports of severe restrictions on freedom of assembly, association, expression, conscience and religion, legal processes that continue to fall short of international norms ... and arrests and other severe sentences for those seeking to exercise their fundamental rights."
Chinese Ambassador to the UN Sha Zukang (
"China is neither heaven nor hell. It is just in the process of building a society with decent living standards," he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan (孔泉) said: "We demand the US side face the reality, draw lessons from its failure, abandon confrontation and resolve the difference between China and the US on human rights by dialogues and exchanges for the development of bilateral relations."
Beijing traditionally resorts to the procedural "no action" blocking motion to counter attempts to seek condemnation of abuses in the country over the past decade.
Kong said the draft resolution "has no factual ground" and said Beijing "is committed to do all it can in the interests of the Chinese people."
China accused Washington of introducing the motion for its own domestic political purposes. "What it earned is isolation and what it gained is failure," Kong said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was