US President Barack Obama’s administration is reviewing how to “engage with” the UN’s top human rights body, which the administration of former president George W. Bush shunned, a senior US official said on Tuesday.
Advocacy watchdog Human Rights Watch said last week that the Obama administration should end the shunning of the UN’s top human rights body so it can speak out against abuses in countries such as China.
The US State Department’s acting spokesman Robert Wood said the Obama administration was mulling over the matter.
“We’re reviewing our policy and strategy with regard to the Human Rights Council,” Wood told reporters.
“Certainly I can understand many people want to see us enunciate our policies very early on. You know, it does take time. We want to make sure that we’ve done a thorough review and that we not rush this,” Wood said.
“We want to get it right,” he added.
For Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “human rights is a very, very high priority,” Wood said.
“We’ve been very concerned about the operation of the Human Rights Council, and we want to take a look and see how we may engage with the Human Rights Council,” he said.
China’s human rights record is due to be examined by the 47-member council in Geneva this week under a regular review. Russia’s record was reviewed last week.
Under the Bush administration, the US shunned the council when it was created in 2006 by refusing to be a member and subsequently minimized its presence as an observer.
By contrast Washington was an active member of the council’s predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, before it fell into disarray.
The State Department said it was observing recent US practice toward the council.
“Officers from the US Mission in Geneva have observed the reviews of all countries participating in this UPR [Universal Periodic Review] round. However, we have not participated in the UPR process,” it said in a statement.
Washington believes the council failed to overcome the failings of its predecessor, while human rights groups have also criticized bias, political bartering and the dominance of states with a record of abuse in the body.
Human Rights Watch global advocacy director Peggy Hicks last Thursday urged the US to return to the council.
“If the US is truly committed to addressing abuses and re-engaging with the world, it should speak out at the Human Rights Council,” she said.
Clinton is due to visit China late next week as part of an Asia tour that will also take her to Japan, South Korea and Asia.
“On this trip, human rights is going to be an important issue. The secretary will raise the issue when appropriate, where she thinks she can have the most effect, and you can count on that,” Wood said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia