With the US in virtually lone opposition, the UN overwhelmingly approved a new Human Rights Council on Wednesday to replace the widely discredited Human Rights Commission.
The vote in the 191-nation General Assembly was 170-4 with three abstentions.
Joining the US in opposing the resolution were Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau. Abstaining were Belarus, Iran and Venezuela.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who first proposed the council a year ago, hailed the decision, saying, "This gives the United Nations the chance -- a much-needed chance -- to make a new beginning in its work for human rights around the world."
But the US' UN Ambassador John Bolton said the proposed council was "not sufficiently improved" over the commission, which has been faulted for permitting rights abusers to join.
"We must not let the victims of human rights abuses throughout the world think that UN member states were willing to settle for `good enough,'" Bolton said in a statement after the vote. "We must not let history remember us as the architects of a council that was a `compromise' and merely `the best we could do' rather than one that ensured doing `all we could do' to promote human rights."
He said that the US would "work cooperatively" to strengthen the council and looked forward to reviewing its effectiveness in addressing rights abuse cases like Sudan, Cuba, Iran, Zimbabwe, Belarus and Myanmar.
He did not say whether the US would be a candidate to serve on the council, a critical consideration for the its future.
The resolution calls for the election of new council members on May 9 and a first meeting of the council on June 19. The commission will be abolished on June 16.
The new council will have 47 members, as opposed to the commission's 53; the means to make timely interventions in crises; and a year-round presence, with three meetings a year at its Geneva base lasting a total of at least 10 weeks. The commission has traditionally met for six weeks, once a year.
Under terms meant to restrict rights abusers from membership, candidates for the council will be voted on individually rather than as a regional group, their rights records will be subject to mandatory periodic review and they will be subject to suspension if found guilty of committing abuses themselves.
But the final text had a weakened version of the crucial restriction in Annan's original plan, which required new members to be elected by two-thirds of those voting. Instead, council members will be elected by an absolute majority of member states.
Major rights organizations and a number of US allies in the UN -- who had all lobbied Washington to reconsider its opposition -- argued that the terms were far better than existing ones and would keep major abusers off the council. But Bolton disagreed and singled out the compromise as a reason the US could not back the council.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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