2007-06-18 19:09:01 -
GENEVA (AP) - The U.N.'s new human rights watchdog on Monday wound up a tough year of negotiations on how it will confront abuses around the world with China issuing a last-minute demand that would make it more difficult to investigate any government.
As a midnight (2200gmt) deadline approached, it was unclear whether the Human
Rights Council will be any better than the widely criticized body it replaced one year ago.
Formed to improve on the Human Rights Commission, seen in its final years as politically manipulated by China, Russia and others, the council has been attacked for failing in its short existence to address abuses in some of the world's most troubled areas.
Rights campaigners and Western countries bemoan that the council has been dominated by its large African, Arab and Asian blocs, spending much of its time singling out Israel and fending off criticism of countries such as Sudan and Zimbabwe.
The United States _ which is only an observer to the council _ has been skeptical since the body was formed last year.
Much of that time has been devoted to setting the ground rules for how the council will operate. But having opposed investigations in principle, developing countries have now agreed to give the council power to launch investigations into some of the worst offending countries for at least another year.
They also agreed a plan to set up a schedule for a review of each country's performance.
But, just as a compromise package by the council's president, Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, appeared sure of acceptance, the deal was held up by China's last minute attempt to raise the threshold for resolutions criticizing countries over their human rights record.
China says two-thirds of the council's 47 members should be required before an expert is appointed to make a special investigation of alleged rights violations. The current requirement is a simple majority.
Behind the scenes negotiations continued during much of the day to see whether the deadlock could be broken, but by evening it was still unclear what would happen.
Although many developing countries object to investigations of nations with poor human rights records, they make an exception for Israel, the only government criticized so far by the body. Censure by the council brings no sanctions beyond international scrutiny.
De Alba has called for the establishment of a «universal periodic review» mechanism under which all countries will have their rights record examined regularly, so as to remove any accusation of bias.
His proposal also safeguards the annual reports on a number of specific human rights hotspots, including Haiti, Somalia, Congo, Sudan, Myanmar, North Korea and the Palestinian territories.
But it cancels long-standing mandates to investigate Cuba and Belarus.
De Alba is also seeking to preserve time at each council session for dealing with urgent human rights crises as they develop _ instead of having all discussions set in advance. The proposal is being contested by a number of countries, which fear that it could be used to unfairly single out developing nations. European countries, however, have insisted on the greater leeway.
Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the package put forward by de Alba «signals a weak start to the council's work, but a foundation upon which much more can be built.
«It leaves a lot unresolved for the coming year,» Hicks said.
Associated Press Writers Bradley S. Klapper and Eliane Engeler contributed to this report.