By Frank Jordans
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:56 a.m. June 19, 2007
GENEVA – Members of the U.N.'s new human rights watchdog agreed in principle Tuesday to a compromise on how to launch investigations into some of the world's worst rights offenders, sparing the body from the potentially embarrassing prospect of failing to set its own rules.
The Human Rights Council, which was formed last year to replace the discredited U.N. Human Rights Commission, has faced widespread criticism from activists who say it spends much of its time singling out Israel and fending off criticism of countries such as Sudan and Zimbabwe.
The European Union, which played a key role in the negotiations, said it remained to be seen how the council can perform on the basis of the agreement.
“The package is certainly not ideal, but we have a basis we can work with,” said Ambassador Michael Steiner of Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency. “The package must prove its value in practice.”
The U.S. – which is only an observer to the council – has been skeptical since the beginning.
The council's members had negotiated for a year on setting the ground rules for how it will operate. But just as a compromise package appeared likely to be approved at a council meeting in Geneva late Monday, 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 said approval by two-thirds of the council's 47 members should be required before a special investigation of alleged rights violations is launched. The current requirement is a simple majority.
Shortly after a midnight deadline expired, council president Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico said members had agreed to a new proposal that says resolutions against a country should have “the broadest possible support” – preferably from at least 15 members – before being submitted to the full council for approval.
The new proposal will be put before the council for formal approval when it meets for a brief session later Tuesday.
“We have all made compromises, it is not a perfect text. Negotiations never achieve a perfect text,” de Alba told reporters.
The council membership is heavily weighted toward Asia and Africa, with 13 members in each group. The EU has eight members.
Although many developing countries object to naming and shaming countries over their human rights records, they make an exception for Israel, the only government explicitly criticized so far by the body. Censure by the council brings no sanctions beyond international scrutiny.
Among the proposed changes to its rules is 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.
De Alba's proposal also aims to safeguard annual reports on a number of specific human rights hot spots, including Haiti, Somalia, Congo, Sudan, Myanmar, North Korea and the Palestinian territories. But it would cancel long-standing mandates to investigate Cuba and Belarus.
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