Vote for Justice, Embarrassment for U.S.

The United States, a self- claimed "human rights champion," was voted off the U.N. Commission on Human Rights on Thursday for the first time since the top U.N. human rights body was formed in 1946.

The United States came in the embarrassing fourth with 29 votes in balloting for three seats allocated to Western nations that were up for re-election. The vote shows, through legal means, that a majority of U.N. member states are unhappy with the U.S. practice to impose its human rights standards on others.

As a result, Washington lost not only its seat on the 53-member U.N. commission, but also its right to vote for at least one year on all commission resolutions.

"We are very disappointed," James Cunningham, the acting U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, said after the vote. "We very much wanted to serve on the commission."

Unfortunately, the vote shut the door of the U.N. body to the United States, who often gesticulates on the human rights records of other countries.

U.S. diplomats here described Thursday's balloting as "a surprising move." But to many other U.N. members here, the outcome is "very natural."

In fact, the vote echoed extensive criticism of Washington for ignoring the world body, the largest inter-governmental organization in the globe, and purposely delaying U.N. member dues.

The U.S. ouster from the world body is also triggered by growing anger of the international community with Washington for taking too many unilateral positions on such important world issues as a national missile defense shield and the withdrawal from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to curb global warming.

Thursday's vote is also seen as strong rejection to the U.S. attempt to use the so-called human rights issue as a tool to pursue its power politics and hegemonism in the world. While trumpeting human rights, Washington adopts a negative attitude toward international human rights conventions. It has refused to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Children and the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, for example.

If Washington wants to avoid such an embarrassing situation in the future, it has to change its course of action in which it politicizes the human rights issue in the world, and it has to enter into dialogue on equal footing with other countries, rich or poor, strong or weak. If the White House chose to have its way, the disgrace would be in store for it.

Shen Guofang, deputy Chinese permanent representative to the U. N., told reporters after the vote: "The U.S. failure means that its past actions in the U.N. Commission on Human Rights is highly unpopular. The U.S. moves at the previous commission conferences in Geneva have undermined the atmosphere for dialogue among all member states, and it is not conducive to promoting the cause of human rights in the world."

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