U.S. Shut Out of U.N. Panel on Human Rights

The United States was voted off the U.N. Human Rights Commission on Thursday, marking the first time since the world body’s inception more than five decades ago that the Americans will not hold a seat.

“It was an election, understandably, where we’re very disappointed,” said acting U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham. “This won’t at all, of course, affect our commitment to human rights issues in and outside of the United Nations. We’ll continue to pursue them.”

In a surprise result, the U.S. came in last among the four candidates up for the three seats allocated to Western countries on the Geneva-based panel. Austria, France and Sweden won the places instead.

Human rights groups say there has been growing resentment toward the U.S. among Western nations that are usually its allies, as well as among developing countries, because of recent American votes opposing key human rights initiatives.

“This has been coming. It should not have been a surprise to Washington,” said Joanna Weschler, the U.N. representative of Human Rights Watch. “They’ve voted alone, on the wrong side of several important issues.”

The U.S. has opposed treaties to abolish land mines, does not support the International Criminal Court and abstained from a vote to make more widely available drugs to combat the AIDS pandemic.

Adding to the atmosphere of frustration with the U.S. were other recent unilateral actions by the Bush government, such as pulling out of the 1997 climate treaty reached at Kyoto, Japan, and the administration’s insistence on developing a national missile defense system despite widespread opposition from allies as well as other nations.

“This is their wake-up call,” Weschler said. “We hope this will prompt a review of their policies.”

The 53 seats on the commission, which are divided among member states on a geographic basis, are often the object of intense lobbying at the Geneva-based organization and here at U.N. headquarters in New York.

The U.S. traditionally does not engage in the flurry of vote-trading and politicking, one diplomat said, perhaps because it has never thought that it would lose a seat.

The U.S. may have been further handicapped by its bare-bones mission in New York, which has been only partially staffed since Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and his team left in January. President Bush has named John D. Negroponte to the ambassadorship, but the nomination has not been sent to the Senate for confirmation.

Adding to the sting of the loss, countries with poor human rights records such as Sudan, Sierra Leone, Togo and Uganda landed seats because they ran unopposed to represent Africa.

Among those elected Thursday to 14 open seats were Bahrain, South Korea and Pakistan from the Asian group, and Croatia and Armenia from the East European nations. Chile and Mexico won uncontested seats for the Latin American group.

About one-third of the membership is elected each year for a three-year term.

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson expressed hope that the United States “will return speedily as a member of the commission,” spokesman Jose Luis Diaz said in Geneva.

“The United States of America has made a historic contribution to the Commission on Human Rights,” the statement said.

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Winners

Countries elected to the U.N. Human Rights Commission:

* Armenia

* Austria

* Bahrain

* Chile

* Croatia

* France

* Mexico

* Pakistan

* Sierra Leone

* South Korea

* Sudan

* Sweden

* Togo

* Uganda