*EPF507 05/04/01
U.S. Will Continue to Speak Out on Importance of Human Rights
(White House, State, Congressional reaction to U.N. vote) (1050)
By Stuart Gorin
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The failure of the United States to win a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission will not stop President Bush "from speaking out about the importance of human rights around the world," says White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
Briefing journalists at the White House May 4, one day after the U.N. Economic and Social Council voted to replace the United States on the 53-member commission, Fleischer described as "rather odd" the new makeup that includes Sudan and Libya, two countries on the U.S. list of terrorism sponsors.
"I think it may not be perceived as the most powerful advocate of human rights in the world," Fleischer said of the commission, adding however, that the United States will still have observer status.
Asked if Bush were concerned that the situation could trigger anger among people in the United States, Fleischer said, "The president hopes that Americans will channel their thoughts on this matter to making certain that the United States sounds the alarm for human rights around the world.
"That is the spirit of this country," he added, "That's how the president approaches it."
At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said the U.S. role on the Human Rights Commission "has been important and active" since the late 1940s.
Asked how the Bush administration feels about the U.N. vote, Boucher said, "It's hard to explain how members can vote for Sudan and yet not vote for the United States. It's hard to explain how members can listen to the lobbying by Cuba and China on human rights issues.
"Perhaps there are people who aren't interested in seeing an active commission," he added. "But whatever the reasons, whether the reasons for the voting was regional solidarity or not wanting resolutions on particular subjects, I think it does raise questions about the nature of the commitment of some of the members to human rights."
The spokesman also said the action "can't deter us from continuing to use the Commission on Human Rights and other U.N. fora to press our legitimate arguments about human rights and to press for greater respect for human rights in the world. Whatever the reasons for these votes, the United States will remain active on human rights and active in the Commission on Human Rights. It will not diminish our attention to human rights issues."
Without being a seated member, Boucher said, "we can do everything but introduce resolutions and vote. So we will participate. We will observe. We will report. We will cosponsor. We will lobby others. And we will press the view that human rights are an important part of development and an important part of relations between states.
"We have taken a lead role in the past, and we can be expected to continue to advocate resolutions and take other steps that can help those people who suffer abuses in every corner of the world," the State Department spokesman said.
At the United Nations, James Cunningham, the acting U.S. permanent representative, reiterated that while the United States is "very disappointed" in the election, "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."
The election was between a number of solid candidates, he said, adding, "We had too many candidates for too few seats."
Senator Jesse Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it was "no surprise" that a few European countries "maneuvered -- in secret vote --to eliminate the United States" from the commission, adding that "Countries like China, Cuba and Sudan will no longer be subject to the careful scrutiny that the United States has always demanded."
As a result, Helms said, "freedom will no longer be of significance. The absence of the United States will mean that the victims of human rights abuses will no longer have a spokesman to defend their hopes for liberty and freedom."
The chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Congressman Henry Hyde, said "This appears to be a deliberate attempt to punish the United States for its insistence that the commission tell the truth about human rights abuses wherever they occur. The decision may have the unfortunate result of turning the Human Rights Commission into just another irrelevant international organization."
Hyde added, "This commission includes some of the world's premier human rights violators. The machinations of international bureaucrats are irrelevant to the plight of the world's oppressed people who yearn for the universal values of freedom and democracy to which the United States is deeply committed."
A spokesman for Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert said the speaker views the U.N. action as "an affront against the United States," which, he said has been "a steward of peace and human rights throughout the world, working within and without the United Nations."
Spokesman Pete Jeffries added that the action "really hurts the credibility of the U.N. in the Congress," and it might force lawmakers to reconsider an agreement worked out between the Senate and the former Clinton administration to pay outstanding U.S. dues to the United Nations. "This is some more timber on the fire," Jeffries said, "for members to debate when it comes to the legislation scheduled for the floor next week."
Congressman Tom Lantos (California Democrat), a co-chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, said, "It is absurd that rogue states and chronic human rights abusers such as Libya, Sudan and Cuba remain on the commission and sit in judgment on human rights practices of others while the United States now stands on the sidelines."
Attributing the U.N. vote to U.S. attempts to secure a resolution at the just-ended commission meeting in Geneva that was critical of China, Congressman Christopher Smith (New Jersey Republican) said, "It's payback time against the United States now. When the Sudan gets on and the United States gets off, the abusers are in the ascendancy. The hypocrisy of that commission is appalling, and this only underscores it."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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