U.S. will undergo human rights scrutiny [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Washington Post

U.S. will undergo human rights scrutiny
Thursday, March 18, 2010

Rolling out the State Department's latest human rights report, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that, for the first time, the United States will submit itself to a process in which its record might be judged by some of the world's worst human rights abusers.

"Human rights are universal, but their experience is local. This is why we are committed to holding everyone to the same standard, including ourselves," Clinton said, referring to U.S. participation this fall in what's called the "universal periodic review" process, run by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Critics say the 47-member council, which was established in March 2006 to replace the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, has been hijacked since its inception by human rights violators such as Cuba, China and Egypt. George W. Bush's administration refused to join, citing the council's nondemocratic makeup and its frequent criticisms of Israel, but the Obama administration reversed that decision last spring.

All 192 U.N. member countries are supposed to go through the UPR process every four years, but some critics warn that the Obama team is simply giving human rights abusers the perfect chance to justify their own atrocities.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/17/AR2010031704114.html?wprss=rss_world