Reporters Without Borders suspended 1 year from UNHR commission

[Resistance]

(shortened the longer headline)

Reporters Without Borders suspended for one year from UN commission on human rights

Reporters Without Borders's consultative status with the United Nations commission on human rights was suspended on July 24 for one year at the request of Libya and Cuba because activists with the organisation staged a protest during the inauguration of the commission's last session in March against the decision to let Libya chair the commission.

Reporters Without Borders insists that granting the chair to Col. Gaddafi's regime has been a disgrace to the commission.

The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the body that took this decision, never invited Reporters Without Borders to explain its action. The failure to respect sanction procedures has been criticised by the French government, which lodged a request for a postponement of any decision to suspend the organisation. This suspension of one of the few press freedom organisations to have consultative status with ECOSOC is farce of the kind that increasingly characterizes the commission on human rights.