Colum Lynch
The Washington Post
11/5/2010
UNITED NATIONS – The United States submitted Friday at the United Nations to unprecedented public scrutiny of its human rights record, drawing censure from friends and rivals for its policies on detention and the death penalty but also praise from allies for its candor and willingness to accept constructive criticism.
A delegation of top officials, led by Assistant Secretary of State Esther Brimmer, gave diplomats at the U.N. Human Rights Council a detailed account of U.S. human rights shortcomings and the Obama administration’s efforts to redress them. It marked the first time the United States has subjected its rights record to examination before the Geneva-based council as part of a procedure that requires all states to allow their counterparts to grade their conduct.
Several delegations camped out overnight to be first in line to criticize Washington, with the initial few speakers including Cuba, Iran and Venezuela.
The administration has engaged in an intensive effort, including holding town hall meetings with Muslims, Native Americans, African Americans and other minority groups, to assess the extent of domestic rights violations. In August, it gave the U.N. rights council a 22-page report documenting U.S. abuses, including practices by federal and local police and corrections and immigration officials, and defending President Obama’s counterterrorism policies. Friday’s meeting provided the first opportunity for states to comment on the report…
…Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), a Cuban American who is likely to become chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement that the rights council “is dominated by rogue regimes, including Cuba, which serves as vice-chair. So long as the inmates are allowed to run the asylum, the Human Rights Council will continue to stand in the way of justice, not promote it.”…
…China and Russia, two major powers with poor rights records but important relations with the United States, acknowledged U.S. advances in human rights, citing efforts to expand health care. But China, which has brutally repressed its own ethnic minorities, criticized U.S. law enforcement officials for using “excessive force against racial minorities.”…
The complete article is at the Washington Post.
H/T The Blaze
