13th May 2001

A place among lunatics

Rightwing Republicans, who are part of the current US administration, are unable to take the defeat graciously — and are threatening to cut off US funds unless Washington is reinstated.

The lingering threat has given an added twist to the concept of chequebook diplomacy.

At the same time some of the Republicans are livid that Libya, Sudan, Cuba and China are members of a Commission in which one of the world's greatest human rights defenders, namely the US, is missing.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (Republican of California) uses a colourful metaphor to express his indignation: "The inmates have taken over the asylum," he snaps.

"When the lunatics take over, responsible people are forced to act," he growls. "I don't plan to give the lunatics any more American tax dollars to play with."

The US media have come out strongly on the American defeat while US politicians, most of whom do not know the nuances of the UN system, are trying to mistakingly blame and penalize the UN Secretariat.

"Revolt at the UN", cried the New York Times editorial. "Tyrants Take Over," shouted the Wall Street Journal. "Commission of Rogues," said the Washington Times.

New York Times columnist William Safire even threw out a challenge to investigative journalists to go deep inside the complex story and unravel the mystery of the countries that gave written pledges to the US but held back their votes during secret balloting.

"More than a hundred diplomats were privy to the plot; can nobody be induced to reveal the truth?", he asked.

The US received "43 solid written assurances" but ended up with only 29 votes while three members of the European Union, namely France (52 votes), Austria (41) and Sweden (32), beat the US in the secret balloting to obtain seats in the Human Rights Commission.

Adding insult to injury, the US delegate was also ousted from the International Narcotics Control Board in Vienna at around the same time.

"Anti-American attitudes have always existed," says Moises Naim, editor of Foreign Policy magazine in Washington, "What's new is that they have acquired new expressions and new reasons — and a new willingness to express them short of bombing the World Trade Centre in New York City or the USS warship Cole."

Despite its faults, the Bush Administration is trying to block a Congressional move to slash funds from the world body.

"While the United States is disappointed with the results of the Human Rights Commission election, the president feels strongly this issue should not be linked to the payment of our arrears to the UN and other international organisations," White House spokesman Ari Fleisher said last week.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher echoed that view. "We don't think that linking our obligations and payments to the United Nations to the outcome of that particular vote is a good idea," he said.

"We think that would be extremely damaging to our ability to cooperate in multilateral organisations."

The ouster was primarily the work of member states, including the European Union, who were seemingly retaliating against US attitudes towards the world body.

But the proposed cut-off of funds by the US Congress will affect the UN secretariat, not member states.

"We hope that the Organisation itself wouldn't be blamed for what was really a vote by member states," UN Spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters last week.

He said that while it may take some explanation to members of Congress how these things work, the Secretary-General was hoping that Washington will stay engaged on human rights issues.

According to the ground rules, non-members of the Human Rights Commission can attend meetings, speak at meetings, and with the support of just one member, even co-sponsor resolutions.

"So, there's plenty of room for the US to remain engaged in the work of the Commission," Eckhard added.

Incidentally, the UK has been ousted twice before; France has lost the elections once.

And in both cases, they bounced back a year later.

Besides blaming countries such as China and Cuba for campaigning against the US, some Congressman have a sneaky feeling that the European Union also had a hidden hand in the US defeat.

The 15 members of the European Union stood solidly in their voting to ensure that all three of their candidates were voted into office.

"If the EU is so focused on solidarity (in its voting)," said an aide to Republican Senator Jesse Helms, "maybe it's time for the EU to have one permanent seat on the Security Council (instead of Britain and France), and give the other one to Japan."

Meanwhile, the UN Association of USA (UNA-USA), one of the most influential NGOs in the US, is calling on member states to take "the extraordinary step" of working together to produce a volunteer to step down from the Commission.

"A diplomatic solution must be found," says Ambassador William Luers, chairman and president of UNA-USA. "One of the other countries should step down from the Commission so that the US can continue there. Our friends and allies, especially in Europe, surely understand how urgent this situation is."

But don't hold your breath on that one.