U.N. disappointed U.S. staying away from human rights body (Ashamed)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07542185.htm

GENEVA, April 7 (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office and activists voiced disappointment on Friday at the U.S. decision not to seek a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The Bush administration vowed on Thursday to support the new council financially and work to make it "strong and effective". It said it was likely to run for a seat next year on the council, whose creation it had opposed.

"We are disappointed that the United States will not seek a seat at this point, but we are encouraged by the very strong supportive statement that they made," Jose-Luis Diaz, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told a briefing. snip

Last month, Washington voted against a resolution creating the Council, designed to succeed the widely discredited U.N. Commission on Human Rights. It argued there were not enough barriers to rights' abusers winning seats.

Some experts say U.S. abuses at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison and its treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba -- some held for years without charges being laid -- have marred its reputation in rights circles.

there's really no other explanation.... hopefully the world will take action against these evil turds.

And unbelieving. Two or three decades we would have never even have dreamt it possible!

they would have the US leave it today, if they could.

What did I miss?

In a letter to members of the U.N. General Assembly, Human Rights Watch called on member states to reject Council membership for abusive countries. States that could make positive contributions on the Council should declare their candidacies early and present their human rights agendas so that the May 9 elections produce a Council ready to address crises and protect victims.  
 
The Human Rights Commission became increasingly discredited as abusive governments used their seats to block scrutiny of violations. This problem was at the heart of the General Assembly’s decision on March 15 to terminate the Commission and replace with the Council.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/03/27/global13081.htm

Sadly, the US record of human rights abuses and the refusal of the admin to allow investigations into those abuses, by the standards of HRW, the US is probably among the group of countries that shouldn't have a seat on the Commission.