Elections to UN's main human rights body discussed at Annan's cabinet meeting

The recent session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the loss by the United States of its seat on the panel during last week's elections featured prominently today during cabinet-level discussions at UN Headquarters in New York, according to a UN spokesman.

Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that at the meeting of the Senior Management Group, which is chaired by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, had reported that the news had been received with "shock and dismay" in Geneva, where the Commission is based.

"The Secretary-General said that the reaction was similar here in New York," Mr. Eckhard said. "He observed that the United States had contributed significantly to the work of the Commission since its inception in 1947." Mr. Eckhard added that the Secretary-General hoped that the US would remain engaged in the Commission's work, even as a non-member, and that it would have the opportunity to return as a member next year.

According to the spokesman, the Secretary-General had also expressed "some worry" at reports that certain members of the US Congress wanted to punish the UN for "what was essentially a democratic process and, for that matter, one that involved only a fraction of the membership." Punishing all 189 Member States, the Secretary-General said at the meeting, would be counter-productive, while punishing the bureaucracy would be unfair.

Later in the day, Mr. Annan departed for Washington D.C., where he was scheduled to meet with the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson and Secretary of State Colin Powell to discuss the UN's programmes to fight HIV/AIDS.