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Posted 10:42 AM
by Mary
UN Human Rights High Commissioner: Investigations Must Go To Top Political Levels
Below are excerpts from an article released today by Reuters and published online at
alternet.org:GENEVA, Aug 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. prosecutor's investigation into alleged criminal CIA interrogation techniques must go right to the top political level, the chief U.N. rights official said on Thursday.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, 67, in a wide-ranging interview with Reuters, urged European and other countries to resettle Guantanamo detainees so that President Barack Obama can close the U.S.-run prison in Cuba by year-end.
The U.S. Justice Department named a special prosecutor this week to investigate CIA interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States under then-President George W. Bush.
"Whenever people come under the jurisdiction of the United States, the United States has to be seen to be upholding the very high standards that they claim for their own citizens," Pillay told Reuters in her office overlooking Lake Geneva.
Any torture or death inflicted on suspects held by U.S. authorities in places including Bagram detention centre in Afghanistan should be part of this investigation, she said.
Asked whether it should go beyond establishing the criminal liability of CIA interrogators, Pillay replied: "That is international law on accountability -- that you do not stop at the foot soldiers, you go right up to the ultimate authority that is legally responsible."
"And these would include those who devised the policy, those who ordered it," said Pillay, a Tamil from South Africa.
She expected Washington to play a significant role in the U.N. Human Rights Council -- where it has taken up a seat for the first time.
But she said she was trying to overcome "regional bloc voting" in the 47-member forum where some states vote together to shield their friends from censure.
I commend the Obama administration for appointing a US representative to the Human Rights Council, signifying to the world that yes, America believes in, supports, and will defend the inborn right to human dignity of all peoples of the world.
Labels: torture, UNHRC
Posted 9:14 PM
by Mary
U.S. to Join U.N. Human Rights Council, Reversing Bush Policy
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
UNITED NATIONS, March 31 -- The Obama administration decided Tuesday to seek a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, reversing a decision by the Bush administration to shun the United Nations' premier rights body to protest the influence of repressive states.
"Human rights are an essential element of American global foreign policy," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement. "With others, we will engage in the work of improving the U.N. human rights system. . . . We believe every nation must live by and help shape global rules that ensure people enjoy the right to live freely and participate fully in their societies."
The United States announced it would participate in elections in May for one of three seats on the 47-member council, joining a slate that includes Belgium and Norway.
New Zealand, which had also been on the ballot, supports the U.S. decision and withdrew its name to make room for the United States, Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced. "Frankly, by any objective measure, membership of the Council by the U.S. is more likely to create positive changes more quickly than we could have hoped to achieve them," he said.
Labels: HRW, UNHRC
