Iran, Syria Bid for U.N. Rights Council under Attack
The United States and Israel on Thursday slammed a bid by Iran and Syria to get seats on the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Rosemary DiCarlo, called the campaigns "highly inappropriate" because of their records on human rights.
Israel's U.N. envoy Ron Prosor said it was "a new world record for lunacy."
Iran and Syria are among seven countries vying for four Asia-Pacific seats on the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, diplomats told Agence France Presse.
They will be in competition with China, Jordan, Maldives, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, diplomats said.
A vote on the council seats will be held at the U.N. General Assembly in New York later this year.
Iran and Syria are current members of the council but their bid to extend their terms has infuriated western governments.
"We expect the Asian states to face intense lobbying now over this slate," said one diplomat from the region.
The U.S. envoy said that neither country had yet submitted required documents to back their candidacies.
"But in our view attempts by either country to join the Human Rights Council are extremely inappropriate given existing Human Rights Council mandates to investigate human rights violations in these countries, their egregious records on human rights and their ongoing collaboration to suppress democratic aspirations of the Syrian people," DiCarlo told reporters.
Iran's rights record is regularly attacked by watchdogs and it is a key backer of Syria's President Bashar Assad as he battles opposition rebels.
Israeli ambassador Prosor was stunned at the news of the bid by Iran and Syria, both avowed opponents of Israel.
"This might be a new world record for lunacy at the United Nations," he said. "Putting Iran and Syria on a Human Rights Council is like putting the Godfather in charge of a witness protection program."
Source: Agence France Presse
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