EU defends UN rights council deal

The European Union, heavily outnumbered by African and Asian members on the U.N. Human Rights Council, on Thursday defended a new accord governing the body that has been severely criticized by the United States.

The EU said it, too, regretted that Israel will be regularly singled out by the council and that special investigations of Cuba and Belarus were halted. But it said it accepted the accord as a "necessary compromise" in the hope that the council will have enough good features to be effective as a defender of human rights.

The council was created in March 2006 to replace the widely discredited and highly politicized Human Rights Commission. But it has been criticized for failing to change many of the commission's practices, including putting more emphasis on Israel than on any other country.

The United States opted against council membership a year ago because of what it saw as flaws in the makeup of the body. It has sat on the sidelines as an observer.

The EU said a major improvement over the commission is that every country will have to face regular examination of its performance in protecting human rights. Powerful nations like China and Russia were able to win support from other countries to avoid scrutiny by the commission, but that is meant to be impossible in the new panel.

Other improvements include the possibility for the council to meet throughout the year, instead of only six weeks a year like the commission.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday the U.S. was disappointed with the "seriously flawed" agreement, especially the termination of the investigations of Cuba and Belarus, "two of the world's most active perpetrators of serious human rights violations."

McCormack also deplored the council's "singling out Israel as the only country subject to a permanent agenda item."

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said she was introducing legislation to halt U.S. funding to the council because of the agreement.

The EU said it was satisfied that most of the country specific investigations remain in effect. Those include North Korea, Somalia and Sudan.

Diplomats have said the EU, with only eight members on the 47-seat council, was heavily outnumbered by the powerful Asian and African groups, each with 13 members. The Organization of the Islamic Conference, which leads criticism of Israel in the council, had 17 members.