human rights, who doesn't commit

In ‘historic’ vote, General Assembly creates new UN Human Rights Council
UN News Centre, 15 March 2006

Culminating months of intensive negotiations, the United Nations General Assembly today voted overwhelmingly on a resolution setting up a new Human Rights Council to replace the much-criticized Human Rights Commission – prompting Secretary-General Kofi Annan to hail this as an “historic” development which will help improve the lives of millions of people worldwide.

Welcoming the vote, which was greeted by prolonged applause, Mr. Annan, who first suggested the creation of the new Council in a report to the General Assembly one year ago, said it gave the UN “a much needed chance to make a new beginning in its work for human rights around the world.”

The resolution was adopted by a vote of 170 in favour with 4 against – the United States, Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau – with Venezuela, Iran and Belarus abstaining.

In opening remarks to the Assembly before the vote, General Assembly President Jan Eliasson, who led the often contentious negotiations on the issue, called today’s session a “decisive moment” not only for human rights but for the standing of the UN as a whole. ...

He went on to say that while the resolution “gives us a solid foundation, on which all who are truly committed to the cause of human rights must now build,” no country would be wholly satisfied with every paragraph, although such was “the nature of international negotiations.”