July 24, 2002
The UN Economic and Social Council first defeated a U.S. proposal to sidetrack the treaty that put Washington at odds with some of its closest allies. It then approved the pact by a vote of 35-8, with 10 abstentions, sending it on to the 189-member U.N. General Assembly, which will take it up later in the year.
To take effect, the pact must then be signed and ratified by enough governments, with the required number set by the treaty, which has been drafted over 10 years.
Earlier this year, images of shackled and blindfolded detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, touched off widespread criticism, including from some Western allies, of U.S. treatment of the prisoners who were captured in Afghanistan.
The United States, concerned about the possibility of independent visits to U.S. civilian and military prisons, the United States sought Wednesday to block a vote on a U.N. plan meant to enforce a convention on torture.
The United States wanted negotiations on the plan reopened, a move human rights groups said could have killed the proposal which they believe is essential to ending torture around the world.
Advertisement The vote approving the treaty, moving it on to the next phase was described as "a big defeat for the United States" by Joanna Wechsler of New York-based Human Rights Watch, which backs the treaty. "It's really hard to understand why the U.S. is working against human rights and against so many of its allies," she added. THE U.N. Economic and Social Council first defeated a U.S. proposal to sidetrack the treaty that put Washington at odds with some of its closest allies. It then approved the pact by a vote of 35-8, with 10 abstentions, sending it on to the 189-member U.N. General Assembly, which will take it up later in the year.
To take effect, the pact must then be signed and ratified by enough governments, with the required number set by the treaty, which has been drafted over 10 years.
Earlier this year, images of shackled and blindfolded detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, touched off widespread criticism, including from some Western allies, of U.S. treatment of the prisoners who were captured in Afghanistan.
The United States, concerned about the possibility of independent visits to U.S. civilian and military prisons, the United States sought Wednesday to block a vote on a U.N. plan meant to enforce a convention on torture.
The United States wanted negotiations on the plan reopened, a move human rights groups said could have killed the proposal which they believe is essential to ending torture around the world.
Among the U.S. concerns is language that could allow for international and independent visits to U.S. prisons and with terror suspects being held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said allowing outside observers into state prisons would infringe on states' rights. THE U.N. Economic and Social Council first defeated a U.S. proposal to sidetrack the treaty that put Washington at odds with some of its closest allies. It then approved the pact by a vote of 35-8, with 10 abstentions, sending it on to the 189-member U.N. General Assembly, which will take it up later in the year.
To take effect, the pact must then be signed and ratified by enough governments, with the required number set by the treaty, which has been drafted over 10 years.
Earlier this year, images of shackled and blindfolded detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, touched off widespread criticism, including from some Western allies, of U.S. treatment of the prisoners who were captured in Afghanistan.
The United States, concerned about the possibility of independent visits to U.S. civilian and military prisons, the United States sought Wednesday to block a vote on a U.N. plan meant to enforce a convention on torture.
The United States wanted negotiations on the plan reopened, a move human rights groups said could have killed the proposal which they believe is essential to ending torture around the world.
Another problem, the official said, is the issue of access to suspected al-Qaida and Taliban fighters captured in Afghanistan and being held in the war on terrorism. THE U.N. Economic and Social Council first defeated a U.S. proposal to sidetrack the treaty that put Washington at odds with some of its closest allies. It then approved the pact by a vote of 35-8, with 10 abstentions, sending it on to the 189-member U.N. General Assembly, which will take it up later in the year.
To take effect, the pact must then be signed and ratified by enough governments, with the required number set by the treaty, which has been drafted over 10 years.
Earlier this year, images of shackled and blindfolded detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, touched off widespread criticism, including from some Western allies, of U.S. treatment of the prisoners who were captured in Afghanistan.
The United States, concerned about the possibility of independent visits to U.S. civilian and military prisons, the United States sought Wednesday to block a vote on a U.N. plan meant to enforce a convention on torture.
The United States wanted negotiations on the plan reopened, a move human rights groups said could have killed the proposal which they believe is essential to ending torture around the world.
MUSLIM STATES ALSO OBJECT THE U.N.
Economic and Social Council first defeated a U.S. proposal to sidetrack the treaty that put Washington at odds with some of its closest allies. It then approved the pact by a vote of 35-8, with 10 abstentions, sending it on to the 189-member U.N. General Assembly, which will take it up later in the year.
To take effect, the pact must then be signed and ratified by enough governments, with the required number set by the treaty, which has been drafted over 10 years.
Earlier this year, images of shackled and blindfolded detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, touched off widespread criticism, including from some Western allies, of U.S. treatment of the prisoners who were captured in Afghanistan.
The United States, concerned about the possibility of independent visits to U.S. civilian and military prisons, the United States sought Wednesday to block a vote on a U.N. plan meant to enforce a convention on torture.
The United States wanted negotiations on the plan reopened, a move human rights groups said could have killed the proposal which they believe is essential to ending torture around the world.
The anti-torture proposal enjoys wide support among Western European and Latin American countries. But conservative Muslim states that shun outside intervention are likely to back the U.S. request in order to stave off a vote. Other opponents include Cuba, China and Nigeria, human rights activists said.
The U.S. stand was the latest in a wave of go-it-alone actions that have infuriated Washington's closest allies, including rejection of the Kyoto pact on global warming and the treaty creating a new International Criminal Court aimed at combating genocide and war crimes.
Human rights advocates argue that the optional protocol is essential to enforce an international convention on torture passed 13 years ago and since ratified by about 130 countries, including the United States. Countries are supposed to enforce the convention on their own, but rights groups argue that that isn't working everywhere.
"This protocol would create a more pro-active mechanism that includes visits to prisons and other preventive measures which would help enforce the convention," Mungoven said.
The protocol, which has been under negotiation for a decade, would be an optional, supplementary document. According to the text, the objective of the protocol is "to establish a system of regular visits undertaken by independent and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment."
Now the protocol moves to the General Assembly where it would need to be approved by a majority of the 190 member states. Then, it will require 20 ratifications before it can go into force.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C íŸ 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
