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Nations Start Campaign for New UN Rights Body    [

    British Secretary Wants Geneva Review
    The Associated Press

    Tuesday 03 April 2006

    London - Britain's Defense Secretary called Monday for a review of the Geneva Conventions, saying international rules of war needed to be revamped to reflect the threats of global terrorism.

    John Reid said the potential for groups or countries to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction should lead to a new debate about whether pre-emptive strikes should be allowed under the rules of war.

    "The laws of the 20th century placed constraints on us all which enhanced peace and protected liberty," Reid told an audience at the Royal United Services Institute, a security and defense think-tank in London. "We must ask ourselves whether, as the new century begins, they will do the same."

    He suggested the Geneva Conventions - which date to 1949 - may need to be revised.

    The Geneva Conventions set standards for conduct during times of war including the treatment of prisoners and protection of civilians and journalists. They ban torture, rape, mutilation, slavery, genocide and a host of other war crimes in all conflicts. Violations are a punishable criminal offense under the national laws of countries that have signed the conventions.

    Reid did not specify what changes he thought should be made to the Geneva Conventions or other international rules of war.

    Britain has been the strongest ally of the United States in its so-called war on terrorism, supplying thousands of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

    A series of leaked secret memos last year indicated that in the run-up to war in Iraq, Prime Minister Tony Blair was determined to participate in the invasion, even though his government thought the pre-emptive attack may have been illegal under international law.

    The U.S. and its allies never found the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that the countries said justified the invasion.

    Blair also has defended the U.S. holding without charge of 500 men accused of links to Afghanistan's Taliban or the al-Qaida terror network at the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The men, some held without charge for four years, are classified as "enemy combatants," which accords them fewer legal protections than prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.

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    Nations Start Campaign for New UN Rights Body
    By Evelyn Leopold
    Reuters

    Tuesday 04 April 2006

    United Kingdom - Some 17 nations nominated themselves on Monday for the new U.N. Human Rights Council that exposes and monitors abuses but the United States was not one of them.

    In a new system, a Web page was opened for countries to put in their own names rather than wait for nominations on a regional slate. Several, including Switzerland and Nicaragua, listed their rights qualifications for membership.

    The Bush administration has not yet decided whether it will seek a seat on the new 47-member council, although it has said it would help fund it.

    In Congress, Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, opposes a seat and Rep. Henry Hyde, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, is in favor.

    Elections are on May 9.

    The 191-member U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on March 15 to create the new human rights body to replace the discredited U.N. Human rights Commission, whose current members include Zimbabwe, Sudan, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, all of whom have poor rights records.

    U.S. Ambassador John Bolton voted against the creation of the new council, saying the new rules were not tough enough to prohibit rights violators from getting a seat. But most U.S. allies supported it as a viable compromise while Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands backed Washington.

    The 47 council seats include 13 for Africa, 13 for Asia, six for Eastern Europe, eight for Latin America and the Caribbean and seven for Western Europe and other nations, such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

    Those who posted their names on Monday were Germany, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Algeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Nicaragua.

    An instruction sheet reminded voters that they should take "into account the contribution to candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights."

    Candidates will be elected by a majority vote in the General Assembly of all 191 members.

    Nations are elected for three-year terms. After serving six years, they cannot be re-elected immediately. The new council will meet a minimum of 10 weeks a year but can be called into session in an emergency. The outgoing commission meets six weeks a year.