US to seek seat on UN human rights body, after Trump pullout
GENEVA (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday the United States will vie for a seat at the U.N.’s human rights body, which would cement a U.S. return to a Geneva- based body that was shunned by the Trump administration.
The top U.S. diplomat said his country will seek a three-year term starting next year at the Human Rights Council, and acknowledged it needs reform, particularly to end its “disproportionate” focus on Israel — the only country whose rights record comes up for scrutiny at every one of its thrice-yearly meetings.
In a video message, Blinken raised concerns about countries including Myanmar, which has faced international criticism over a military coup last month, China over its Xinjiang region, and Russia after the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and demonstrators during protests against President Vladimir Putin’s government.
“The United States is placing democracy and human rights at the center of our foreign policy because they’re essential for peace and stability,” Blinken said, adding that “the United States will seek election to the Human Rights Council for the 2022 to 2024 term.”
The U. N. General Assembly makes the final choice in a vote that generally takes place in October every year to fill vacant seats at the 47-member- state council. The U.S., which currently has “observer status,” will seek one of three full-member seats left vacant when the current terms of Austria, Denmark and Italy — from the “Western Europe and other states group” — expire at the end of this year.
In mid-2018, then President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the council over its excessive focus on Israel, which has received the largest number of critical council resolutions against any country by far, and because it failed to meet an extensive list of reforms demanded by Nikki Haley, the then-U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
The Trump administration also took issue with the body’s membership, which currently includes China, Cuba, Eritrea, Russia and Venezuela, all of which have been accused of human rights abuses.
Echoing such concerns, Blinken said countries “with the worst human rights record should not be members of this council.” He also repeated U.S. calls for an end to the council’s regular agenda item, known as Item 7, that focuses on Israel and the Palestinian territories.
He added that Washington would “continue to call out abuses in places like Venezuela, Nicara
gua, Cuba and Iran” and reiterated U.S. calls for the Russian government to “immediately and unconditionally release” Alexei Navalny and other critics of President Vladimir Putin who have been “wrong
ly detained.”
The comments came on the last day of the “high-level segment” of the council session, which lasts until March 23.
Other top speakers including Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov, who focused in large part on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human rights — and took aim at Western countries. He spoke shortly before Blinken.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — In the first five days since the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden began to process the thousands of asylum seekers waiting in Mexico, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees registered 12,000 people. That’s nearly half the 25,000 active cases the U.S. government has cited.
Migrants who have waited in Mexico and elsewhere to get hearings on their U.S. asylum requests are dealing now with a mix of hope and frustration, along with overloaded websites and telephone lines that never stop ringing.
The hurdles are far better than the seemingly endless wait often in wretched conditions of tens of thousands of asylum seekers forced to choose between waiting in Mexico — or returning to Central America — under the Migrant Protection Protocols, or Remain in Mexico program. Instituted by the Trump administration in January 2019, the program sought to discourage asylum seekers by making them wait in Mexico rather than releasing them with orders to appear for future court dates in the U.S.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it would begin processing asylum seekers with registered cases who have been living in a tent encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico. Life in the camp has always been precarious, but it was especially hard hit by frigid winter weather that hit Texas and northern Mexico last week. Processing residents of the camp is a priority for the Biden administration, the state
ment said.
Last week, the U.S. government began processing a small number of asylum seekers with active cases in San Diego. The processing is expected to expand to El Paso soon.
According to preliminary data shared by UNHCR, of the 12,000 people who have registered, some 4,000 are children or dependents and about 1,200 registered from outside Mexico.
Some of that last group registered from the United States, suggesting that they may have entered the country illegally after making their initial asylum petition. The others registered from Central America where they returned to their native countries rather than remain in the often dangerous Mexican cities at the border.
“I’m like I believe, I don’t believe it, I have a mix of
feelings,” said a Cuban teacher from the border city of Reynosa where she been waiting for almost two years. She requested anonymity because she had been kidnapped previously in the city.
After many frustrated attempts, she managed to register and received a WhatsApp message asking for her patience as technical difficulties were resolved. “Now just wait for the call,” she said.
That call will be the third step in the process. Monica Vázquez, UNHCR’s liaison to the migrants, said that first they have to check online to confirm their case is active. Then they have to register with UNHCR where they will receive an email with a date and time for a telephone call.
On that call, they confirm their information and try to determine if the person can be considered particularly vulnerable, which could move them to the front of the line. They also try to determine whether the person is part of a family unit that could encompass multiple cases that could be joined together. In some cases, applicants have had children during the time they’ve been waiting.
Later, the asylum seeker receives a second call in which they are assigned a date to appear at a center to prepare to cross the border. There the person’s identity is confirmed, documents are prepared, they are given a COVID-19 test and if it results negative they are taken to the border. The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration handles those last two steps.