At
UN,
Gay
Group Denied Consultative Status 8-7, Kyrgyz Pivot,
India on Dalits
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
23, updated -- Culture wars continued at the UN on Monday when
the
International Lesbian and Gay Association came up for a vote for
consultative status in the Committee on Non-Governmental
Organizations.
First,
countries
which
opposed ILGA tried to stop them on a so called no-action vote,
emphasizing that the group had declined to answer a new round of
questionnaires, calling them discriminatory. In February, as
exclusively covered by Inner City Press, ILGA was
blocked by a
no-action vote, 9-7.
This
time
the
blocking vote failed, 7 to 7 with several abstentions:
US-
No.
Venezuela-
abstain. Belgium- No. Bulgaria- No. Burundi- Yes.
China- Yes. India – No. Israel- No. Kyrgyzstan- Abstain. Morocco-
Yes. Mozambique- Abstain. Nicaragua- Abstain. Pakistan- Yes. Peru-
No. Russia- Yes. Senegal- Yes. Sudan- Yes. Turkey- No
After
that
vote,
Belgium asked the committee chair for “rules of procedure for
dummies.” Venezuela took exception to being called a dummy. Things
proceeded without humor.
Now
the vote
turned against ILGA, 8 to 7. The swing vote was Kygyzstan, which
abstained on the no-action vote, but vote “no” against ILGA:
Sudan-
No.
Turkey-
Yes. US- Yes. Venezuela- Abstain. Belgium- Yes. Bulgaria-
Yes. Burundi- No. China- No. India- Yes. Israel –Yes. Kygryzstan –
No. Morocco- No. Mozambique- Abstain. Nicaragua- Abstain. Pakistan-
No. Peru- Yes. Russia – No. Senegal- No.
The
International
Foundation for Electoral Systems was delayed, 8-6, on a no action
motion. Various groups were delayed by questions. For example, Human
Rights House Foundation was blocked by a question from Morocco,
backed by China and Sudan. (See update below.)
And the
International Dalit Solidarity
Network was blocked by India, which questioned if the caste based
system is not already adequately addressed by the Indian government.
The Dalit are... untouchables. And so it goes at the UN.
Update: the Human
Rights
House Foundation has written in to say
“We
are glad to see that you pay attention to the work of the NGO
Committee -- the process in the Committee needs more attention and
should get on the radar of the media. On 23 May... some delegations
including Morocco needed more time and were requesting that our
application is dealt with on 24 May. For your information, HRHF has
applied for ECOSOC consultative status in 2005 and received since
2007 51 questions from the NGO Committee. We have been deferred many
times, but at this May 2011 session we have not been deferred and on
24 May 2011 the NGO Committee recommended by consensus that the
consultative status should be granted to HRHF.”
* * *
At
UN,
As
Georgia Loses HRC Bid It Blames Russian Lobbying, 5 Votes
for Syria
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May
20 -- Of the 17 countries
running Friday for 15 seats on
the UN Human Rights Council, only two were going to lose.
Inner
City
Press asked the Permanent Representative of Georgia Alexander Lomaia
what he felt his chances were, facing off against Romania and the
Czech Republic for two Eastern European group seats.
Ambassador
Lomaia
said,
without hesitation, that Russia had been asking countries not
to vote for Georgia, that at least two delegations had disclosed
this. In many UN fora, Georgia and Russia exchange rights of reply
regarding Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This is just one more battle.
After
the
election,
in which Georgia got 89 votes but still lost to Romania's
131 and the Czech Republic's 148, Inner City Press asked a Russian
diplomat about the result. He smiled and said, “Oops.”
Nicaraguan
representatives
said
they liked their chances, but they too took a
loss, despite receiving 98 votes. Austria pointed out that the two
votes cast for Australia were probably for it.
Syria tried
to play
down the five votes it received, after postponing its run to 2014, to
mere errors. If that was a write in campaign, it wasn't much.
Kuwait, Syria's replacement, waltzed in with 166 votes.
UN's Ban & Kuwait minister, human rights not shown
The Permanent
Representative of the Philippines, another winner with a clear or
unopposed slate, acknowledged to Inner City Press that there are
human rights issues in his country, such as unsolved killings of
journalists. But, he said, the trend line is up.
Later
on
Friday in
the same General Assembly Hall, military bands of China and the US
played together. Only at the UN.
* * *
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