Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-15-Speech-3-325"

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"en.20060315.25.3-325"2
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". Mr President, the creation of an effective, functioning and widely supported human rights commission is an essential part of the UN reform package outlined by Kofi Annan last year. Unlike the political minefield that surrounds the reform of the UN Security Council, the UN has shown the capacity to agree on a new structure for dealing with human rights questions. 8. A suspension mechanism for those who consistently have a poor human rights record. Trying to find agreement and, if necessary, compromise on all of those considerations was never going to be easy. However, in my view, the draft resolution by the President of the General Assembly is a reasonable attempt to do just that, an effort to find common ground. I welcome the strong endorsement by the UN this evening of that draft resolution. It is unfortunate that the US could not support it. I do not view the document as perfect by any means, however, and I would be critical on two points in particular. First, I think the Council is too big: 47 members are too many. Secondly, the election procedure whereby members are elected by an absolute majority is not ideal. I would have agreed with the US and would rather have seen a two-thirds majority for that purpose. I should like to finish by saying that it is a job well done by the UN today, and I think it will add credibility to its stance on human rights issues. Most people agree that the current, large-scale, six-week, once-a-year UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva is now outdated and needs to be replaced. We need a more permanent mechanism that can respond, year round, to the multitude of human rights crises that arise. The issues of debate in formulating the new structure for human rights have been many: 1. The need for a permanent structure/council. 2. The members of that council must have credibility on human rights questions. 3. The council should not be too big. 4. The council should be reflective of the geographical difference globally. 5. It should not be seen as an elitist council, a small group preaching to the others. 6. The question of how we should select or elect members to that council. 7. The need for a continued role for NGOs."@en1
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