- UNITED NATIONS -- The United
States failed to block a U.N. vote Wednesday on a plan to strengthen a
treaty on torture, and was widely criticized by allies for trying to do
so.
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- The United States argued that the measure, known as a
protocol, could pave the way for international and independent visits to
U.S. prisons and to terror suspects being held by the U.S. military at
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.
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- 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."
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- The protocol to the treaty passed late Wednesday by a
vote of 35-8 with 10 abstentions in the U.N. Economic and Social Council.
The United States abstained.
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- A U.S. proposal to reopen 10 years of negotiations on
the document was voted down 29-15 with the rest abstaining.
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- The protocol now 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.
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- However, if the United States chooses not to sign the
document it will not be bound by it.
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- Denmark, which read a statement on behalf of the European
Union, accused the United States of intentionally stalling in order to
kill the proposal. Costa Rica, which sponsored the plan, "urged all
delegations to vote against," the American request to reopen negotiations.
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- Human rights advocates and diplomats argued that the
protocol was essential to enforce the 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.
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- People were tortured or ill-treated by authorities in
111 countries last year, according to an Amnesty International report.
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- Technically, the protocol seeks visits to prisons as
a way to help enforce the anti-torture convention, which the United States
has ratified.
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- But the United States said elements of the plan were
incompatible with the U.S. constitution. Privately, U.S. diplomats said
allowing outside observers into state prisons would infringe on states'
rights.
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- "The United States greatly regrets being put in
the position of abstaining," U.S. Ambassador Sichan Siv said after
the debate.
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- The protocol was widely supported among Western European
and Latin American countries. The United States was supported by some countries
accused by Amnesty International of torture, including Nigeria and Iran.
Other U.S. support came from Japan, China, Cuba, Cyprus, India, Pakistan
and Egypt.
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- The text was accepted in an April vote by the Human Rights
Commission in Geneva. The United States didn't participate in that vote
because it lost its seat on the commission last year.
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- Activists had feared that if the United States succeeded
in reopening the negotiations, it would mean a "death sentence"
for the protocol.
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- Joanna Weschler of Human Rights Watch, said: "This
is actually a great vote because the U.S. tried and failed."
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- Decisions by the Bush administration to back out of a
protocol on climate control and talks on biological weapons have greatly
frustrated its relationships at the United Nations.
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- On Monday, the administration cut support for the U.N.
Population Fund, accusing the agency of sending money to Chinese agencies
that carry out coercive programs involving abortion. The agency denies
the accusation and a U.S. government fact-finding mission found no evidence
that agency money was being used in such a way. (Compiled from news reports)
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