UN Rights Council Drops Belarus, Cuba From List of Countries whose Rights Records Receive Special Scrutiny

Geneva - Reports say the United Nations' Human Rights Council has agreed that Belarus and Cuba will be taken off a list of countries whose rights records receive special scrutiny.

At a meeting of the 47-nation council in Geneva, independent monitors who studied the human rights records of Belarus and Cuba were not reappointed.

Russia is reported to have led demands for the end of the mandate of the monitor for Belarus.

Belarus and Cuba are accused of human rights abuses, particularly of political rights.

Reports said the council has backed continued annual human rights reports on places including Haiti, Somalia, Congo, Sudan, Cambodia, North Korea, and the Palestinian territories.

The Human Rights Council last year replaced the UN Human Rights Commission, which was widely criticized for ignoring rights abuses in some of its members.

But the new council has also come in for criticism, most recently when it decided in March to end scrutiny of Iran and Uzbekistan.

Source: rferl.org - Tuesday, June 19, 2007

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