Reply #88: It's official--Kuwait to replace Syria as candidate for UN human rights seat

[pinboy3niner]

Kuwait will replace Syria as a candidate for a seat on the UN's Human Rights Council - a move welcomed by human rights and governments opposed to the crackdown by President Bashar Assad's security forces.


However, Syria's UN ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said the decision to delay its candidacy until 2013 had nothing to do with the current unrest in the country, AP reports.

"It's a sovereign decision based on the Syrian government's will to reschedule the timing of our candidacy ... based on reconsidering our priorities on the list of UN candidacies," he said.


The Kuwaiti and Syrian ambassadors announced the swap after the 53-member Asian Group met behind closed doors and endorsed the deal.


US Ambassador Susan Rice welcomed Kuwait's candidacy and praised the "important step" taken by Asian nations who demonstrated their unwillingness to support "a country whose human rights record is deplorable and ... is in the process of killing its own people on the streets, arresting thousands, and terrorising a population that is seeking to express itself through largely peaceful means."


Human Rights Watch said Syria should now end its violent crackdown on peaceful protests.
Peggy Hicks, the organization's global advocacy director, said "the election had become a referendum on Syria's violent suppression of protests, and Syria withdrew rather than face resounding defeat."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/may/11/syria-libya-middle-east-unrest-live#block-27