Human Rights Watch voiced disappointment that the United States voted against a resolution addressing human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, while European Union states abstained. Weschler agreed with the U.S. position that the resolution should have included reference to Palestinian abuses, but said the U.S. delegation refused to negotiate with the sponsors to improve the text in this regard. At the outset of the session, Human Rights Watch expressed grave concern at the human rights records of several incoming members of the Commission and called on U.N. member states to elaborate criteria for Commission membership. Human Rights Watch urged that countries willing to serve on the Commission should issue standing invitations to the monitoring mechanisms created by the Commission. Among the new members, Algeria, Kenya, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, voted almost without exception as a bloc on country resolutions, and in most cases voted to defeat these resolutions.
Countries violating human rights are very unlikely to favor ostracizing other violators.
This situation needs to be stopped. Human Rights Watch called on the U.N. Economic and Social Council, which will be electing a new class of Commission on Human Rights members next week, to avoid electing governments that routinely violate the rights of their citizens.