By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 9 --
How does the
UN work? How
should it? On
November 8,
Sudan won a
seat on the
UN's Economic
and Social
Council,
with 176 votes
in favor out
of 192 cast.
Earlier
in
the year, much
pressure was
brought to
bear to get
Sudan to drop
out of the
race for the
Human Rights
Council. But
for ECOSOC,
which
controls among
other things
the
accreditation
of
non-governmental
organizations
(NGOs) to
operate in the
UN, Sudan ran
unopposed on a
clear slate.
The
Geneva-based
NGO UN Watch
quickly took
to Twitter,
urging US
Ambassador
Susan Rice to
denounce
Sudan's
election, and
asking the
European
Union's
Catherine
Ashton to
explain how at
least ten (and
probably more)
EU members
voted for
Sudan.
These
are secret
ballots, but
one might
expect
countries that
are loud on
human rights
to reveal and
brag about
their votes.
But on
November
8, Sweden's
Mission to the
UN tweeted a
congratulations
to all those
elected to
ECOSOC.
Inner
City Press replied,
Including
Sudan? Was
Sweden one of
the
abstainers?
There has been
no response.
At
an event in
the UN Friday
with UN Watch,
Inner City
Press asked if
it
or its
co-presenter
the Human
Rights
Foundation
knew who the
abstainers
were. The
response was a
suggestion
that an
enterprising
reporter
should spend
two or three
hours and ask
all 192 voters
how
they cast
their ballot.
Inner
City Press covers
elections at
the UN, for
example
predicting
within
two votes the
margin of
victory for
current
President of
the General
Assembly Vuk
Jeremic. Click
here for the
pre-vote tweet.
People talk,
but on
condition of
anonymity.
Why
don't the
countries
which brag
about human
rights, or
that they do
not
engage in vote
trading, make
public their
votes?
In
the UN's North
Lawn building
on the morning
November 9, a
Sudanese
diplomat joked
to Inner City
Press, "We got
more votes
than the
United
States." The UN vote
tally for the
US reads 171.
And how DID
the US vote?
In
a race of five
for three
Human Rights
Council seats
on November
12,
the US and
Sweden are
competing with
Germany,
Greece and
Ireland. How
did these five
vote on Sudan
for ECOSOC?
In the Fifth
(Budget)
Committee on
November 9,
the vote among
five African
candidates for
two seats on
the Advisory
Committee on
Administrative
and Budgetary
Questions
(ACABQ) went
two rounds of
secret ballot.
Inner City
Press had
predicted that
Eritrea,
despite
sanctions,
would get a
seat -- and it
did, in the
form of its
Fifth
Committee rep
Tesfa Alem
Seyoum. Babou
Sene of
Senegal
beat
incumbent
chairman
Collen
Kelapile, who
got 65 votes
in the first
round, 64 in
the second --
all secret.
Ah, rotation.
We wish him
well, and
we'll have
more on all
this.
