MEDIA REACTION - UNITED NATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000627 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR KPAO OPRC CI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - UNITED NATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ¶1. On March 24, conservative, influential newspaper-of-record "El Mercurio" (circ. 116,807) carried an editorial entitled, "United Nations and Human Rights." ¶2. "One of the United Nations' central principles... is to defend and promote human rights and basic freedoms.... The UN has done quite a lot for this great cause... The results, while noteworthy, have been insufficient and sporadic.... We have never achieved the proclaimed and necessarily universal application of these rights, which is why the mechanisms responsible for this issue were central in the United Nations reform.... After a long and difficult negotiation, the president of the General Assembly achieved a virtual consensus to create a new council.... The United States was not part of this consensus, because it defended an ideal model. However, what was accomplished...can be considered more than satisfactory. It is a significant improvement in comparison to what existed before and deserves the opportunity to be set in motion." KELLY