MEDIA REACTION: UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL; SAO PAULO

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000556 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD DEPT PASS USTR USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL; SAO PAULO "Change To Remain The Same" Liberal Folha de S. Paulo (5/19) editorialized: "The UN Human Rights Committee no longer exists. It was replaced by a new Human Rights Council. But everything will remain as was before. The Committee had 53 members, including some of the world's main human rights violators. An organization responsible for taking care of human rights that includes among its members nations such as Saudi Arabia, China, Cuba, Indonesia, Pakistan and Russia cannot be taken seriously.... The farce of the Committee has been changed for by the tragedy of the Council. But what would be just one among so many setbacks has a bitter taste for Brazil. The GOB has proclaimed that Brazil was the second most voted nation among the Council's 47 members. But such a performance only became possible because the Foreign Ministry adhered to a practice of trading votes. It obtained so many votes because it made a composition with the worst human rights pariahs, in a process that undermines the credibility not only of the Council, but also of the UN. The art of diplomacy consists in balancing pragmatism and respect to greater principles. When, in a human rights matter, the foreign relations head sacrifices the second on behalf of the first, it becomes distant from the pattern that once placed Brazilian diplomacy among the best in the world." Wolfe