[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 73 (Thursday, May 24, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        U.S. DISPLACEMENT FROM THE U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

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                           HON. DAVID DREIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 24, 2001

  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take this opportunity to 
introduce into the Record, the following statement to the Canadian 
Senate by the Honorable Jerry S. Grafstein, Q.C. regarding the United 
States' displacement from the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Senator 
Grafstein cochaired the 42nd meeting of the U.S.-Canada 
Interparliamentary Group held last weekend.
  Senator Grafstein's remarks address the important role the United 
States has played over the last century in the evolution of 
international rule of law and leadership in projecting a human rights 
agenda around the world. I hope that my colleagues will take to heart 
the encouraging comments of Senator Grafstein.

       Hon. Jerahmiel S. Grafstein: Honourable Senators, next week 
     Parliament is co-hosting the forty-second annual meeting of 
     the Canada-U.S. Interparliamentary Group in Western Canada. 
     As Canadian co-chair, I have pondered the role of the United 
     States with respect to Canada. Yet who can fail to consider 
     the United States' paramount role in the evolution of 
     international rule of law and American leadership in 
     projecting a human rights agenda around the globe in the last 
     century? Therefore, it came as no small shock when we 
     discovered two weeks ago that the European bloc, led by 
     France, and the Asian bloc, led by China, were successful in 
     displacing the United States as a sitting member of the UN 
     Commission on Human Rights for the first time since its 
     creation in 1947.
       Honourable senators may recall that it was due to the 
     efforts of Eleanor Roosevelt that this commission was first 
     established. Now, instead of the United States, we have 
     France, Sweden and Austria representing the North American 
     and European bloc. Other nations, those exemplars of human 
     rights nations, include Algeria, China, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, 
     Armenia, Pakistan, Syria and Vietnam.
       It is regrettable that the staunchest promoter of human 
     rights around the globe has been displaced, not because of 
     its failure to promote a human rights agenda but, rather, 
     primarily because it has forced the international community 
     to confront human rights in a way that no other region, block 
     or nation has been prepared to project so singularly and so 
     consistently. Only the United States publishes annually a 
     region-by-region analysis of nations that fall below 
     international human rights norms.
       Honourable senators, may I recommend that you read a very 
     short book entitled On The Law of Nations by former U.S. 
     Senator Daniel Moynihan. It gives an extraordinary account of 
     the role that international law has played in the foreign 
     policy of the United States. It is a primer for all those who 
     are interested in the rule of law in international relations.
       Returning to the exclusion of the United States from the 
     United Nations Human Rights Commission, I can best sum up by 
     quoting these words from another antique senator that express 
     for me the current situation: O tempora! O mores!

     

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