I. UN: Lack of Competition Mars Vote on Human Rights Council
US Re-Engagement and Defeat of Azerbaijan Are Positive Results. The United Nations General Assembly's election of Human Rights Council members today was marred by lack of competition in three of the five UN regional groups, the NGO Coalition for an Effective Human Rights Council said. Although Azerbaijan was defeated in a competitive election, other rights abusers benefited from the lack of choices, said the human rights groups. In most regions, the number of candidates was equal to the number of open seats, leaving General Assembly members without a choice of candidates. Only 20 countries competed for 18 open seats on the 47-member council.
II. Disgraced Former U.N. Official Welcomed at High-Level U.N. Conference
On July 31, 2008, Guido Bertucci, the top official in a U.N. department charged with promoting good governance around the world, retired in disgrace. An internal U.N. investigation found that he committed "gross negligence" in handling a $2.8 million trust fund donated by the Greek government, and suggested that Bertucci might be held "personally accountable and financially liable" for the misspent funds, many of which went for purposes unrelated to the intended project. Now, it seems, the U.N. apparently doesn't think so either. Bertucci has been welcomed back by the world organization as an invited top-level expert at a high-profile conference in Seoul, South Korea, on "Building Our Humanitarian Planet."
III. Turkey seek to ease Azeri worries on Armenia ties
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan promised Muslim ally Azerbaijan on Wednesday that Ankara will not open its border with Armenia until Armenia ends its prominent role in the dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. It was Erdogan's first visit to the Azeri capital since Ankara and Yerevan announced last month a "roadmap" to normalise ties, which would include reopening a border closed in 1993.
IV. Ignoring the Armenian genocide
The man who coined the word genocide, international jurist Raphael Lemkin, said in a CBS television interview in 1949 that it was the Armenian genocide that first got him interested in the subject. As for alleged Turkish leverage over the U.S., don't believe it. Turkey is highly dependent on the U.S. militarily, economically and politically. If Obama were to use the word "genocide," there is nothing Turkey could do.
Turkey is bluffing. About 20 countries, many in Europe, as well as the European Union parliament, have recognized the Armenian genocide, and Turkey has done little more than bluster and throw a temper tantrum.
V. Russia vetoes deal to save OSCE Georgia mission
Russia on Wednesday vetoed a plan for keeping monitors from Europe's top security and human rights watchdog in Georgia, insisting on terms that drove home its view of breakaway South Ossetia as an independent territory. As a result, talks in the 56-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe on salvaging the OSCE mission are likely to be suspended. Greece floated a revised plan omitting mention of Georgia or South Ossetia, skirting the hot issue of the separatist region's status, while stipulating free movement for monitors across the August ceasefire line.
VI. Greek Foreign ministry carrying out business mission to Azerbaijan
The purpose of the mission is the development of bilateral political and economic relations in a country developing with speedy rates and with which the trade balance is low and presenting a deficit. The Foreign Ministry, implementing the policy of strengthening the Greek economy's extroversion which is acquiring special significance in the midst of the international economic crisis, will be carrying out a business mission to Azerbaijan under the official responsible for economic diplomacy issues.
VII. Fewer than 100 Gazans receive Israeli permits to travel to papal Mass
One of the Gazans present at the papal Mass, Bishara Khoury, said the small number of travel permits did not surprise him. Waiting for permits and not receiving them has become the routine, said the 46-year-old information specialist. "It is normal. At Easter none of us could leave," said Khoury, who is Greek Orthodox, as he stood near a tree trying to grab some shade during the Mass in Manger Square. Even though he is not Catholic, Khoury said the pope's words helped bolster his spirits about his life in Gaza. "What he said was no one should lose hope, and as a Christian I believe in his words," said Khoury. "If there is anything we can have at this moment, it is hope for peace now and in the future. The situation in Gaza is very, very bad," he said.