GENEVA (AP) \u2014 The U.N.\u2019s top human rights body opened its latest session on Monday and was immediately embroiled in a debate over the representation of Myanmar, where a military takeover toppled the civilian government in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Western countries said two planned debates about the human rights situation in Myanmar during the Human Rights Council\u2019s 3-1\/2 week session should go forward, even without the country represented. But China, the Philippines and Venezuela insisted it should be on hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The showdown delayed the opening statement to the council from the U.N. human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, who aired concerns about human rights in places like China, Mexico, Russia, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia\u2019s Tigray region. She said she hoped to address Myanmar and other rights issues in places like Ukraine, Nicaragua and Iran later during the session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Myanmar hasn\u2019t been represented at the U.N. in Geneva since the civilian government\u2019s ambassador left after the junta took over. The U.N. General Assembly\u2019s credentials committee is facing a decision about which representation of Myanmar will be recognized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we exclude the country concerned, this is not fair,\u201d said Ambassador Chen Xu of China, urging the debates on Myanmar to be put off until the council\u2019s next session in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Western envoys insisted the rights situation in Myanmar was urgent, notably over alleged rights violations such as those suffered by the Muslim Rohingya minority and \u2014 more recently \u2014 protesters against the military takeover who have faced a deadly crackdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe recognize that we are dealing with an unusual set of circumstances that have not arisen before,\u201d said Rita French, Britain\u2019s international ambassador for human rights. \u201c(But) the reason why two dialogues were mandated just a few months ago is because there is a human rights crisis in Myanmar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Envoys agreed to maintain the council\u2019s schedule that includes the two debates on Myanmar. But the council president, Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, acknowledged her office would continue to assess whether they would proceed, and said the plans could still change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pressure has been growing against Myanmar\u2019s military. In a rare move, the U.N. General Assembly on Friday condemned the takeover and called for an arms embargo against the country in a resolution that demanded the restoration of the country\u2019s democratic transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bachelet, in her remarks, also expressed concerns about the arrest of 107 people under a new security law in Hong Kong, saying a first trial expected later this week would be an \u201cimportant test of independence for Hong Kong\u2019s judiciary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She called on Russia to uphold \u201ccivil and political rights\u201d and said she was \u201cdismayed\u201d by new measures that could curb people\u2019s right to express critical views and take part in Russia\u2019s parliamentary election in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She noted a Russian court decision that labeled an anti-corruption foundation led by opposition figure Alexei Navalny as an \u201cextremist organization\u201d and urged Russian authorities \u201cto end the arbitrary practice\u201d of labelling individuals, journalists and NGOs \u201cas extremist foreign agents or undesirable organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the situation in Ethiopia\u2019s Tigray region, she lamented \u201ccontinued reports of serious violations of international humanitarian law and gross human rights violations and abuses against civilians by all parties to the conflict,\u201d including by Ethiopian government forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCredible reports indicate that Eritrean soldiers are still operating in Tigray and continue to perpetrate violations of human rights and humanitarian law,\u201d she said, referring to troops from neighboring Eritrea. She said 350,000 people are threatened by famine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since mid-May, her office has had staffers in Tigray as part of a joint investigation with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission that is expected to finish in August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GENEVA (AP) \u2014 The U.N.\u2019s top human rights body opened i […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":572,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions\/572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}