The following Bloomberg news report indicates that Syria’s defeat in next week’s elections to the UN Human Rights Council is a done deal. The UN rep of India, a key player in the Asian group — which officially endorsed the Assad regime’s candidacy back in January — says that Syria won’t get the requisite 97 out of UNGA 192 votes on May 20. And Egypt’s UN rep goes on the record to say that they advised Syria to drop its bid.
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European Bid to Censure Syria Faces Opposition Citing Libya
By Bill Varner – May 6, 2011
[…] The U.S. and its European allies may have a better chance at derailing Syria’s bid for a seat on the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, according to [India’s Ambassador Hardeep Singh] Puri and other diplomats who said Syria won’t be able to win the 97-vote majority needed for election in the General Assembly on May 20.
“The point that needs to be made is that you cannot keep this score of 120 killed every Friday and be on the Human Rights Council,” said Puri.
Puri said Syria might drop out of the race, turning over its spot on the slate of Asian candidates for a council seat to Kuwait, which is up for election next year.
Syria is still seeking the seat “up to this moment,” Ja’afari said.
Pressure on Syria to drop out increased when the Human Rights Council voted 26 to 9, with 7 abstentions, to adopt a U.S.-draft resolution censuring the Assad regime for its attacks on protesters.
Egypt’s Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz said some Arab ambassadors are giving Ja’afari “friendly advice” to withdraw so that the Arabs, who lost one seat on the Human Rights Council when Libya was suspended in March, don’t lose another.
