The Obama administration plays defense at the Human Rights Council

In March, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution "dispatch[ing] an independent international fact-finding mission…to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory." Haaretz now has a story up suggesting that there’s been a concerted U.S. attempt ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

In March, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution "dispatch[ing] an independent international fact-finding mission...to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory." Haaretz now has a story up suggesting that there's been a concerted U.S. attempt to slow--and perhaps bury entirely--the Council mission:

In March, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution "dispatch[ing] an independent international fact-finding mission…to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory." Haaretz now has a story up suggesting that there’s been a concerted U.S. attempt to slow–and perhaps bury entirely–the Council mission:

Foreign Ministry officials noted that the U.S. wants to postpone the establishment of the panel to the latest possible date, hoping this will lead to the unofficial burial of the matter. However, the assessment is that it will not be possible to prevent the establishment of the panel, so the aim is therefore to delay it until at least after the U.S. presidential elections in November. 

On March 30, a week after the decision by the UN Human Rights Council, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon traveled secretly to Washington to meet with his U.S. counterpart Bill Burns. Ayalon asked for help in thwarting the establishment of the panel and even suggested that the U.S. publicly threaten to quit the UN Human Rights Council if the panel is established.

The Americans did not respond to that threat, as they view membership in the UN Human Rights Council as a central issue in the foreign policy of the Obama administration. However, the Americans agreed to pressure the UN Human Rights Commissioner on the date of the establishment of the panel and the mandate that it will receive.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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