US ‘disappointed’ with work of new UN rights body News
US ‘disappointed’ with work of new UN rights body

[JURIST] The Bush administration has been "disappointed" with the work [statement, PDF] of the newly formed UN Human Rights Council [official website; JURIST news archive], according to US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark Lagon [official profile] during his remarks Wednesday at a hearing [recorded video] of the US House of Representatives International Relations Subcommittee on Africa [official website]. The new rights council was created [JURIST report] earlier this year to replace the highly criticized UN Commission on Human Rights, and the council has focused this summer on the denouncing Israel's handling of the conflict in Lebanon in special sessions in July and August.

US Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) [official website] said the human rights body has so far ignored other issues [statement] ripe for its consideration, including the humanitarian crisis in Darfur and rights violations in North Korea, Zimbabwe, China, and Burma. The Washington Times has more. The State Department's Washington File has additional coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.