Rights activists hail Venezuela’s departure from UN Human Rights Council (video)
Euronews looks at the implications of Venezuela leaving the Human Rights Council
“The people of Panama will be happy to have Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in their neighborhood.”
When the US president Barack Obama was elected, he said he would appoint a “group of people” to the UN Human Rights Council, a proposal that was rejected by the US.
Now, in the wake of the decision by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council, he is not alone.
It is a move that makes it harder for the UN to take action, advocates say.
“The decision by President Chavez, who is an absolute socialist, and is taking this step in order to take the opportunity of the international community to play the role in which he considers it deficient, is a very positive thing,” said UN rapporteur David Morales.
“He is a man who is seeking to bring the world together and unite the people of the world against this ideology that is very dangerous,” said Morales.
This is a move that can be understood in the context of the growing divide within the UN.
“The US is a country that is obsessed with its own agenda and is not interested in building a world view for humanity,” said Luis de la Luz, head of the Latin America programme of the New York-based Freedom House Foundation.
“The US, under the leadership of Obama, had a very negative image of the UN and the reason was that the US has used the UN for its own interests,” he said.
The US is still the most powerful nation on the Security Council, but it has lost a large number of seats, largely in Europe.
“Its leadership in the UN is not what it used to be,” said Luis de la Luz.