For U.N. Leader on Human Rights, Finish Line Looks Blurry
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/world/europe/for-un-leader-on-human-rights-finish-line-looks-blurry.html
The United States never invited her, despite her asking to visit several times in hopes of taking up “the many issues that trouble us,” she said, specifically drone strikes and targeted killings.
“That does not show the United States in a good light,” Ms. Pillay said. To preserve its authority in the world, she said, America cannot exempt itself, or its allies, from the standards it invokes to chastise other countries.
Such bluntness appears to have cost Ms. Pillay in other ways. She acknowledges the American backing that she received for some of the causes she pursued in the Human Rights Council. But in 2012, when her first, four-year term as commissioner ended, she did not receive a full second term. Diplomats cited by the news media at the time said that American displeasure with her criticism of Israel had been a factor in that decision.
Human rights commissioners are appointed by the United Nations secretary general, subject to approval by the General Assembly, but major powers have a decisive say.
