Nigel Rodley, a British expert who chairs the UN Human Rights Committee, lambasted the Republicans for allegedly ripping up their own history as they keep up their battle against President Barack Obama's signature health care law which aims to bridge the insurance gap for Americans.
"The political party of Abraham Lincoln that, in fire and blood ended slavery and gave freedom to millions of people of African descent, seemed now to have party members who thought that wealth did not just rhyme with health, but should also determine access to it," Rodley told the UN committee.
"To achieve its aim it had brought the government of the United States to a standstill and to the brink of defaulting on its national debt," he added.
Rodley lamented that his committee had had to postpone to March 2014 a review of the United States which had been scheduled this month.
"It was clear that the delegation from the United States was not unwilling to come, but was seriously unable to do so, for reasons that had been widely covered in the media," he said.
Like all UN member countries, the United States is meant to submit to periodic reviews of its rights record.
Meetings with delegations from Bolivia, Uruguay, Djibouti, Mauritania and Mozambique to assess their countries' records will go ahead as scheduled during the committee's current session.
UN
UN official slams GOP over US shutdown
The head of a Geneva-based UN watchdog on Monday slammed Republicans over the US government shutdown, after a planned review of the country's rights record became the latest casualty of the budget impasse.
UN
‘The war must end now’: UN Sec-Gen meets Swedish PM in Stockholm
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres met Sweden's Prime Minister in Stockholm on Wednesday, ahead of the conference marking the 50th anniversary of the city's historic environment summit .
After a bilateral meeting with Magdalena Andersson on the security situation in Europe, Guterres warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could lead to a global food crisis that would hurt some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
“It is causing immense suffering, destruction and devastation of the country. But it also inflames a three-dimensional global crisis in food, energy and finance that is pummelling the most vulnerable people, countries and economies,” the Portuguese diplomat told a joint press conference with Andersson.
He stressed the need for “quick and decisive action to ensure a steady flow of food and energy,” including “lifting export restrictions, allocating surpluses and reserves to vulnerable populations and addressing food price increases to calm market volatility.”
Between the two, Russia and Ukraine produce around 30 percent of the global wheat supply.
Guterres was in Stockholm to take part in the Stockholm 50+ conference, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.
The conference, which was held on the suggestion of the Swedish government in 1972 was the first UN meeting to discuss human impacts on the global environment, and led to the establishment of the UN Environment Program (UNEP).
At the joint press conference, Andersson said that discussions continued between Sweden and Turkey over the country’s continuing opposition to Sweden’s application to join the Nato security alliance.
“We have held discussions with Turkey and I’m looking forward to continuing the constructive meetings with Turkey in the near future,” she said, while refusing to go into detail on Turkey’s demands.
“We are going to take the demands which have been made of Sweden directly with them, and the same goes for any misunderstandings which have arisen,” she said.
At the press conference, Guterres condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “a violation of its territorial integrity and a violation of the UN Charter”.
“The war must end now,” he said.
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