Nando Times

UNITED NATIONS (May 7, 2001 4:17 p.m. EDT) - U.N. and U.S. officials confirmed Monday that the United States lost its seat on an international drug monitoring body on the same day it was voted off the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

The United States had campaigned for a third term for U.S. Ambassador Herbert Okun, who has served as vice president on the International Narcotics Control Board. But he was voted off Thursday in the same secret-ballot procedure and by the same countries that cost the United States it's seat on the human rights commission.

"That, we find, very regrettable," U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington on Monday. "We intend to continue our engagement on the international narcotics issues. We'll continue our cooperation with and strong support for the U.N. international drug control program as well as with the International Narcotics Control Board."

The 13-member International Narcotics Control Board monitors compliance with U.N. drug conventions on substance abuse and illegal trafficking.

The 54-member U.N. Economic and Social Council, the main U.N. body responsible for economic and social issues, cast secret ballots in both votes Thursday.

The 70-year-old Okun served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations between 1985-1989 and has been on the narcotics board since 1997.

The board deals with aspects of legal and illegal drug control, including monitoring government controls over chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of drugs. It also assists in preventing the diversion of those chemicals into illicit traffic and identifies weaknesses in drug control systems.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), May 07, 2001

Answers

I feel safer already with the likes of China, Pakistan and Iran looking out for my human rights!!! What a joke! We better not be sending the UN a dime of our money this year!

-- Rob (celtic64@mindspring.com), May 07, 2001.

Great! Now if we could get them to vote us out altogether we could save a lot of money and restore a bit more of our national sovereignty.

-- Warren Ketler (wrkttl@earthlink.net), May 08, 2001.

Great,

One more reason to stop funding the money grubbing U.N.

But now the U.S. will have that many more billions to piss down the "Drug War" rat hole. Now they will have enough money for mandatory body cavity searchs.

Don't fund the U.N., don't fund the "Drug War", don't fund our countries enemies, and don't fund corporate welfare. That would make a small first step and getting our government down to size.

-- Tom Flook (tflook@earthlink.net), May 08, 2001.