2018-06-20双语热点新闻：美国又退群了！这次是联合国人权理事会！

2018-06-20双语热点新闻：美国又退群了！这次是联合国人权理事会！

The US withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, dealing a blow to human rights campaigners and efforts by US allies to keep Washington as a member.

美国于周二退出了联合国人权理事会(UN Human Rights Council)，此举对人权活动家造成了打击，也给努力推动华盛顿留在该组织内的美国盟友泼了一盘冷水。

The US made the decision after repeatedly failing to push through reforms. Secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the body was guilty of“shameless hypocrisy” that “enables human rights abuses by absolving wrongdoers through silence”.

美国是在多次推动人权理事会进行改革却屡屡失败后作出退会决定的。美国国务卿迈克•蓬佩奥(Mike Pompeo)表示该机构犯有“无耻的伪善”之过错，“他们对作恶者保持沉默，不追究责任，纵容了践踏人权行为。”

Announcing the withdrawal, Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, insisted the move was“not a retreat from human rights commitments”. The US would “continue to lead” on human rights, citing her work at the UN Security Council on Syria, Iran and Venezuela.

美国驻联合国大使尼基•黑利(Nikki Haley)在宣布退出决定时，坚称此举不等于“退出人权承诺”。美国将在人权事务上“继续发挥领导作用”，她举了自己在联合国安理会(UN Security Council)涉及叙利亚、伊朗和委内瑞拉问题上的工作为例。

Ms Haley first threatened to leave the organisation last year, citing a “chronic anti-Israel bias” and inclusion of several countries with a record of human rights violations such as Venezuela, Syria and Eritrea.

黑利是去年首次威胁要退出该组织的，理由是该组织“长久以来存在反以色列偏见”、以及让几个有侵犯人权记录的国家加入其中，如委内瑞拉、叙利亚和厄立特里亚。

“Should it become reformed, we would be happy to rejoin,” she said on Tuesday.

她在周二表示：“如果它开始改革，我们会很乐意重新加入。”

US allies including the UK and the Netherlands have worked hard to press Washington to stay in the council, whose imperfection they and others have acknowledged but have argued it was better to try to reform from within. The move has also been criticised by some US officials. “It’s just throwing a tool away despite its limitations,” one said.

包括英国和荷兰在内的美国盟友一直力劝美国留在人权理事会内，它们及其他成员都承认该组织并不完美，但认为试着从内部进行改革是更好的选择。美国退出人权理事会之举也受到美国国内部分官员的诟病，其中一人表示：“这就等于要扔掉一件工具，虽说该工具存在缺陷。”

“The United States should be leading the world on human rights, not retreating into isolation and separating young children from their families,” said Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “President Trump is sending a signal to the world that we’re too weak to lead and too cowardly to fight for our foundational values.”

美国民主党全国委员会(Democratic National Committee)主席汤姆•佩雷斯(Tom Perez)表示：“美国应在人权问题上领导世界，而不是退回到孤立，并将幼童与他们的家人分开。特朗普总统正向全世界发出一个信号：我们衰弱到无法领导，也懦弱到不敢为我们的根本价值观而斗争。”

A UN spokesperson said secretary-general António Guterres would have “much preferred” the US to stay in.

一位联合国发言人表示，联合国秘书长安东尼奥•古特雷斯(António Guterres)“明显更希望”美国留下来。

The UN Human Rights Council was set up in 2006 after its predecessor, the UN Commission on Human Rights, was accused of failing to hold human rights violators to account.

联合国人权理事会成立于2006年，起因是其前身联合国人权委员会(UN Commission on Human Rights)被指责未能追究侵犯人权者的责任。

The US voted against the council’s creation under President George W Bush and joined only in 2009 during the Obama administration, hoping it could steer reforms. From 2006 to 2009, the US sat at the back of meetings and lobbied members by proxy.

当时在小布什(George W Bush)领导下的美国投票反对成立该理事会，直到2009年奥巴马(Obama)执政期间，美国才加入该组织，希望自己可以引导改革。2006年到2009年期间，人权理事会召开会议时美国都坐在后面，美国还通过代理人游说理事会成员。

People familiar with the matter said that following Ms Haley’s criticisms last year, allies were keen to support reform in order to keep the US in. The US spent months working on building consensus at the Geneva-based institution to overhaul a clause that requires Israel to be discussed at each of the body’s three annual meetings — the only country allocated a permanent agenda item.

据知情人表示，去年黑利提出批评之后，美国的盟友们一直积极支持改革该理事会，以挽留美国。美国花了几个月时间致力于在这家位于日内瓦的机构建立共识，希望修改一项条款，该条款要求在人权理事会每年例行的三次会议上都要讨论以色列议题——这是唯一一个被指定常设议程项目的国家。

Other efforts were aimed at making it easier to eject countries accused of human rights abuses by simple majority rather than two-thirds, and ensuring applicant countries would have to justify their human rights record in front of the UN General Assembly. The attempt won wide support but was ultimately scuppered by opposition including from some EU member countries.

其他努力包括推动实行简单多数而非三分之二多数的规则，使开除被控侵犯人权的国家变得更容易，还有确保申请入会的国家必须在联合国大会(UN General Assembly)为自己的人权记录辩护。这一努力获得了广泛支持，但最终遭到了包括部分欧盟成员国在内的国家的反对。

The US attempted to force the issues with a vote at the UN in New York last month, which also failed. Ms Haley launched the efforts as the US opened its embassy in Jerusalem, an incendiary topic at the General Assembly, which recognises the state of Palestine as an independent country.

上个月在纽约，美国试图通过在联合国举行一项表决强力推动上述问题，但也失败了。黑利是在美国将驻以色列大使馆开设在耶路撒冷之际采取上述努力的。此事在联合国大会引起了激烈争辩，联合国大会承认巴勒斯坦国是独立国家。

UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson said at the opening of the council session on Monday, which the US attended, that theregular agenda focus on Israel was “disproportionate and damaging to the cause of peace”.

周一，英国外交大臣鲍里斯•约翰逊(Boris Johnson)在美国出席的联合国人权理事会会议开幕式上表示，针对以色列的常设议程“过头了，对和平事业是有害的”。

The UK is among US allies that stress the council has also helped forward a human rights agenda such as freedom of religion, freedom of expression and the empowerment of women.

英国等一些美国盟友强调，人权理事会也帮助推进了如宗教自由、言论自由和促进妇女权利等人权议程。

Marc Limon, executive director at Universal Human Group, a Geneva-based think-tank that spent months consulting with the US and allies about how to meet Washington’s demands for reform, said withdrawal would only hurt US interests.

日内瓦智库Universal Human Group的执行董事马克•利蒙(Marc Limon)表示，美国退出人权理事会只会损害自己的利益。该智库花了几个月时间，就如何满足美国的改革要求向美国及其盟友征求了意见。

“Israel won’t have any protection or defence without the US there, so attacks against it will increase,” he said.“Andthe US absence will weaken the western alliance — China and Russia will be delighted that the US is leaving and they will now be in the ascendancy.”

“美国不在，以色列就得不到任何保护或防御，因此针对以色列的攻击将会增加，”他说，“并且美国缺席将削弱西方联盟——中国和俄罗斯将为美国的离去感到高兴，现在它们处于上风了。”

Keith Harper, former US ambassador to the council under the Obama administration, said the Trump administration had miscalculated.

奥巴马政府时期任美国驻联合国人权理事会代表的基思•哈珀(Keith Harper)说，特朗普政府失算了。

“Without US leadership things don’t happen,” he said, adding US participationhad brought positive change to Sri Lanka, led to human rights inquiries into the situation in Iran, North Korea, South Sudan and Burundi, and also limited the disproportionate focus on Israel.

他说：“没有美国的领导，就做不成什么事。”他接着说，美国的参与给斯里兰卡带去了积极变化，促成了对伊朗、朝鲜、南苏丹和布隆迪局势的人权调查，也限制了对以色列的过头关注。