The following is an excerpt from the April 3, 2009 daily press briefing by State Department spokesperson Robert Wood.
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QUESTION: Recently, you announced U.S. is running for a seat on UN Human Rights Council, which Bush Administration opposed to.
MR. WOOD: Right.
QUESTION: Is that decision based on the policy review on Bush Administration’s human right policy?
MR. WOOD: Okay, our – the reason why we have decided to seek election to the Human Rights Council is because after this review – and it was a very thorough review that was undertaken by the Administration – we believe that it’s important to try to promote human rights by being in the council instead of outside. And as Secretary Clinton and President Obama have said, human rights is at the forefront of our foreign policy. And we believe that the only way that we can make the changes that we want to see in the Human Rights Council is to be in that council. And so that was the basis of the decision.
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