Torture draft: Go-it-alone US ends up lonely

The US has suffered another blow to its go-it-alone approach to global problems, enduring a decisive defeat on a bid to rewrite a draft anti-torture treaty that has been a decade in the making.

Washington had asked that negotiations on the pact be reopened, arguing that as it stood it would infringe on US states’ rights and had procedural flaws. US officials acknowledged they had been stung by recent international outcry over the treatment of alleged Al Qaeda detainees at a US base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

The US proposal was defeated 15-29, with eight abstentions, in the UN Economic and Social Council (ESC). The convention’s backers said approval would have been tantamount to killing the measure after 10 years of drafting. Lining up against the US were the entire European Union and many Latin American, Caribbean and African states. (Reuters)