United Nations - In another embarrassing debacle at the UN, the United States was voted off the International Narcotics Control Board, a move the State Department yesterday called regrettable.
The vote by secret ballot, not announced at the time, occurred last Thursday in the UN Economic and Social Council. The body's 54 members on the same day threw the United States off the UN Commission for Human Rights. One Western diplomat speculated that the US lost both back-to-back votes for the same reason. Europeans, who pay their bills to the world body on time, voted and campaigned for their EU colleagues, with France, Austria and the Netherlands edging out the US candidate, Mr Herbert Okun. Peru, India, Brazil and Iran also won seats.
Mr Okun had been a respected member for 10 years on the board, which monitors compliance with UN treaties on substance abuse and drug trafficking.