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While senior US officials welcomed the "constructive dialogue," rights campaigners denounced a "shaky first step" as Washington put up a robust defence before the 47-member Human Rights Council.
"Let there be no doubt, the United States does not and will not torture," State Department legal adviser Harold Koh told the council.
"This administration began by turning the page and unequivocally ensuring the humane treatment of all individuals in US custody in armed conflict," he insisted.
Cuban ambassador Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez called on the United States to "halt war crimes and the killing of civilians," while Venezuela recommended that Washington put those responsible for torture on trial.
China and Russia acknowledged progress in health and education, as well as attempts to tackle what the Russian ambassador called the "more odious" human rights violations during conflicts.
But they both urged the swift closure of terror detention centres, while Russia recommended "a careful investigation of the facts in the use of torture especially in Guantanamo and Bagram" air force base in Afghanistan.
In Washington, a senior Republican lawmaker responded forcefully to the criticism. The US should quit the rights body "dominated by rogue regimes", said Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
"So long as the inmates are allowed to run the asylum, the Human Rights Council will continue to stand in the way of justice, not promote it," she said.
"The US should walk out of this rogues' gallery and seek to build alternative forums that will actually focus on abuses and deny membership to abusers."
Ros-Lehtinen is set to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee when a new US Congress convenes in January.
The half-day public debate came just two weeks after whistleblowing website WikiLeaks published 400,000 classified US documents on the Iraq war, reviving concern about a lack of accountability for abuse.
Koh said hundreds of military cases had led to punishments being handed out, including more than 100 court martials with convictions.
A US special prosecutor is still investigating whether civilian officials who gave orders under the previous administration might be liable for prosecution, he told journalists.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that former US president George W. Bush wrote in his new memoir that he personally gave the go-ahead for CIA officers to waterboard self-confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The Western reaction on allegations of torture and abuse was more muted.
European countries including Britain, as well as Australia, recommended a moratorium or abolition of the death penalty, while France urged President Barack Obama to "honour his promise" in 2009 to close Guantanamo.
Koh responded: "While the commitment has not wavered, the task is complex. President Obama cannot do it alone."
A total of 172 detainees remain there, down from 242 when Obama took office in 2008, he added. Koh insisted on the need for help from Congress, the courts and US allies willing to host ex-detainees.
After Arab countries raised concerns about "Islamophobia" in the United States, US Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner acknowledged that US Muslims had also highlighted "a pattern of intolerance and discrimination."
"We're committed to addressing this and we're taking a number of steps to do so," he said.
Posner acknowledged that the United States was "not satisfied with the status quo" on its overall rights record and would report back to the UN body in March.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the engagement with the UN but was disappointed by the US defence of the death penalty and prison conditions.
"It's a first step but it's a shaky first step to move towards better human rights conditions inside the United States," said Antonio Ginatta, US advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
During the Bush administrations, the United States shunned the council.
"If the US government delegation's objective was to reclaim the mantle of global human rights leadership, it failed miserably," said US Human Rights Network executive director Ajamu Baraka.
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"Let there be no doubt, the United States does not and will not torture," State Department legal adviser Harold Koh told the council.
"This administration began by turning the page and unequivocally ensuring the humane treatment of all individuals in US custody in armed conflict," he insisted.
Cuban ambassador Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez called on the United States to "halt war crimes and the killing of civilians," while Venezuela recommended that Washington put those responsible for torture on trial.
China and Russia acknowledged progress in health and education, as well as attempts to tackle what the Russian ambassador called the "more odious" human rights violations during conflicts.
But they both urged the swift closure of terror detention centres, while Russia recommended "a careful investigation of the facts in the use of torture especially in Guantanamo and Bagram" air force base in Afghanistan.
In Washington, a senior Republican lawmaker responded forcefully to the criticism. The US should quit the rights body "dominated by rogue regimes", said Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
"So long as the inmates are allowed to run the asylum, the Human Rights Council will continue to stand in the way of justice, not promote it," she said.
"The US should walk out of this rogues' gallery and seek to build alternative forums that will actually focus on abuses and deny membership to abusers."
Ros-Lehtinen is set to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee when a new US Congress convenes in January.
The half-day public debate came just two weeks after whistleblowing website WikiLeaks published 400,000 classified US documents on the Iraq war, reviving concern about a lack of accountability for abuse.
Koh said hundreds of military cases had led to punishments being handed out, including more than 100 court martials with convictions.
A US special prosecutor is still investigating whether civilian officials who gave orders under the previous administration might be liable for prosecution, he told journalists.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that former US president George W. Bush wrote in his new memoir that he personally gave the go-ahead for CIA officers to waterboard self-confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The Western reaction on allegations of torture and abuse was more muted.
European countries including Britain, as well as Australia, recommended a moratorium or abolition of the death penalty, while France urged President Barack Obama to "honour his promise" in 2009 to close Guantanamo.
Koh responded: "While the commitment has not wavered, the task is complex. President Obama cannot do it alone."
A total of 172 detainees remain there, down from 242 when Obama took office in 2008, he added. Koh insisted on the need for help from Congress, the courts and US allies willing to host ex-detainees.
After Arab countries raised concerns about "Islamophobia" in the United States, US Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner acknowledged that US Muslims had also highlighted "a pattern of intolerance and discrimination."
"We're committed to addressing this and we're taking a number of steps to do so," he said.
Posner acknowledged that the United States was "not satisfied with the status quo" on its overall rights record and would report back to the UN body in March.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the engagement with the UN but was disappointed by the US defence of the death penalty and prison conditions.
"It's a first step but it's a shaky first step to move towards better human rights conditions inside the United States," said Antonio Ginatta, US advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
During the Bush administrations, the United States shunned the council.
"If the US government delegation's objective was to reclaim the mantle of global human rights leadership, it failed miserably," said US Human Rights Network executive director Ajamu Baraka.
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