Departing Bolton Held Up Anti-Slavery MeasureAh, the Man with the Iron Mustache is leaving the international arena — but not before attempting a thoroughly embarrassing and wholly unsympathetic maneuver.
Less than two weeks before the White House announced his resignation, Ambassador John Bolton’s U.N. mission blocked an effort to celebrate the end of slavery in our hemisphere.
Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. As far as anniversaries go, it seems like a good one to recognize, doesn’t it? It should not be a real bone of contention to say that one is against slavery; and, upon hearing of the anniversary of its abolition in one region, to acknowledge that as a good thing; to recognize the cost of the practice in the millions of lives uprooted and forced into extreme suffering; and to celebrate the efforts which ended the horrific practice.
To do so, a number of Caribbean countries got together to propose a commemorative resolution before the United Nations.
Guess who refused to sign? That’s right: Ambassador John Bolton’s United States.
In a letter, the Bolton-led U.S. mission to the UN explained their objection to two words (the U.S. preferred “the emphasis” to “emphasizing”) in the document. (You can read the document here.) After a couple dozen U.S. congresspeople kicked up a fuss — most of them members of the Congressional Black Caucus — the U.S. mission reportedly backed down, and consented to sign the document without their preferred language, according to sources close to the process.
The U.S. mission did not return my call on the matter.
