HOUSE votes to withhold payment of some U.N. dues

<br>WASHINGTON (AP) _ The House, encouraged by its Republican leaders, voted Thursday to withhold some back dues from the United Nations until the United States is reinstated on the U.N. Commission on

Thursday, May 10th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The House, encouraged by its Republican leaders, voted Thursday to withhold some back dues from the United Nations until the United States is reinstated on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

The vote was 252-165 for a measure that would allow one payment of $582 million in back dues but hold back an additional $244 million owed until the country is back on the human rights panel.

``I think there's an injustice there that ought to be addressed,'' House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said of the ouster of the United States from the panel that still counts as members Sudan, China and Libya, ``some of the greatest perpetrators of human rights abuses in the world.''

The House, debating the State Department authorization bill for 2002-2003, also voted to keep the United States out of the International Criminal Court.