US fails to block torture treaty

WORRIED about allowing inspectors to visit state prisons and jailed terror suspects, the United States tried, but failed, to block a UN vote on a plan to enforce a treaty on torture.

The protocol to the 1989 treaty was passed on Wednesday by a vote of 35-8 with 10 abstentions in the UN Economic and Social Council. The US abstained.

A US proposal to reopen 10 years of negotiations on the document was voted down 29-15, with the rest abstaining, amid wide criticism of the US stance by European and Latin American allies.