Beginning January 2003 it will be chaired by Libya, a country with "one of the world's worst human rights records" [1]. According to Human Rights Watch, "thugs" flock to the UN's Human Rights commission, presumably to mask their own human rights abuses. Human Rights Watch has sharply criticized the United States for its own international human rights record: " Washington has so much power today that when it flouts human rights standards, it damages the human rights cause worldwide." [1]