Washington is concerned “by reports of detentions and arrests of LGBTI persons in Azerbaijan and Egypt, respectively,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told the Washington Blade last week. The statement came as Nauert attempted to explain why the US voted against a UN Human Rights Council resolution condemning the use of the death penalty as punishment for LGBT acts. The “no” vote came despite Nauert’s assertion that the US “unequivocally condemns the application of the death penalty for conduct such as homosexuality, blasphemy, adultery, and apostasy.” She says the US voted against the resolution “because of broader concerns with the resolution’s approach in condemning the death penalty in all circumstances,” as it called for the abolition of the death penalty altogether. Joining the US in voting against the resolution: Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Botswana, Burundi, China, Ethiopia, Iraq, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

Questions over Egypt’s human rights record are also impacting Egypt’s bid to have Moushira Khattab head up UNESCO, according to the Associated Press. Egyptian civil rights activists are urging UNESCO to reject Khattab’s candidacy, alleging she is complicit in “state attacks on the values for which the UN agency stands.”

House to the rescue? The House of Representatives looks set to put human rights front and center on its agenda — just not in a way that will get us much international sympathy. A parliamentary delegation is expected to file an official complaint against Human Rights Watch (which prepared earlier this year a report alleging systemic torture in Egypt) at a conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union scheduled for mid-October, according to Asharq Al Awsat. Separately, the House Human Rights Committee wants to see human rights incorporated in the curriculum in both the K-12 and postsecondary education systems, Egypt Independent reports. “The suggestion received preliminary approval from the Education Ministry, the next step is to get ratification from the Parliament,” committee chair Alaa Abed said.