On this day 15 years ago, the UN abolished its Commission on Human Rights—which made Qaddafi’s Libya its Chair—and created the Human Rights Council, promising to address gross violations & ensure “universality, objectivity & non-selectivity.”
15 years later, where do we stand?
15 years later, where do we stand?
Has the UN kept its promise?
Let’s take a look. In this session, there is one agenda item on the entire world, 193 countries, and then a separate agenda item that targets one country alone: Israel. No other UN member state is singled out.
Let’s take a look. In this session, there is one agenda item on the entire world, 193 countries, and then a separate agenda item that targets one country alone: Israel. No other UN member state is singled out.
There is no agenda item on Iran, which massacres its own people for protesting; no agenda item on Russia, which poisons dissidents; no agenda item on Cuba, which throws artists into prison; and no agenda item on China, which herded 1 million Uighur Muslims into camps...
persecutes Christians, disappeared courageous men and women who sounded the alarm on the coronavirus, and extinguished freedom in Hong Kong.
On the contrary, China, Russia and Cuba were just elected as member of this Council.
Madam President, is this objectivity?
On the contrary, China, Russia and Cuba were just elected as member of this Council.
Madam President, is this objectivity?
Let’s look at the reports. In this session, the Council will hear and debate 1 report on Sri Lanka, 1 on Myanmar, 1 on Nicaragua—and 4 on Israel, more than on any other country. Yet there are 0 reports on Somalia, where 95% of girls aged 4 to 11 face genital mutilation...
...zero reports on Pakistan, which persecutes Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Shias, and Ahmadis; and zero reports on Mauritania, which, according to CNN and the Guardian, is the world’s last bastion of actual slavery, with 500,000 black slaves. theguardian.com/global-develop…
On the contrary, all of these countries are members of this Human Rights Council.
https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/1361049544516059137
And let’s look at the resolutions. In this session, there will be 1 on North Korea, 1 on Syria, 1 on Sri Lanka — and then 4 on Israel. These resolutions condemn Israel for defending itself against terrorist rockets, stabbings and car-ramming attacks, and incentivize Hamas
and Islamic Jihad to continue targeting civilians. Yet there will 0 resolutions on Saudi Arabia, which subjugates women and imprisons pro-democracy activists like Raif Badawi; 0 resolutions on Turkey, which purged thousands of academics, journalists and judges, and tramples its
Kurdish population, and zero on Venezuela, where brutal oppression and state collapse have caused 5 million people to flee.
Madam President, on the 15th anniversary of the reformed Human Rights Council, we ask: Where is the promised universality, objectivity and elimination of double standards?
Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Madam President.
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