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Revamped UN Human Rights Council Condemns Israel, Acquits Cuba
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by ryan | June 22, 2007 at 09:33 am
1661 views | 22 Recommendations | 5 comments
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UPDATE 26.07.07: US support for the revamped UN Human Rights Council reaches all time low as a Congressional committee moves to cut off funding to the council.
A United States congressional delegate to the United Nations is pushing for the United States to cut off funding for the UN Human Rights Council, saying the watchdog group's focus on Israel and failure to investigate other countries made it a disaster.
Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican from Minnesota, said Wednesday the council has essentially one issue on its agenda - Israel. "You've got countries like North Korea, Burma, Zimbabwe where you have state-sponsored brutality, and what we have is deafening silence," he said.
A U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee panel will take up the Human Rights Council's performance at a hearing Thursday. The committee last month approved legislation Coleman proposed to end U.S. funding of the council. The House of Representatives last month approved similar legislation by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida.
Coleman, who along with Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, represents Congress in the U.S. delegation to the UN, is a longtime critic of the UN. Boxer also supported the funding cut off when the Foreign Relations Committee approved the bill.
UPDATE: Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, lauded Canada's decision to protest the recent moves of the UNHRC Wednesday at Canada Day celebrations in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan.
"There is no connection between the United Nations Human Rights Council and human rights," said Livni, in an address to dignitaries and officials at Canada Day celebrations in Ramat Gan.
The foreign minister thanked Canada for being the only one of the council's 47 members to vote against its decision last week to place Israel on its permanent agenda.
Canada's Ambassador to Israel, Jon Allen, reiterated the Canadian government's position on the matter
"Canada took a strong stance and voted no, and notwithstanding the chairman went ahead and declared a consensus," Allen said.
"Israel should not be singled out when countries like Belarus and Sudan are ignored," the ambassador said, adding that Canada supported a two-state solution but believed in Israel's right to defend itself in a "tough neighborhood."
The relevance of the UN as an international watchdog is increasingly coming into question. It is becoming commonplace that some of the world's worst offenders of human rights control the UN bodies which monitor such violations.
The establishment of U.N. Human Rights Council, which replaces the U.N. Human Rights Commission, was intended to counter these occurrences, but the recent move to remove Cuba and Belarus from the list of countries under official permanent scrutiny while Israel remains under the official eye has created skepticism in the Western world of the effectiveness of the new body.
Members of the U.N.'s new human rights watchdog formally agreed Tuesday to continue their scrutiny of Israel while halting investigations into Cuba and Belarus — a move that immediately drew fire from Canada and the United States.
The decision was part of a package of reforms adopted by the members of the Human Rights Council to change how it conducts its work, including how and when to launch investigations into some of the world's worst rights offenders.
The council, which was formed last year to replace the discredited U.N. Human Rights Commission, passed the compromise package despite objections from Canada over plans to continue singling out Israel for scrutiny by the global body.
The new agreement also removes two mandates given to U.N.-appointed rights experts to examine the records of Cuba and Belarus, a move strongly criticized by non-governmental organizations, the United States and some European countries.
Nine other expert mandates, including on Haiti, Somalia, Congo, Sudan, Myanmar, North Korea and the Palestinian territories, will continue.
Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon said the accord was disappointing because the council had failed to ensure that it would be "non-selective and impartial."
"It is not a bright day for the protection of human rights," Levanon said, adding that the agreement "perpetuates the immoral fixation on Israel."
The decision to keep Israel on the list was supported by all 47 members of the council except for Canada. And strangely, this move by Canada has not been widely reported in the Canadian press.
The United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday voted in favor of making Israel's actions a permanent item on the council's agenda.
Of the council's 47 member states, the sole opponent of the decision to make Israel a permanent agenda item was Canada.
The council's decision was attacked by both the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the US, the EU, and the Israeli government.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined Western nations on Wednesday in criticizing the world body's own Human Rights Council for "picking on Israel" as part of an agreement on its working rules.
The European Union, Canada and the United States have already attacked the deal reached in Geneva on Monday under which Israel's actions would become a permanent item on the Human Rights Council's agenda.
A UN statement said: "The Secretary-General is disappointed at the council's decision to single out only one specific regional item given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world."
The statement did not mention Israel or the Palestinian Authority by name.
Alejandro Wolff, deputy U.S. permanent representative at the United Nations, accused the council of "a pathological obsession with Israel" and also denounced its action on Cuba and Belarus. "I think the record is starting to speak for itself," he told journalists.
The Geneva meeting aroused further controversy after Cuba and Belarus, both accused of abuses, were removed from a list of nine special mandates, which included North Korea, Cambodia and Sudan, carried forward from the defunct commission.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 11:04 on June 22nd, 2007
Ryan Nadel, this is a great story that affects not only Canadians, but people around the world. You've sourced it extremely well and it is easy to see why this is such a big concern.
at 11:14 on June 22nd, 2007
Good stuff Ryan!
The UN has been a miserable failure for a long time partially due to the domination of the USA and Israel.
The members of the UN and the Un itself have done a dismal job over the years since it's creation and none are to be trusted on the subject of human rights.
To see how out of integrity all of them are just read this, agreed to by all members of the General Assembly, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
What I find most interesting is that we take forgranted that we,(Living in the self-righteous "free" countries of the west) can point the finger at the Taliban or China, Iran or North Korea for abrogating this amazing agreement, but today the worst offenders are the supposed bastions of freedom, the USA, Britain, Israel, Canada, and Australia.
read these promises and weep:
Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10
December 1948
PREAMBLE
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable
rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice
and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous
acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in
which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from
fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common
people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a
last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights
should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations
between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed
their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human
person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote
social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation
with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance
of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the
greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now,
Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations,
to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this
Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to
promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures,
national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition
and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the
peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are
endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a
spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on
the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the
country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent,
trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade
shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment.
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the
law.
Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to
equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any
discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to
such discrimination.
Article 8.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national
tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the
constitution or by law.
Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an
independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and
obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11.
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed
innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has
had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or
omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or
international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier
penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal
offence was committed.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family,
home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone
has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or
attacks.
Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the
borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to
return to his country.
Article 14.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum
from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely
arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and
principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the
right to change his nationality.
Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race,
nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are
entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its
dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the
intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is
entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association
with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this
right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either
alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his
religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and
impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and
association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country,
directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his
country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government;
this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by
universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent
free voting procedures.
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is
entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation
and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the
economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free
development of his personality.
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and
favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for
equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration
ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and
supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the
protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation
of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health
and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing
and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the
event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of
livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All
children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social
protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in
the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory.
Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and
higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human
personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all
nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the
United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be
given to their children.
Article 27.
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the
community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its
benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material
interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of
which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights
and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full
development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject
only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of
securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and
of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general
welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the
purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State,
group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed
at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
at 11:15 on June 22nd, 2007
Good Stuff!
at 11:19 on June 22nd, 2007
Ryan Nadel, great work on compiling the news articles here. Good stuff.
"The relevance of the UN as an international watchdog is increasingly
coming into question. It is becoming commonplace that some of the
world's worst offenders of human rights control the UN bodies which
monitor such violations."
This is a major issue with the UN right now (and I suppose for some time). There is a lot of political negotiating that goes on, that in some respects I can justify as that's the nature of conducting negotiations. However, some of these final decisions seem silly becase on their own i don't believe the UN would adopt them.
Renaming a commision is not going to solve its issues; however, reoginizing and putting propper policies in place would be a great start.
at 10:12 on July 26th, 2007
Long overdue in my estimation. And I am not alone.