Serial Abusers Stand for UN 'Human Rights' Elections
"It is an insult to their victims - and a defeat for the global cause of human rights."
First Publish: 7/30/2013, 5:08 PM
Arab women in front of UN sign
Flash 90
The UN has announced that elections for 14
influential seats on its Human Rights Council will be held on November
12th, with the world body for the first time confirming that candidates
include China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and other regimes
criticized for widespread human rights abuses.
Iran pulled out of the race after the July 9th revelation by UN Watch, a non-governmental human rights group based in Geneva, sparked outrage worldwide.
According to a new and updated chart published by UN Watch, compiled from the UN website and diplomatic sources, the Assad regime of Syria is still running, as is Cuba.
UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said
that Syria's bid is expected to fail. "Yet given that the UN recently
elected Syria to the human rights committee of its world agency on
education, science and culture, and to a decolonization committee
charged with upholding fundamental human rights, we can't afford to take
anything for granted," he added. "We need to actively oppose every one
of these cynical bids."
"The U.S., the EU, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and High
Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay must end their silence over
outrageous candidacies from China, Russia, Cuba, and Saudi
Arabia, otherwise these and other serial abusers will surely win," said
Neuer.
"The world's leading voices for democracy are
turning a blind eye as mass murderers and misogynists are infiltrating
the world's highest human rights body. Words matter. What is said and
done in the name of human rights at the UN affects hearts and minds the
world over. It's time for Washington, Paris, London and Berlin to speak out."
"By electing massive abusers of human rights to the very body charged with protecting them, the UN is putting rotten ingredients into the soup. We should not be surprised by the results," said Neuer.
The council already includes Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Mauritania, Venezuela, and other countries with dismal human rights records.
UN Watch is working with dissidents and NGOs from China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia to oppose their bids.
"Candidates
like Algeria, China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia have one thing in
common: they systematically violate the human rights of their own
citizens," said Neuer, "and they consistently vote the wrong way on UN
initiatives to protect the human rights of others."
"It's not only that these governments are
unqualified; they are the ones who should be in the dock of the accused,
not sitting on high as prosecutor and judge."
"It is an insult to their victims -- and a defeat
for the global cause of human rights -- when the UN allows gross abusers
to act as champions and global judges of human rights," said Neuer.
"When the U.N.'s highest human rights body becomes a case of the foxes guarding the henhouse, the world's victims suffer."
"The U.S. and EU should encourage worthy candidates
from each regional group to throw their hats in the ring, and then
lobby for their election over the current slate of tyrannies and human
rights abusers," said Neuer.
"Countries that murder and torture their own people must not be allowed to become the world's judges on human rights," he added.
Labels: Human Rights, Hypocrisy, United Nations
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, July 30, 2013
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