UN hunger expert hails Syrian “openness” & “excellent” cooperation

Published by
Hillel Neuer
- at May 17, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

Above: The UN Human Rights Council’s Cuban-sponsored Olivier De Schutter, left, with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad. Damascus, 2010.

Today the UN Human Rights Council’s “right to food” expert made international headlines with a stinging report on the urgent food crisis in. . . Canada. That’s right.

On May 4th, just before Olivier De Schutter began his 11-day investigation of the great Canadian food emergency, I asked his Geneva spokesperson, Ms. Yoonie Kim, what her boss planned to say about the genuine  hunger situation facing 500,000 people in Syria.

She replied that De Schutter had no plans to say anything at all about Syria. This, she explained, was because (a) he had no first-hand knowledge of the situation and (b) other UN officials were already dealing with it. Funny, neither supposed obstacle has ever prevented him from opining sharply on all kinds of other situations around the globe. Continue reading ‘UN hunger expert hails Syrian “openness” & “excellent” cooperation’

Committee Against Torture Convenes Extraordinary Meeting on Situation in Syria

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- at May 16, 2012 in Syria. 0 Comments

During its 48th session, which is currently meeting in Geneva, the Committee Against Torture convened an extraordinary meeting on the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic.  Syria did not send a delegation to the session.

The Chairman of the Committee acting as Co-Rapporteur for Syria, Mr. Claudio Grossman, explained the reasons for this meeting: the severe situation in Syria with widespread violations of the Convention against Torture; Syria’s failure to provide sufficient information in its previous reports; and realizing the committee’s responsibility of achieving greater compliance of State parties with the obligations of the Convention. Pursuant to article 19 of the Convention, the Committee had requested Syria, “to provide additional information in a special report which will indicate the measures it had taken to ensure its obligations under the Convention are effectively implemented; the measures it has taken to implement the recommendations of the Committee’s concluding observations from Syria’s previous review on May 2010; and information about the current situation.”

To the regret of the Committee members, though Syria declared that it is prepared to fully cooperate with the Committee, it failed once again to provide substantial responses to the committee’s requests and it did not send a delegation. Instead, Syria denied the allegations of widespread use of torture and violations of the convention, noting that they are merely unfounded allegations, and focused on a procedural claim pursuant to which Article 19 of the Convention does not allow for such inquiries by the Committee. Continue reading ‘Committee Against Torture Convenes Extraordinary Meeting on Situation in Syria’

Letter to UN: Israel tells head of rights council it’s suspending all ties

Published by
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- at May 15, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 2 Comments

Diplomacy can be a funny thing. In this just-published letter to Laura Dupuy Lasserre, the President of the UN Human Rights Council, Israel’s representative accuses her agency of demonization, but, following  protocol, offers her “the assurances of my highest consideration.”

Geneva, 14 May 2012

Dear Madam President,

Following the March session of the Human Rights Council, I wish to formally inform you of Israel’s decision to suspend its relationship with the Human Rights Council and with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, both in Geneva and in Jerusalem.

This decision was reached in light of the ongoing, unrelenting singling out of Israel in the Human Rights Council, which has been persistent since its inception in 2006, continued through the review process, and exists to this day. The Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, respectively, have become a political tool and a convenient platform, cynically used to advance certain political aims, to bash and demonize Israel.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Aharon Leshno Yaar
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

NGO: UN renews rights chief Pillay without consultations on her record

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- at May 15, 2012 in High Commissioner of Human Rights and Navi Pillay. 0 Comments

GENEVA, May 14, 2012 — After Ban Ki-moon’s announcement today that he supports a two-year extension for rights commissioner Navi Pillay, a non-governmental watchdog group says that the decision was made — pending the UNGA’s rubber stamp — without due public consultation or a healthy discussion of her four-year record on the job.

“A global and high-profile position that makes demands of transparency and accountability from the world’s governments should set an example for others,” said Hillel Neuer, an international lawyer and director of the Geneva-based UN Watch. “But we didn’t see that today.” Continue reading ‘NGO: UN renews rights chief Pillay without consultations on her record’

Latest U.N. Gobbledygook: “Gender Implications of International Solidarity”

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- at May 15, 2012 in Cuba and Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

Today’s announcement by the office of UN human rights chief Navi Pillay about an “Expert Workshop on Human Rights and International Solidarity,” which it will organize on June 7-8 in Geneva, provides a classic example of the gobbledygook emanating from the highest quarters of the UN:

[This will be] a workshop for an exchange of views on, inter alia, the gender implications of international solidarity, the impact of a right to international solidarity, the role of international solidarity in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and the realization of the right to development, with the participation of representatives from all interested States, the independent expert, the members of the Advisory Committee dealing with this issue, and civil society.” Continue reading ‘Latest U.N. Gobbledygook: “Gender Implications of International Solidarity”’

Obama Rights Envoy Accuses UN Human Rights Council of Anti-Semitism

Published by
Hillel Neuer
- at May 8, 2012 in Anti-Semitism. 1 Comment

One of President Obama’s top human rights officials has accused the  UN Human Rights Council of anti-Semitism.

In a speech delivered yesterday before the superb Canadian Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism — before whom I had the pleasure to speak recently in Winnipeg — Hannah Rosenthal, the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, addressed the “increasing tendency of blurring the lines between opposition to the policies of the State of Israel and anti-Semitism.”

Citing Natan Sharansky’s 3-D test to identify where sharp but legitimate criticism crosses the line into anti-Semitism — namely, where there is demonization, delegitimization or double standards — Rosenthal provided examples of such anti-Semitism occurring at the United Nations: Continue reading ‘Obama Rights Envoy Accuses UN Human Rights Council of Anti-Semitism’

As much of the world starves, UN sends hunger probe to… Canada

Published by
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- at May 6, 2012 in Canada, Jean Ziegler, Muammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize, Olivier De Schutter, Rights and Democracy and Syria. 4 Comments

The National Post (Canada)
May 5, 2012, p. A20
EDITORIALS

By Hillel Neuer

Olivier De Schutter is the UN Human Rights Council’s “Special Rapporteur on the right to food,” a post initiated by Cuba. Tomorrow he begins an 11-day investigation of Canada.
De Schutter’s senior adviser, Priscilla Claeys, previously worked with Oxfam Canada, part of the group that is unofficially coordinating his visit, and with Rights and Democracy—a Canadian agency soon to be shut down—where she collaborated with the UN office of Jean Ziegler, co-founder of the “Muammar Qaddafi Human RIghts Prize” and De Schutter’s predecessor.

“There is no food and no clean water, nothing,” Mahmoud, a 12-year-old boy from Homs, Syria, told Reuters Thursday. “There is no shop open and we only have one meal a day. How can we live like that and survive?”

According to the World Food Program, half a million people don’t have enough to eat in Syria. Fears are growing that the regime is using hunger as a weapon.

This is the kind of emergency which should attract the attention of the UN Human Rights Council’s hunger monitor, who has the ability to spotlight situations and place them on the world agenda. Yet Olivier de Schutter of Belgium, the “Special Rapporteur on the right to food,” is not going to Syria.

Instead, the UN’s food monitor is coming to investigate Canada. Continue reading ‘As much of the world starves, UN sends hunger probe to… Canada’

Sri Lanka clueless on exit of key allies China & Russia from UN rights council

Published by
Hillel Neuer
- at April 29, 2012 in Sri Lanka. 1 Comment

Sri Lankans worried over their government’s failure to block a recent UN resolution on its 2009  mass killings of Tamil civilians now have even greater reason to doubt the competence of Colombo officials.

According to a report today in Sri Lanka’s Sunday Leader, the government is concerned that four countries who voted with it in the March session of the UN Human Rights Council, including key allies China and Russia, are to see their terms end in June, putting them in a poorer position to defend the country when it goes before its automatic quadrennial review in October.

But the government is completely wrong.

In fact, the membership terms this year end in December (see UN website here). Their October concern is moot — China and Russia will both still be full members. How the Sri Lankan government could be ignorant of such key facts ought to raise serious questions among its citizens.

Note to Colombo: From 2006-2011, UNHRC elections were held each year in May, and members rotated on and off in June. The new system beginning in 2013 will have membership coincide with the calendar year. In this transitional year, members like China and Russia get an extra six months, exiting in December 2012 instead of June 2012. Elections for the new 2013 members are expected in the fall.

LA Times is Wrong on Cuba * Putin’s Promises * UN’s Ziegler: “Finally, the truth comes out!”

Published by
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- at April 23, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, April 22, 2012

Re: “Time to include Cuba,” Los Angeles Times Editorial, April 17

To the Editor:

In criticizing the United States for excluding Cuba from the Summit of the Americas, you argued that “engagement, not isolation, is the best way to encourage change.” Cuba’s record in other international forums demonstrates the opposite. Continue reading ‘LA Times is Wrong on Cuba * Putin’s Promises * UN’s Ziegler: “Finally, the truth comes out!”’

Stop Bashir

Published by
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- at April 17, 2012 in Darfur and Sudan. 0 Comments

UN Watch supports the campaign of Collectif Urgence Darfour to bring the President of Sudan, Omar al Bashir, to justice. Bashir is subject to an international arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, forced transfer, torture, rape, and genocide.

Watch the compelling videos below and sign the petition: http://www.stopbechir.com/

Video: Sun TV interviews Hillel Neuer on human rights impostor Jean Ziegler’s visit to Canada

Published by
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- at April 1, 2012 in Jean Ziegler. 9 Comments

VIDEO: UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer on Sun TV calls U.N. expert Jean Ziegler “a human rights impostor,” opposes his visit this week to Canada. Click here to watch.

Justice: U.N.’s “Qaddafi Prize” Creator is Finally Defeated

Published by
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- at March 27, 2012 in Jean Ziegler. 0 Comments

Ziegler supported tyrants, terrorists & racists: Qaddafi, Castro, Mugabe, Chavez, Hezbollah, Farrakhan

UN WATCH CAMPAIGN EXPOSED ENEMY OF HUMAN RIGHTS

GENEVA, March 27 – Calling it “a defeat for the enemies of human rights,” UN Watch announced today that notorious UN official Jean Ziegler—who in 1989 boasted to the world his creation of the “Moammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize,” an award that has since been given to Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy, Louis Farrakhan and other racists—lost his bid to become the UN’s first expert on ensuring an “equitable international order,” an anti-Western mandate founded by the UN Human Rights Council at the request of Cuba’s Communist regime.

“Ziegler is a human rights impostor who has wilfully espoused propaganda on behalf of any tyrant or terrorist that is anti-American, anti-Western or anti-Israel,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

The Geneva-based watchdog group produced the report, essay, documentary and ensuing campaign against Ziegler that sparked worldwide newspaper articles, TV reports and NGO appeals documenting his abuses. Continue reading ‘Justice: U.N.’s “Qaddafi Prize” Creator is Finally Defeated’

UN officials on pending Congressional watchlist

Published by
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- at March 27, 2012 in Advisory Committee of UNHRC, Halima Warzazi, Jean Ziegler, Miguel d'Escoto Brockman and Richard Falk. 0 Comments

Following UN Watch’s reports, articles and speeches exposing the scoundrels below, a bill pending in the  US Congress, H.R.2829 – United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act of 2011, effectively places these UN Human Rights Council officials on a watchlist:

    (8) Some of these [United Nations Human Rights Council] special rapporteurs and members of the Advisory Committee have displayed consistent bias against the United States, Israel, and the Jewish people, while providing support to human rights abusers.

    (9) Richard Falk, the United Nations ‘Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967’, has compared Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to the Holocaust, questioned the veracity of the events of September 11, 2001, and posted a cartoon on his blog depicting Americans and Jews as bloodthirsty dogs.

    (10) Jean Ziegler, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee and former United Nations ‘Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food’, has accused former President George W. Bush and former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of committing ‘state terrorism’, has called for an investigation of Israel by the International Criminal Court for ‘war crimes’ following Israel’s war against Hezbollah in 2006, has visited Cuba and praised the Cuban regime’s provision of food to the Cuban people, and has stated that Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe ‘has history and morality with him’. Ziegler was also involved in the establishment of the ‘Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights’, a prize established by, funded by, and named after Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi, and awarded in the past to Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Louis Farrakhan, and Roger Garaudy, who has denied the Holocaust, questioned the veracity of the events of September 11, 2001, and supported Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s call for Israel to be ‘wiped off the map’.

    (11) Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee who has previously served as President of the United Nations General Assembly and as foreign minister for the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, has implicitly accused the United States of ‘terrorism’, has called former President Ronald Reagan a ‘butcher’, has called for a international boycott of Israel, has stated that the Palestinians were being ‘crucified’ by Israel, has called Israel’s defensive Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip a ‘monstrosity’ and ‘genocide’, has urged the United Nations to use the term ‘apartheid’ in discussing Israeli treatment of Palestinians, has embraced Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after Ahmadinejad delivered an anti-American, anti-Israel address to the United Nations General Assembly, has stated that charges of genocide against Sudanese dictator Omar Hassan al Bashir are ‘racist’, and has declared Fidel Castro ‘World Hero of Solidarity’, stating that Castro ‘embod[ied] virtues and values worth emulation by all of us’.

    (12) Halima Warzazi, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, has compared Israel to Nazi Germany, and used her previous membership in a United Nations apparatus to shield Saddam Hussein from censure for gassing Iraqi Kurds in Halabja.

UN Syria investigator Erturk gives conflicting accounts for resignation

Published by
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- at March 27, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Syria. 0 Comments

According to Reuters,  Yakin Erturk  has just resigned from the UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria “in protest at the Syrian government’s refusal to allow them into the country.” The Turkish sociologist and long-time UN official said that “the commission cannot do comprehensive work and investigate (certain) areas because of no access, so I decided not to continue.”

The odd thing, however, is that only two weeks ago, Erturk gave a very different story. In a letter to the president of the UN Human Rights Council, which oversees the recently-renewed inquiry, Erturk gave notice that “should the mandate of the Commission be extended beyond 23 March 2012, I will not be able to continue my functions due to previous professional commitments.” (Emphasis added.)

Feared for the Truths We Might Tell

Published by
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- at March 25, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 2 Comments


After Iran, Mauritania for the Arab Group and Pakistan for the Islamic group held forth on the need to respect the Durban declaration on racism, UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer took the floor to respond. UN Human Rights Council, 20 March 2012.

Thank you, Madam President.

In September, a week before it was to take place, we discovered that the conference on the Durban Declaration barred entry to UN Watch. Contrary to basic due process, we never received any notice, nor the reasons for our exclusion.

As noted by the Chairman of the U.S. Congress Foreign Affairs Committee, it is telling to see who was admitted to this conference on racism. The approved invitees included the Libyan-funded front group which, until last year, oversaw the Muammar Qaddafi Prize on Human Rights, an award given annually to racist bigots and holocaust deniers. Continue reading ‘Feared for the Truths We Might Tell’

Controversy: Defeated UN Rights Expert Lies About Rejected Application for New Post

Published by
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- at March 23, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Jean Ziegler. 0 Comments

Out of 4 applicants, Jean Ziegler is only one not to be shortlisted
Today: UNHRC appointment will go instead to Alfred de Zayas

Ziegler in SDA News: “I refused to apply for new job; need to stay in current post”
Ziegler in application: “I’m very motivated for new job; willing to end current post”

GENEVA, March 23 – For the first time in his career, veteran UN human rights official Jean Ziegler—who was exposed this year by Swiss TV for his role in creating the “Qaddafi Human Rights Prize,” and then disinvited from delivering the Salzburg Festival’s keynote address—has been denied a sought-after UN post, a new mandate sponsored by Cuba’s Communist government to ensure “equitable international order.”

Yet in a bizarre development yesterday, Ziegler, a former Swiss Socialist politician, apparently tried to preempt news of his rejection by telling Swiss news agency SDA that he declined to apply for the post.

“The UN’s own documents show that Ziegler’s completely lying,” said Hillel Neuer, director of the Geneva-based UN Watch monitoring group.

Continue reading ‘Controversy: Defeated UN Rights Expert Lies About Rejected Application for New Post’

Communist Cuba Takes Leading Role at UN Rights Council

Published by
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- at March 23, 2012 in Cuba. 0 Comments

Three of yesterday’s UN Human Rights Council resolutions were sponsored by Castro’s Communist Cuba, which continues to exercise key influence in UN bodies, particularly as a leader of the 120-strong Non Aligned Movement.

One of the new resolutions will require the UN to hire professional staff according to “geographic balance” instead of merit. The US and EU said the move threatened basic standards of competence, qualifications and efficiency.

Another Cuban-sponsored text promotes the doctrine of “cultural rights,” often used at the UN by many Islamic, Communist and African governments to evade respecting their citizens’ universal human rights, and to justify the killing of gays in Iran, the execution of Christians for blasphemy in Pakistan, and the jailing of dissidents in China, Cuba and Zimbabwe.

With Mideast aflame, UN creates Goldstone-like “fact-finding mission” against Jewish state

Published by
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- at March 23, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 3 Comments

GENEVA, March 22 - The UN’s top human rights body condemned Israel today in five separate resolutions, the same amount devoted to the rest of the world combined. One farcical text, written by Syria, which is now slaughtering its own people, found Israel guilty of major violations in the Golan heights. Another created a “fact-finding mission” into the settlements, which, like the notorious Goldstone inquiry, is expected to generate a massive international legal, political and media campaign, deflecting attention from abuses committed by the resolution’s sponsors—the Arab and Islamic blocs including Iran, Syria and the Palestinians—and onto Israel. For more on today’s consequential vote, click here.

VIDEO: UN Watch Exposes Hypocrisy of Council’s Permanent Agenda Item Singling Out Israel Continue reading ‘With Mideast aflame, UN creates Goldstone-like “fact-finding mission” against Jewish state’

UN’s discredited HRC creates “Goldstone II,” new investigation against Israel

Published by
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- at March 22, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 5 Comments

GENEVA, March 22 – The 47-nation UN Human Rights Council today adopted five resolutions condemning Israel, including one that creates a new “fact-finding mission” into alleged Israeli violations relating to settlements, a mandate the UN estimates will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. For full texts and voting results click here.

“On the same day that the UN Human Rights Council severely watered-down a text allowing Sri Lanka to determine what advice it receives from the UN—and after the council ignored our own proposed resolutions for victims of abuses in China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe—the session directed half of all its condemnatory resolutions against one single state, Israel,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

“Sadly, the council remains partisan, selective and politicized, and is failing its founding mission to defend the world’s victims of human rights violations.”

“The council’s new fact-finding mission on settlements–whose co-sponsors include Syria and Iran–is a fraud, with the guilty verdict determined in advance. The egregiously one-sided resolution omits any mention of officially-sanctioned Palestinian terrorism, rocket fire targeting civilians and incitement to hatred, anti-Semitism and genocide.”

“The PA and the Arab and Islamic states sponsoring the text know full well that Israel will not legitimize this latest kangaroo court, and are therefore acting with the intent to subvert, rather than advance, any prospect of a bilateral negotiated peace agreement and mutual reconciliation.”

Resolutions & Voting Results of UNHRC 19th Session

Published by
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- at March 22, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 2 Comments

Today the UN Human Rights Council will begin voting on the draft resolutions below. Look for our regularly updated results and comments.

Condemnatory Resolutions

This council session will conclude with one resolution condemning North Korea; one resolution criticizing but also praising Burma (Myanmar); one resolution importantly renewing the mandate of an investigator on Iran but, unlike the UNGA, neither mentioning nor condemning Iran’s violations; two resolutions condemning Syria; and five resolutions condemning Israel. It is unfortunate that although Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Kofi Annan before him, urged the council to end its selectivity, 50 percent of this session’s condemnatory resolutions are on Israel.

In other, non-condemnatory resolutions on countries, the council adopted a welcome but watered-down text on Sri Lanka, and will pass a series of resolutions praising Libya, Haiti, DR Congo and others. Despite UN Watch’s submission to the UNHRC of proposed resolutions on China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zimbabwe, these and many other of the world’s worst abusers are to go ignored.

Deteriorating Human Rights Situation in Syria (A/HRC/19/L.1/Rev.1)
Submitted on 28.02.2012 by Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey
Vote Result: Adopted on March 1, 2012 by a vote of 37 in favour, 3 against (China, Cuba, Russia), and 3 abstentions (Ecuador, India, Philippines).

Situation of Human Rights in Iran (A/HRC/19/L.22)
Submitted on 15.03.2012 by Sweden
Vote Result: Adopted on March 22, 2012 by a vote of 22 in favour, 5 against (Bangladesh, China, Cuba, Qatar, Russia), and 20 abstentions (Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Djibouti, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Uganda, Uruguay).

Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar (A/HRC/19/L.30)
Submitted on 15.03.2012 by Denmark on behalf of the EU
The resolution was Orally Revised.
The resolution was adopted on March 23, 2012 without a vote.

Situation of Human Rights in North Korea (A/HRC/19/L.29)
Submitted on 15.03.2012 by Denmark on behalf of the EU, Japan
The resolution was adopted on March 22, 2012 without a vote.

Situation of Human Rights in Syria (A/HRC/19/L.38)
Submitted on 16.03.2012 by Denmark on behalf of the EU
Russia proposed an oral amendment, but it was rejected by a vote of 33 against, 4 in favour (China, Cuba, Ecuador, Russia), and 9 abstentions.
Vote Result: Adopted on March 23, 2012 by a vote of 40 in favour (EU, USA), 3 against (China, Cuba, Russia), and 3 abstentions (Ecuador, India, Uganda).

Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (A/HRC/19/L.34)
Submitted on 16.03.2012 by Palestine
The resolution was Orally Revised.
Vote Result: Adopted on March 22, 2012 by a vote of 44 in favour, 1 against (USA), and two abstentions (Cameroon, Guatemala). Continue reading ‘Resolutions & Voting Results of UNHRC 19th Session’

UN Watch Summit of Human Rights Hereoes

Published by
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- at March 20, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

The Geneva summit of human rights heroes organized last week by UN Watch, together with 20 other NGOs, was a great success. Hundreds of activists attended, along with students, journalists and U.N. delegates. The victim-activists, who suffered torture in their respective countries, held invaluable meetings with dedicated diplomats. Major media, including the Associated Press, reported on the proceedings.

Hamas official addresses NGO seminar on the fringes of the HRC’s 19th Session

Published by
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- at March 19, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 1 Comment

Several news outlets reported today that a Hamas official addressed the UN Human Rights Council. The truth was more prosaic: Hamas representative Ismail al-Ashqar was invited to speak to a seminar on “Arresting Parliamentarians” organized by a Sudanese NGO.  Al-Ashqar did not speak before the HRC plenary session, but rather to a virtually empty room, as the accompanying picture attests. Below are  highlights of his testimony.

As you know, kidnapping parliamentarians is an anti-democratic and political crime. After the success of our union, the Israeli occupation forces took over 50 MPs as well as the president of our authority. It is an unprecedented use of kidnapping, and women MPs were also kidnapped. The kidnapping operation was a flagrant and clear violation against humanity and democracy and the immunity of parliament. From the first stage of kidnapping, not only incarceration, we thought these were political arrests. Their objective was to put parliamentarians in jail and to prevent their movement and stop them from assuming their positions. Continue reading ‘Hamas official addresses NGO seminar on the fringes of the HRC’s 19th Session’

Dissidents propose draft resolutions for world’s ignored emergencies

Published by
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- at March 16, 2012 in China, Cuba, Geneva Summit, Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. 0 Comments

The Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy took place on March 13, 2012, organized by UN Watch and an international coalition of 20 NGOs. The Summit, which ran in parallel to the main session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, produced alternative draft resolutions for the Council to consider. These deal with urgent human rights situaitons that have so far been ignored by the international community. These are:

Venezuela rigs U.N. speakers list to ensure stellar review of rights record

Published by
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- at March 15, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and Venezuela. 0 Comments

Today Venezuela’s UPR report is scheduled to be adopted by the U.N. Human Rights Council at 3 pm Geneva time. Each review lasts one hour, during which state representatives have 20 minutes to discuss the report, accept or reject its recommendations, and respond to any questions from the floor.

The other 40 minutes are divided equally between states and NGOs, each getting two minutes to speak. That means a maximum of 10 states and 10 NGOs can take the floor.

As reported, the list of speakers is as follows:

Countries

1. Cuba
2. Nicaragua
3. Vietnam
4. China
5. Uruguay
6. Dominican Republic
7. Iran
8. North Korea
9. Syria
10. Myanmar [List of states to be cut here due to time  limit]
11. Ecuador
12. Laos
13. Philippines
14. Zimbabwe
15. Russia
16. Morocco
17. Sri Lanka
18. U.S.A.
19. India
20. Belarus
21. Paraguay

NGOs

1. Defensora del Pueblo Gabriela Ramirez
2. Indian Council of South America
3. Cuban Women Federation
4. Word Federation of Trade Unions
5. Cuban Association for the United Nations
6. North-South XXI
7. Organización International de aportación de voluntarios para mujeres, educación y desarrollo (VIDES)
8. Association for the Prevention of Torture
9. Human Rights Watch
10. Article 19  [List of states to be cut here due to time  limit]
11. CIVICUS
12. Instituto internacional de Maria Auxiliadora (IIMA)
13. United Nations Watch (UN Watch)
14. Save the Children
15. Amnesty International
16. Encuentro africano por la defensa de los derechos humanos

What is clear from the above is that the Venezuelan government, aided no doubt by the experienced Cuban diplomats,  rallied their close friends — governments and phony NGOs  (known as “GONGOs”, or Government-operated NGOs) — to monopolize the limited time of the debate.

For example, there are several pro-Castro NGOs on the list as well as the North-South XXI group, which was created by the Qaddafi regime. We shall be lucky to hear even six minutes of genuine scrutiny of the Chavez regime’s violations of human rights.

U.N.-adopted report on Qaddafi rights record is “abhorrent,” says Amnesty USA chief

Published by
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- at March 15, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Libya. 6 Comments

UN Watch Objects in Plenary, Reads Out
Countries’ Shameful Praise of Qaddafi

Council President Overrules Objection, Defends Report

GENEVA, March 14, 2012 –  A U.N. report ridiculed worldwide for lavishing praise on the Qaddafi regime’s human rights record was unanimously adopted today by the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council, with president Laura Dupuy Lasserre overruling the objection made in the plenary by UN Watch. (Click here for video; see text below.)

After it was first exposed by UN Watch last year, the report card giving high marks to Qaddafi was mocked by the New York Times, The Economist and other major media worldwide, causing a red-faced UN to postpone the report’s adoption repeatedly — until today. Continue reading ‘U.N.-adopted report on Qaddafi rights record is “abhorrent,” says Amnesty USA chief’

Update: UN passes unanimous resolution praising Qaddafi’s rights record

Published by
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- at March 14, 2012 in Libya. 0 Comments

Report was ridiculed by New York Times, The Economist, and other media worldwide

Amnesty USA chief says report is “abhorrent,” calls for “redo”

GENEVA, March 14, 2012 — A UN report that has been ridiculed worldwide for lavishing praise on the Qaddafi regime’s human rights was unanimously adopted today by the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council, despite an objection voiced in the plenary by the Geneva-based UN Watch group.

CLICK HERE FOR QUOTES OF REPORT’S PRAISE FOR QADDAFI REGIME

The report, which summarizes the council’s Nov. 9, 2010 review of Libya, sparked outrage among human rights activists from the Geneva-based UN Watch as well as Amnesty USA.

Originally slated for adoption in March 2011, a strong protest by the non-governmental UN Watch monitoring group, which also led last year’s successful NGO Campaign to Remove Libya from the UN Human Rights Council, generated headlines in the New York Times and other media worldwide, causing a red-faced UN to postpone the report’s adoption until today. Continue reading ‘Update: UN passes unanimous resolution praising Qaddafi’s rights record’

Today: UN to adopt report praising Qaddafi’s human rights record

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UN Watch
- at March 14, 2012 in Libya. 0 Comments

GENEVA, March 14, 2012 — A UN report praising the Qaddafi regime’s human rights record will receive its final plenary hearing today before being formally adopted next week by the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council, sparking outrage among human rights activists from UN Watch as well as Amnesty USA.

CLICK HERE FOR QUOTES OF PRAISE FOR QADDAFI REGIME

Libya was reviewed by the council on November 9, 2010 and the report, replete with praise for the Qaddafi regime, was meant to be adopted in the March 2011 session.

However, a strong protest by the non-governmental UN Watch monitoring group, which also led last year’s successful NGO Campaign to Remove Libya from the UN Human Rights Council, generated headlines in theNew York Times and other media worldwide, causing a red-faced UN to postpone the report’s adoption until now.

“The council’s review of the Qaddafi regime was a fraud, and should be declared a mistrial,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

Similarly, Suzanne Nossel, the head of Amnesty USA and a former senior human rights official in the Obama Administration, recently described the UN report as “abhorrent,” and called for a “redo.” Continue reading ‘Today: UN to adopt report praising Qaddafi’s human rights record’

Palestinians failed to win urgent UNHRC session against Israel

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Hillel Neuer
- at March 14, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

Although on this Monday, March 19th, the UN Human Rights Council will already be holding an entire day devoted to Israel’s alleged misdeeds, as it does at every one of its meetings, pursuant to a special agenda item targeting Israel, the Palestinian delegation this week took the floor dramatically (see video here) to demand that the council pause all of its deliberations on world human rights problems in order to hold an “Urgent Debate” this week on Israel’s alleged criminality in Gaza during the recent flare-up.

So far, and this is exceptional if not  unheard of at the UNHRC, the Palestinians seem to have failed to muster support for such an interruption to the session schedule. See the recent HRC bureau minutes below. Continue reading ‘Palestinians failed to win urgent UNHRC session against Israel’

50 NGOs urge Pakistan to free Christian mother from execution on charge of Blasphemy

Published by
UN Watch
- at March 13, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 12 Comments

Petition was presented now in speech to UN Human Rights Council

Geneva, March 13 - Fifty human rights activists and a former president of the UN General Assembly are calling on Pakistan to free a Christian mother of five from being hanged in Pakistan on the charge of blasphemy.

The petition was presented moments ago in a plenary address to the UN Human Rights Council, delivered by France 24 journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet, the author of Blasphéme, which tells the story of Asia Bibi.

(See petition and signatures below.)

“With Pakistan now running for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, the government should make an important gesture by releasing Asia Bibi, and repealing its blasphemy law, which is inconsistent with basic human rights,” said Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights group that helped organize the petition. Continue reading ’50 NGOs urge Pakistan to free Christian mother from execution on charge of Blasphemy’

Quotes from UN rights council report praising Qaddafi

Published by
UN Watch
- at March 13, 2012 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

Quotes from the UN Human Rights Council’s 2010 report on the Qaddafi regime’s human rights record

Iran noted that the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya had implemented a number of international human rights instruments and had cooperated with relevant treaty bodies. It noted with appreciation the establishment of the National Human Rights Committee as an independent national human rights institution, and the provision of an enabling environment for non-governmental organizations.

Algeria noted the efforts of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to promote human rights, which reflected the country’s commitment to complying with Human Rights Council resolutions and cooperating with the international community. Algeria welcomed the national institutional framework that had been set up, in particular the National Human Rights Committee. It noted that the country had made some progress in the area of education, as well as social and economic progress since the lifting of economic sanctions. Continue reading ‘Quotes from UN rights council report praising Qaddafi’