Archive for March, 2008

Free speech resolution watered down to please Islamic states

Published by
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- at March 28, 2008 in "Defamation of Religion" and Freedom of Expression. 0 Comments

This UN Human Rights Council will today adopt a resolution on freedom of expression, renewing the mandate of the expert charged with investigating violations. The resolution was initiated by Canada, with the co-sponsorship of Uganda. Another 50 countries joined as co-sponsors, including the US, France, Israel, Germany, Slovenia, UK, Japan, Mexico, and Australia. Several countries sought to water down the text, including China, Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Belarus and South Africa. After weeks of debate, including five informal consultations, the West finally conceded what it called a major compromise. The text raises several concerns.

The Resolution weakens freedom of expression. Pakistan for the Islamic group, Egypt, Algeria, Belarus and China demanded restrictions on freedom of expression. In what they described as a major concession, Western states agreed to add a preambular paragraph:

Mindful also that article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that exercize of the right to freedom of expression carries with it special duties and responsibilities and may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but that these shall be only such as are provided by law and are necessary for respect of the rights or reputations of others, or for the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or public health and morals, and that article 20 provides that any propaganda for war or advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

 

By expressly stating these restrictions, the mandate is now weakened.

 

 

“Defamation of Islam”

 

The above concession is only a small part in the massive campaign by Islamic states at the UN to make “defamation of religion” — with Islam being the only religion specified — the primary concern of international human rights law. During the debates, supporters of this line — including Pakistan for the Islamic group, Singapore, Russia, Bangladesh, South Africa, Algeria and China — argued that freedom of expression is not absolute. National security, counter-terrorism and protection of religion were cited as grounds for restrictions.

 

Indeed, in this session as before, the council adopted a resolution condemning “defamation of religion,” where freedom of the press was specifically targeted, an apparent reference to the Danish cartoons controversy.

 

Endless compromise?

 

During the informal meeting of March 19, 2008, Pakistan, China and others demanded even further concessions. Russia asked for the following amendment:

 

Recognizing that exercising the right to freedom of opinion and expression may not justify incitement to terrorism, violence, racial or religious hatred, and has to be conducted responsibly and with respect to cultural, civilizational and religious diversity and values.

 

The US and the Czech Republic responded that the text had already made an enormous compromise, and that they were unwilling to make any further concessions.

South Africa’s Democratic Alliance Opposes Jean Ziegler UN Nomination

Published by
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- at March 27, 2008 in Jean Ziegler. 0 Comments

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/world.aspx?ID=BD4A734510 

Business Day (South Africa) 

By Hopewell Radebe
Diplomatic Editor

THE Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma not to support Switzerland’s nomination for the position of adviser to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council.
DA foreign affairs spokesman Tony Leon said Swiss candidate Jean Ziegler had a tainted human rights record, which should automatically disqualify him from occupying any prominent role in the promotion of human rights.
Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesman for Dlamini-Zuma, said the minister had noted Leon’s objection and would respond through the procedures for questions in the National Assembly.
Leon said the nomination should be strongly opposed as Ziegler had, in his role as UN special rapporteur, supported dictators such as Saddam Hussein, Col Mengistu of Ethiopia and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.
Leon noted Ziegler’s “openly embracing Hezbollah as a ‘national resistance movement’, and his association with holocaust denialist Roger Garaudy and his anti-Semitic viewpoints”.
“The official criteria for the position Ziegler has been nominated for are expertise in human rights, high moral standing, independence and impartiality — areas for which Jean Ziegler has displayed great disregard,” Leon said.
Diplomats said yesterday that Leon’s concerns had been raised by international human rights groups, who were lobbying other countries and the European Union to reject Ziegler’s nomination.

Former Swedish deputy prime minister Per Ahlmark and 20 international nongovernmental organisations have urged the Swiss government to withdraw the nomination of Ziegler, arguing that his “record raises serious questions as to his satisfaction of these requirements”.
Leon said SA’s voting record at the UN had damaged the country’s human rights reputation.

SA had opposed resolutions expressing concern over human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, Sudan, Belarus and Burma.

“By voting against Ziegler’s nomination, SA will help to mitigate its damaged reputation” and protect the credibility of the world’s leading intergovernmental human rights body, Leon said.

To Sounds of Cheers, UN Human Rights Council Elects Khaddafi Prize Founder to Expert Post

Published by
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- at March 26, 2008 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Jean Ziegler and Middle East. 0 Comments

To the sound of cheers, and by an overhwelming majority of 40 out of 47 votes, the UN Human Rights Council today elected Jean Ziegler, the co-founder of the “Muammar Khaddafi Human Rights Prize,” as an expert advisor representing the Western world. And for its new Palestine expert, the council chose Richard Falk, who, like Ziegler, accuses the U.S. of being responsible for many of the world’s ills and describes Israel in Nazi terminology.

 photo of Jean Ziegler
UN Human rights expert Jean Ziegler in Eritrea, 1976

“Even within the benighted UN Human Rights council, today was a dark day for human rights,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights monitoring agency. “The very credibility of the UN human rights system is now at stake.”

Falk was approved by consensus. Canada afterward made a statement dissociating itself from the choice. The U.S., a non–voting observer, also took the floor to criticize Falk’s published writings.

Ziegler, criticized by many for his performance as former UN expert on the right to food, earned more votes than any of the other candidates. Immediately after the vote, Swiss ambassador Blaise Godet left his seat, and, in front of all the diplomats in the plenary, walked over to warmly shake hands with the Cuban ambassador, both smiling as they congratulated each other. The Castro regime chairs the all-powerful Non-Aligned Movement.

“The Swiss Foreign Ministry has gone into the election of Ziegler with eyes wide open,” said Neuer. “The next time Ziegler praises Khaddafi, Castro or Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy, they will bear direct responsibility. Having invested so much lobbying and vote-trading to install him, it is no longer credible for them to try and wash their hands of Ziegler’s abuses, claiming — as they tried to do in recent years — not to have any connection with him. From this day forward we will demand and expect the Swiss Foreign Ministry’s condemnation of his abuses, every single time.”

Norwegian Parliament Protests Jean Ziegler UN Nomination

Published by
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- at March 26, 2008 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Jean Ziegler. 0 Comments

Norway’s Progress Party, the leading opposition party in the Norwegian parliament, called on the Swiss government to withdraw the nomination of Jean Ziegler to the UN Human Rights Council’s Advisory Committee. “In order to protect the credibility of the world’s highest intergovernmental human rights body,” the letter reads, “we urge you to withdraw [Jean Ziegler’s] nomination.”

The full text of the letter follows. Click for original letter.

* * * * *

Embassy of Switzerland

Att. Ambassador Denis Feldmeyer

Bygdøy Allé 78

0244 OSLO

Dear Ambassador,

We urge you to withdraw your government’s nomination of Jean Ziegler to the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, the election for which is scheduled today, on March 26, 2008.

If elected, Mr. Ziegler would occupy one of the only three seats allotted to Western countries. The official criteria for the position are expertise in human rights, high moral standing, independence and impartiality. An analysis of Mr. Ziegler’s record raises serious questions as to his satisfaction of these requirements. Concerns include:

  • Mr. Ziegler’s abuse of his current UN Mandate: UN special rapporteur on the right to food for the past seven years, Mr. Ziegler ignored many of the world’s most starving populations, instead focusing attention on his personal political agenda. As documented in the UN Watch report “Blind to Burundi,” during 2000 to 2004, Mr. Ziegler systematically failed to speak out for numerous food emergencies, in Burundi, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone and elsewhere.
  • Mr. Zieger’s support for serial violators of human rights: In 1986, Mr. Ziegler served as advisor to Ethiopian dictator Colonel Mengistu on a constitution instituting one-party rule. In 2002 he praised the Zimbabwean dictator, saying, “Mugabe has history and morality with him.” He paid visits to Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Kim Il-Sung in North Korea. Mr. Ziegler is also a long-time supporter of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, whose regime Mr. Ziegler hailed during an official visit in October, while he refused to meet Cuban dissidents. Also this year, during an interview in Lebanon, Mr. Ziegler said, “I refuse to describe Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. It is a national resistance movement. I can understand Hezbollah when they kidnap soldiers…”
  • Mr. Ziegler’s involvement with Libyan propaganda: In 1989, shortly after Libyan agents blew up Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Mr. Ziegler went to Libya to co-found the “Moammar Khaddafi Human Rights Prize,” and served as its Geneva spokesman. The prize has since been awarded to anti-Western dictators such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. It has also been awarded to notorious racists and anti-Semites such as Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Muhammad. Bizarrely, although he once boasted of it, Mr. Ziegler now denies any involvement with the prize. All of this was documented in a front-page story in your country’s leading newspaper. (M. Haefliger, “Ziegler’s Libyen Connection,” Neue Zurcher Zeitung, June 25, 2006.)
  • Ziegler’s support for Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy: In 1996, Mr. Ziegler publicly defended Roger Garaudy, a French Stalinist whose book, The Founding Myths of Modern Israel, denies the Holocaust. “All your work as a writer and philosopher,” Mr. Ziegler wrote on April 1, 1996, “attests to the rigor of your analysis and the unwavering honesty of your intentions. It makes you one of the leading thinkers of our time.” In 2002, Mr. Garaudy was awarded the Khaddafi Prize—the same year that Mr. Ziegler received it as well.

Many of the world’s leading authorities have objected to Mr. Ziegler’s practices. In 2005, both UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and High Commissioner Louise Arbour publicly denounced Mr. Ziegler for having compared Israeli soldiers to concentration camp guards. He is the only UN expert to have been so reprimanded. Seventy U.S. congressmen wrote to the UN, citing Mr. Ziegler for anti-Semitism, while the Canadian government filed an official protest.

In April 2006, an international coalition of 15 non-governmental organizations, including victims of Cuban and Libyan abuses, protested Mr. Ziegler’s nomination as a UN expert, citing his disturbing record. Similarly, many scholars have questioned Mr. Ziegler’s academic credentials. For example, when he was made professor at the University of Geneva, eminent historian Herbert Luthy returned his honorary doctorate in protest.

We note that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nominated Mr. Ziegler for the same post in 2004, but that he failed to win election.

In order to protect the credibility of the world’s highest intergovernmental human rights body—with which Switzerland is heavily involved—we urge you to withdraw this nomination. At a minimum, it should be suspended pending the results of an independent and impartial inquiry into Mr. Ziegler’s record.

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely
Mr. Morten Høglund

Foreign Affairs Spokesperson/Progress Party Parliamentary Group
Member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs

Human Rights Activists Urge Swiss to Suspend Tomorrow’s UN Nomination of Khaddafi Ally Pending Independent Inquiry

Published by
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- at March 25, 2008 in Cuba, Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Jean Ziegler. 0 Comments

Jean Ziegler Supported Robert Mugabe and Fidel Castro, Co-Founded “Muammar Khaddafi Human Rights Prize”
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Geneva, March 25, 2008 — One day before the UN Human Rights Council votes to elect its 18 expert advisors, an activist for Darfur victims, a former political prisoner from Cuba, the former deputy prime minister of Sweden, and Canada’s leading human rights advocate have joined to urge Swiss President Pascal Couchepin and Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey to suspend their nomination of Jean Ziegler, 1989 co-founder of the “Muammar Khaddadi Human Rights Prize,” pending an independent and impartial inquiry into his record. (See full text of appeal below.)

Under the direction of Mrs. Calmy-Rey, who has close political ties with Ziegler, the Swiss Foreign Ministry has been engaged in an intense campaign of UN vote-trading in order to elect the former socialist politician from Geneva in tomorrow’s vote. A glossy Swiss campaign brochure, sent to capitals around the world, describes Ziegler as a highly qualified champion of human rights.

However, Ziegler’s qualifications for the UN human rights post are challenged by activists Angel De Fana, a former political prisoner who spent 20 years in a Cuban jail, Gibreil Hamid, who heads the Darfur Peace and Development Center and often testifies for Darfur victims before the UN Human Rights Council, former Swediish deputy prime minister Per Ahlmark, and McGill University law professor Irwin Cotler, a Canadian parliamentarian and former justice minister who served as counsel to political prisoners Nelson Mandela and Andrei Sakharov.

Supported by an international coalition of more than 20 non-governmental organizations, the activists point to Ziegler’s long record of support for serial human rights violators including Libya’s Khaddafi, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Zimbabwe‘s Robert Mugabe, and Ethiopian strongman Colonel Mengistu.

In 1962, Fidel Castro’s police threw Angel De Fana in jail for being a member of a pro-democracy group named after José Martí, the Cuban writer and national hero. ”We had to hide to assemble,” said De Fana, who languished in prison from 1962 to 1983, adding that he and fellow prisoners had to endure years of forced labor. “I was forced to cut stone in a quarry.”

However, as UN expert on the right to food, Ziegler recently visited Cuba and hailed the Castro regime as a model government, and refused to meet with dissidents.

In the past five days, the Swiss president and foreign minister have also been flooded with hundreds of email appeals from around the world urging the suspension of the Ziegler nomination.

UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights monitoring organization, published a new video last week together with extensive documentation on Ziegler’s questionable record, and urged NGO activists to take action through a campaign on its website.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Letter to Swiss President Couchepin and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey

Dear President Couchepin and Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey,

We urge you to withdraw your government’s nomination of Jean Ziegler to the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, the election for which is scheduled on March 26, 2008.

If elected, Mr. Ziegler would occupy one of the only three seats allotted to Western countries.  The official criteria for the position are expertise in human rights, high moral standing, independence and impartiality.  An analysis of Mr. Ziegler’s record raises serious questions as to his satisfaction of these requirements.  Concerns include:

• Mr. Ziegler’s abuse of his current UN Mandate: UN special rapporteur on the right to food for the past seven years, Mr. Ziegler ignored many of the world’s most starving populations, instead focusing attention on his personal political agenda.  As documented in the UN Watch report “Blind to Burundi,” during 2000 to 2004, Mr. Ziegler systematically failed to speak out for numerous food emergencies, in Burundi, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone and elsewhere.

• Mr. Zieger’s support for serial violators of human rights: In 1986, Mr. Ziegler served as advisor to Ethiopian dictator Colonel Mengistu on a constitution instituting one-party rule.  In 2002 he praised the Zimbabwean dictator, saying,  “Mugabe has history and morality with him.”  He paid visits to Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Kim Il-Sung in North Korea.  Mr. Ziegler is also a long-time supporter of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, whose regime Mr. Ziegler hailed during an official visit in October, while he refused to meet Cuban dissidents. Also this year, during an interview in Lebanon, Mr. Ziegler said, “I refuse to describe Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. It is a national resistance movement. I can understand Hezbollah when they kidnap soldiers…”

• Mr. Ziegler’s involvement with Libyan propaganda:  In 1989, shortly after Libyan agents blew up Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Mr. Ziegler went to Libya to co-found the “Moammar Khaddafi Human Rights Prize,” and served as its Geneva spokesman.  The prize has since been awarded to anti-Western dictators such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.  It has also been awarded to notorious racists and anti-Semites such as Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Muhammad.  Bizarrely, although he once boasted of it, Mr. Ziegler now denies any involvement with the prize.  All of this was documented in a front-page story in your country’s leading newspaper.  (M. Haefliger, “Ziegler’s Libyen Connection,” Neue Zurcher Zeitung, June 25, 2006.)

• Ziegler’s support for Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy: In 1996, Mr. Ziegler publicly defended Roger Garaudy, a French Stalinist whose book, The Founding Myths of Modern Israel, denies the Holocaust. “All your work as a writer and philosopher,” Mr. Ziegler wrote on April 1, 1996, “attests to the rigor of your analysis and the unwavering honesty of your intentions.  It makes you one of the leading thinkers of our time.”  In 2002, Mr. Garaudy was awarded the Khaddafi Prize—the same year that Mr. Ziegler received it as well.

Many of the world’s leading authorities have objected to Mr. Ziegler’s practices.  In 2005, both UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and High Commissioner Louise Arbour publicly denounced Mr. Ziegler for having compared Israeli soldiers to concentration camp guards.  He is the only UN expert to have been so reprimanded.  Seventy U.S. congressmen wrote to the UN, citing Mr. Ziegler for anti-Semitism, while the Canadian government filed an official protest.

In April 2006, an international coalition of 15 non-governmental organizations, including victims of Cuban and Libyan abuses, protested Mr. Ziegler’s nomination as a UN expert, citing his disturbing record.  Similarly, many scholars have questioned Mr. Ziegler’s academic credentials.  For example, when he was made professor at the University of Geneva, eminent historian Herbert Luthy returned his honorary doctorate in protest.

We note that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nominated Mr. Ziegler for the same post in 2004, but that he failed to win election.

In order to protect the credibility of the world’s highest intergovernmental human rights body—with which Switzerland is heavily involved—we urge you to withdraw this nomination.  At a minimum, it should be suspended pending the results of an independent and impartial inquiry into Mr. Ziegler’s record.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Professor Irwin Cotler, M.P.
Human Rights Advocate
Member of Canadian Parliament & Opposition Critic on Human Rights
Former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General
Canada

Gibreil Hamid
Darfur Survivor
President, Darfur Peace and Development Center
Switzerland

Per Ahlmark
Former Peputy Prime Minister of Sweden
Sweden

Angel De Fana
Ex-political prisoner
Director of political prisoners’ organization
Plantados Hasta la Libertad y la Democracia
USA
 

Non-Governmental Organizations Supporting the Joint Appeal: 

Dr Charles Mwape, Hope for Africa International, Regional Director for Africa
Roy W. Brown, Main Representative, UN Geneva, International Humanist and Ethical Union
Sally Thompson, Deputy Executive Director, Thailand Burma Border Consortium, Thailand
Dr. Harris O. Schoenberg, President, United Nations Reform Advocates
Sylvia G. Iriondo, President, Mothers & Women Against Repression (M.A.R. Por Cuba)
Alessandro Pettenuzzo, President, European Union of Public Relations
Einat Erlanger, Help Others Help Themselves, Switzerland
Janisset Rivero, Cuban Democratic Directorate
Wendy Wright, President, Concerned Women for America
Wayne L. Kines, President, World Media Institute, Canada
Naghma Imdad, Director, Acid Survivors’ Foundation, Pakistan
Babette Francis, Endeavour Forum, Australia
Rama Enav, Representative to the UN in Geneva, WIZO
Rhoda Gueta, Secretariat, Resistance and Solidarity against Agrochem TNCs, Philippines
Janisset Rivero, Directorio Democratico Cubano
Professor Cesar Tolosa, Spokesperson, Tanggol Magsasaka (Peasant Network for Land, Justice and Human Rights), Philippines
Danilo Ramos, Secretary General, Asian Peasant Coalition
Anna Maria Cervone, Centrist Democrat International
Wiko lamain, Former Child Laborer, Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts
Nirvana González Rosa, Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network, Puerto Rico

Senior U.S. and European Lawmakers Protest Jean Ziegler UN Nomination

Published by
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- at March 25, 2008 in Jean Ziegler. 0 Comments

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Head of the Delegation for the Relations with the UN in the European Parliament, sent the following protest to the Swiss ambassador to the EU today.  Click here for original letter in PDF.

Sehr geehrter Botschafter,

Mit Bedauern erfuhr ich heute, dass die Schweiz Jean Ziegler als Menschenrechtsexperten für den Menschenrechtsrat der Vereinten Nationen nominiert hat.

Jean Ziegler hat durch seine Unterstützung von Diktatoren wie Mengistu Haile Mariam, Robert Mugabe, Fidel Castro und Moammar Khaddafi unrühmliche Bekanntheit erreicht und ist Mitbegründer des “Moammar Khaddafi Friedenspreises”. Dieser Preis wurde unter Anderem Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez und dem Anführer der Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan verliehen. Jean Ziegler hat sich persönlich für den französischen Stalinisten Roger Garaudy stark gemacht, der in seinem Buch ” Myths of Modern Israel”, in dem der Holocaust geleugnet wird, und hat auch sonst die Vereinten Nationen stets als Plattform zur Förderung seiner unlauteren Ziele instrumentalisiert.

All dies wurde beispielsweise ausführlich in der NZZ vom 25. Juni 2006 dokumentiert (“Zieglers Libyen-Connection”).

Jean Ziegler erfüllt daher in keiner Weise die von Ihm verlangten Kriterien in den Bereichen Menschenrechte, Unabhängigkeit und Objektivität, so dass ich innständig hoffe, dass Ihre Regierung seine Nominierung für den Menschrechtsrat zurückziehen wird.

Hochachtungsvoll,
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, MdEP 

* * * * * 

Also, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, sent the following protest. 

Ros-Lehtinen Urges Swiss Government to Withdraw Support for Jean Ziegler, Anti-Semitic Apologist for Dictators, as UN Human Rights Advisor
(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) today expressed “great concern” over the possible election of Swiss national Jean Ziegler as an advisor to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

In a letter to Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the Swiss Government to rescind its support of Ziegler, whose anti-Semitic statements and links to vicious human rights violators make him an unsuitable candidate to advise the Council. Unless support is withdrawn from Switzerland, Mr. Ziegler is expected to be elected tomorrow.

Mr. Ziegler has drawn criticism for his unyielding support of many of the world’s most vicious dictators. He has expressed “total support for the Cuban revolution” and its leader, Fidel Castro, whose repressive regime has left hundreds of political dissidents to languish in jail. Ziegler has also observed that Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean dictator who bulldozes the houses of his political opponents, has “history and morality with him.”
Mr. Ziegler’s record at the UN has also earned him notoriety. As Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, he failed to address famine emergencies throughout the world, instead using his platform to consistently attack America and Israel. In July 2005, he characterized the Gaza Strip as an “immense concentration camp,” comparing Israelis to Nazis. Then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the remark.

“Mr Ziegler’s troubling record at the United Nations demonstrates that he in no way meets the standards of impartiality or moral rectitude to hold such a post,” Ros-Lehtinen stated.

In her letter, Ros-Lehtinen underscored: “Time is of the essence, not only in blocking Mr. Ziegler’s ascension, but also in restoring credibility to the United Nation’s human rights infrastructure. The implications of allowing someone of Mr. Ziegler’s character to assume a leading role at the Human Rights Council are dire. I urge you to withdraw support of Mr. Ziegler immediately and unconditionally.”

Urge Swiss to Withdraw Nomination of Qaddafi Ally to UN Rights Post

Published by
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- at March 21, 2008 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Jean Ziegler. 0 Comments

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW: URGE SWISS TO CANCEL JEAN ZIEGLER NOMINATION

PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE?
JEAN ZIEGLER AND THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

* * * 

Documents and Sources

* * * * *  

 Click Here to Send Urgent Letter to Swiss President Pascal
Couchepin and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey

 

Dear President Couchepin and Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey,

We urge you to withdraw your government’s nomination of Jean Ziegler to the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, the election for which is scheduled on March 26, 2008.

If elected, Mr. Ziegler would occupy one of the only three seats allotted to Western countries.  The official criteria for the position are expertise in human rights, high moral standing, independence and impartiality.  An analysis of Mr. Ziegler’s record raises serious questions as to his satisfaction of these requirements.  Concerns include:

• Mr. Ziegler’s abuse of his current UN Mandate: UN special rapporteur on the right to food for the past seven years, Mr. Ziegler ignored many of the world’s most starving populations, instead focusing attention on his personal political agenda.  As documented in the UN Watch report “Blind to Burundi,” during 2000 to 2004, Mr. Ziegler systematically failed to speak out for numerous food emergencies, in Burundi, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone and elsewhere.

• Mr. Zieger’s support for serial violators of human rights: In 1986, Mr. Ziegler served as advisor to Ethiopian dictator Colonel Mengistu on a constitution instituting one-party rule.  In 2002 he praised the Zimbabwean dictator, saying,  “Mugabe has history and morality with him.”  He paid visits to Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Kim Il-Sung in North Korea.  Mr. Ziegler is also a long-time supporter of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, whose regime Mr. Ziegler hailed during an official visit in October, while he refused to meet Cuban dissidents. Also this year, during an interview in Lebanon, Mr. Ziegler said, “I refuse to describe Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. It is a national resistance movement. I can understand Hezbollah when they kidnap soldiers…”

• Mr. Ziegler’s involvement with Libyan propaganda:  In 1989, shortly after Libyan agents blew up Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Mr. Ziegler went to Libya to co-found the “Moammar Khaddafi Human Rights Prize,” and served as its Geneva spokesman.  The prize has since been awarded to anti-Western dictators such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.  It has also been awarded to notorious racists and anti-Semites such as Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Muhammad.  Bizarrely, although he once boasted of it, Mr. Ziegler now denies any involvement with the prize.  All of this was documented in a front-page story in your country’s leading newspaper.  (M. Haefliger, “Ziegler’s Libyen Connection,” Neue Zurcher Zeitung, June 25, 2006.)

• Ziegler’s support for Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy: In 1996, Mr. Ziegler publicly defended Roger Garaudy, a French Stalinist whose book, The Founding Myths of Modern Israel, denies the Holocaust. “All your work as a writer and philosopher,” Mr. Ziegler wrote on April 1, 1996, “attests to the rigor of your analysis and the unwavering honesty of your intentions.  It makes you one of the leading thinkers of our time.”  In 2002, Mr. Garaudy was awarded the Khaddafi Prize—the same year that Mr. Ziegler received it as well.

Many of the world’s leading authorities have objected to Mr. Ziegler’s practices.  In 2005, both UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and High Commissioner Louise Arbour publicly denounced Mr. Ziegler for having compared Israeli soldiers to concentration camp guards.  He is the only UN expert to have been so reprimanded.  Seventy U.S. congressmen wrote to the UN, citing Mr. Ziegler for anti-Semitism, while the Canadian government filed an official protest.

In April 2006, an international coalition of 15 non-governmental organizations, including victims of Cuban and Libyan abuses, protested Mr. Ziegler’s nomination as a UN expert, citing his disturbing record.  Similarly, many scholars have questioned Mr. Ziegler’s academic credentials.  For example, when he was made professor at the University of Geneva, eminent historian Herbert Luthy returned his honorary doctorate in protest.

We note that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nominated Mr. Ziegler for the same post in 2004, but that he failed to win election.

In order to protect the credibility of the world’s highest intergovernmental human rights body—with which Switzerland is heavily involved—we urge you to withdraw this nomination.  At a minimum, it should be suspended pending the results of an independent and impartial inquiry into Mr. Ziegler’s record.

Thank you.

 Click Here to Send This Urgent Letter and Protect the Principles of Human Rights

UN Watch makes Sudan answer to world body over Darfur atrocities

Published by
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- at March 16, 2008 in Darfur and Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

President Bashir’s “Headache”

UN Human Rights Council, 7th Session
Agenda Item 3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic social and cultural rights, including the right to development

UN Watch Statement Delivered by Hillel Neuer, March 13, 2008

Thank you, Mr. President.

The nations represented here gather at a momentous time — the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In what manner can we pay tribute?

We can pay tribute by protecting the most fundamental of all human rights — the right to life.

Mr. President, nowhere is this right being violated more than in Darfur — as well as every other right guaranteed in the Declaration — and by no one more than the government of Sudan.

In Senegal there is now a critical summit underway to address Darfur. But yesterday U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African, U.S. and European diplomats were kept waiting for hours with no sign of Sudan’s President Bashir. In a phone call to the president of Senegal, President Bashir said he “had a headache.”

Mr. President, who will tell the victims of Darfur that their suffering will be prolonged because the president said he “had a headache”?

As many as 400,000 people have been killed in Darfur. Another two and a half million have been driven from their homes and into danger. The threat of rape, torture, murder and malnutrition pursue the women and children of Darfur wherever they flee. World leaders must unite now to end the atrocities and establish a lasting peace in Darfur.

We urge this Council to take action:

To make ending the massive crimes in Darfur one of its top priorities;

To push for the fastest and fullest deployment of the peacekeeping force authorized by the U.N. Security Council in July;

To pressure contributing nations to fully and immediately meet their pledges of troops, funding, equipment, and logistical support;

To ensure the Sudanese government’s full participation in a just and inclusive peace process, and to overcome any attempts to obstruct or delay the protection of civilians or the peace process;

To increase humanitarian aid and ensure access for its safe delivery.

Mr. President, this Council must send a powerful message to Sudan that the killings, the burnings, the rape of its own citizens — all of this must end.

We ask Sudan: For how long will “headaches” and other excuses continue to afflict the lives of the men, women, and children of Darfur?

Mr. President, we need action.

If not from the highest forum of human rights, then from who?

If not now, when?

Thank you, Mr. President.

Sudan Responds: UN Watch “lives in a world of media
exaggeration on the subject of Darfur”

Statement by Sudanese Ambassador
Omer Dahab Fadol Mohamed

Thank you Mr. President.

I’d like to comment on the statement of United Nations Watch. I think the representative of this organization is continuing to live in a world of media exaggeration on the subject of Darfur, where the sufferings of people are exploited for an agenda which has nothing to do with Darfur.

The government knows that the armed rebellion is the primary party responsible for suffering in Darfur. The rebels have caused many people to leave their villages. The government of Sudan has done a lot of humanitarian work in order to reduce the sufferings of persons, and has allowed all necessary facilities. The government at the same time realizes that it is only a political solution which will put an end to all these sufferings.

Accordingly, the government has been working very hard to deal with the rebels. It signed the Abuja agreement with some of them. But certain others refuse because they were given support by countries giving shelter to them. These countries seem to be nevertheless expressing sympathy for people in Darfur.

The government, however, has continued to work for a solution that will restore peace and stability in that region, and calls upon the international community to assume its obligations against those who refuse solutions, and notes that countries give media coverage to this situation while refusing to sit down to work on a peaceful agreement to this situation.

Thank you.

Sarkozy on Durban II: “France will argue for Europe to pull out” if 2001 abuses recur

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On March 10, 2008, speaking at a state dinner in Paris for visiting Israeli President Shimon Peres, French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke of the UN’s upcoming Durban II racism conference:

A close eye will also have to be kept on the Durban human rights conference.  No one here, President Peres, has forgotten the excesses of 2001, which transformed that conference into an intolerable platform against the State of Israel.  I won’t accept any repetition of this in 2009. France, which will hold the European Union presidency in the second half of 2008, will argue for Europe to pull out if its legitimate demands aren’t respected.

Egypt tells UN: Arabs, but not Gypsies, deserve mentions as victims of racism

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- at March 14, 2008 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Racism and Roma/Gypsies. 0 Comments

Reporting by Leon Saltiel.

At the UN Human Rights Council today, Egypt as chair of the African group led informal consultations on its draft resolution on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance sponsored by the African Group. Click here for text of resolution.

Parts of the resolution as well as certain Egyptian statements on who qualified as victims of racism were received with concern by the representatives of Western democracies. One paragraph that provoked a great deal of debate was OP2a, instructing the Special Rapporteur on racism to focus on:

Incidents of contemporary forms of racism and racial discrimination against Blacks and people of African descent, Arabs, Asians and people of Asian descent, migrants, refugees, asylum seeks and indigenous peoples

Belgium on behalf of the European Union, Switzerland, Canada, USA, India, and even Russia asked for more generic language, so as not to exclude any particular group nor give greater prominence to any particular victims of racism.

Belgium proposed language to the effect that the Special Rapporteur should focus on all victims of racism, as detailed in the Durban Declaration and Program of Action. The Korean representative made the point that many nations in Europe can be considered of “Asian descent,” such as the Finns, Hungarians, Turks and so forth.

Egypt, in trying to defend the phrase’s logic, argued that it was drawn from the 1993 resolution of establishing the mandate, and that any change of the wording would mean that the above listed groups are no longer victims of racism, which, it said, is not the case.

To the contrary, the Egyptian diplomat continued, their situation has worsened. His position was supported by the representative of Nigeria who argued that one cannot combat racism without mentioning the specific categories of people against whom it is directed.

Portugal was unsatisfied with the response and gave the example of the Roma/Sinti/travelers who would not be covered by this paragraph. (Of course, no one dared to mention the paragraph’s section on Jews.)

Without hesitation, the Egyptian diplomat, generally considered articulate and knowledgeable, responded that he does not believe that the Roma/Sinti face the same level of discrimination as other groups mentioned in the paragraph. His response visibly shocked many of the people in the room, leaving them speechless.

The incident raises several questions:

  • In a meeting of diplomats intended to combat racism, should well-known victims of racism like the Roma (Gypsies) be so summarily dismissed?
  • Who, if anyone, should judge which group or individual is a greater victim of racism?
  • Apart from gasps and nervous chuckles, why did none of the diplomats respond to Egypt’s offensive statement? Is it because they were taken aback by their colleague’s candor? Or was it because this is just another of the many absurdities and offenses one witnesses every day at the UN Human Rights Council, with the effect that the sense of outrage — and will to defend basic principle — has been long lost?

Just another day at the UNHRC…

Russia says Burma situation is “far from being dramatic”

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- at March 14, 2008 in Burma (Myanmar), Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and North Korea (DPRK). 0 Comments

The UN Human Rights Council today debated Burma and North Korea, hearing reports from P. Pinheiro, Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights situation in Myanmar and V. Muntarbhorn, Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Myanmar’s “lack of cooperation”

The Special Rapporteur on Myanamar highlighted the deterioration of the human rights situation there and deplored an increased militarization. He further regretted “the lack of cooperation from the Burmese government,” which has denied him entry.

Pinheiro said freedom of association and expression was severely curtailed in Myanamar, with ongoing arrests of monks and others. The UN expert called on the Council to hold Myanmar accountable for its actions.

Myanmar, however, said it has made “significant progress towards political liberalization.” Its representative criticized the Special Rapporteur’s report for “lack[ing] objectivity and impartiality.”  He said “there are no political prisoners in Myanmar… we are trying to transform Myanmar into a democratic country.”

China and Pakistan on behalf of the Islamic bloc welcomed “positive steps” taken by Myanmar, such as cooperation with the UN and the holding of a referendum in May.

The US, Canada and the EU, however, expressed deep concerns about the legitimacy of the upcoming referendum. The US recalled that “the referendum excludes opposition forces and/or minority groups.”   Western countries also deeply regretted Myanmar’s refusal to accept a follow-up visit by the UN expert.

Russia condemned the critical tone of the Special Rapporteur’s report that “[did] not focus on the positive steps.”  According to Russia, the situation in Myanmar is “far from being dramatic.” The Russian representative recommended the Council’s members and observers to be “polite” by using Burma’s official name, “Myanmar.”

Special rapporteur Pinheiro concluded by expressing strong doubts about the democratic nature of the upcoming referendum, to take place only months after massive government repression.

“Visible, substantial and exponential violations of human rights” in North Korea

The Special Rapporteur on North Korea concluded that overall demilitarization was unsuccessful and that civil and political rights were severely curtailed. The UN expert urged the international community to address impunity in the country.

“Human rights violations are visible, substantial and exponential,” said Muntarbhorn. There were massive violations of civil and political rights, collective punishment, torture and guilt by association including on women, public executions, non-respect of the rights of the child and the elderly, and considerable violence.

North Korea’s representative then took the floor to call for immediate termination of the expert’s mandate. “The report of the Special Rapporteur represents Western forces seeking to overthrow the social system,” he said.  “The report has no relevance with human rights.”

Cuba said the mandate was “part of the Axis of Evil reference of the Bush administration” and urged the council to end it. 

Syria called for ending all country mandates, including the one for North Korea. “This naming and shaming does not help to promote human rights.” (This has not prevented Syria from introducing or supporting several name-and-shame resolutions against Israel during this session.)

The U.S. said North Korea and Myanmar remain among the “world’s worst” regimes, and urged the Council to renew the mandate to improve the lives of North Koreans.

Similarly, Japan, which is co-sponsoring the resolution on the situation in North Korea together with the EU, asked Pyongyang to address the underlying causes for the exodus of its people. The Council will vote on whether to renew the at the end of the month.

To read the official UN meeting summary, click here.

To watch the live webcast of the Council, click here.

Zimbabwe accused European Union of “racism, double standards and selectivity”

Published by
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- at March 13, 2008 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Zimbabwe. 0 Comments

The UN Human Rights Council today concluded its debate with its experts on Adequate Housing and on Minorities, and opened general debate on agenda item 3, entitled “Promotion and Protection of all Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the Right to Development.”

Slovenia on behalf of the EU expressed deep concerns over Zimbabwe, regarding the situation of human rights defenders, torture and violations of freedom of expression.

Zimbabwe’s representative said the EU’s statement was characterized by “racism, double standards and selectivity.” She added that “human rights defenders [were] not superhuman” and that they should respect the law.

EU member States were trying to “violate the sovereignty of the people of Zimbabwe in trying to impose a puppet government that would carry out their neo-colonialist interests.”

“Whenever the EU speaks, it is not so difficult to see the ugly face of Britain, the former colonial master,” she said.

The Zimbabwean representative concluded her statement by calling upon the Council to condemn EU states for violations of freedom of expression and for its non-respect of Zimbabwe’s right to self determination.

EU Defends Gay Rights
During the general debate, the EU strongly deplored instances of discrimination against Lesbian, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals (LGBT) in Russia, Kuwait, Sudan and Iran and condemned the renewal of violence in West Darfur.

Pakistan on behalf of the Islamic bloc addressed the issue of self-determination in cases of occupation, citing the cases of Kashmir and Palestine.

Malaysia deplored the fact that “Islam is consistently subject to defamation,” and called for exceptions to freedom of expression.

UN Watch testified before the Council against the grave violations of the right to life that are committed in Darfur on a daily basis. Exercising a right of reply, Sudan said that UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer “is continuing to live in a world of media exaggeration on the subject of Darfur where the sufferings of people are exploited for an agenda that has nothing to do with Darfur.”

To read the official UN meeting summary, click here.

To watch the live webcast of the session, click here.

Syria at UN claims to be human rights plaintiff, not defendant

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- at March 11, 2008 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Middle East and Syria. 0 Comments

The Syrians convened an informal meeting at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to showcase their latest draft resolution, on “the Human Rights Situation in the Syrian Occupied Golan.”

The text is similar to previous one-sided resolutions, such as A/HRC/2/3, adopted on November 27, 2006. 

Notable elements of what will be the UNHRC’s 17th condemnation of Israel:

  • It ignores Syrian rejectionism and sponsorship of terrorism.
  • It treats the events of 1967 without mentioning Syria’s systematic shelling of Israeli communities from positions on Golan Heights, its leader’s calls for a “war of annihilation” against Israel, and Syria’s 1967 aggression that led to its loss of the territory.
  • It neglects to mention Israel’s repeated offers to trade 99 percent of the Golan for peace, Syria’s sponsorship of the enemies of the peace process, and its support for terrorism.
  • It is redundant to 2 resolutions already adopted this year by the General Assembly, A/Res/62/110 and 62/85. This only demonstrates the utter irrationality and absurdity of devoting precious UN time and resources to meaningless anti-Israel exercises.
  • It makes no mention of massive Syrian human rights violations. That the HRC should pass a resolution concerning Syria without mentioning Syria’s own abysmal record is absurd.

During the meeting, the Syrian chairman said he hoped to see the resolution adopted by consensus. Algeria, Morocco, Palestine on behalf of the Arab Group, and Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference welcomed the resolution, criticizing Israel for “unacceptable practices” and human rights violations.

Western states at the consultation — Canada, Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark, UK among others — were silent.

Cuba calls for UN examination of American “missions of death against the Cuban People”

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- at March 10, 2008 in Cuba and Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

The 7th session of the Human Rights Council opened its second week with an address by Timor Leste Minister of Justice Lucia Labato. She condemned Mideast violence on both sides, while recognizing Israel’s right to self-defense.

The council also debated the reports of the UN experts on migrants’ rights, toxic waste, sale of children, torture, arbitrary detention, mercenaries and disappearances.

In a jab at the U.S., Cuba insisted on the need to fight “private military and security companies which are increasingly being used to shore up regimes based on foreign occupation and imperial conquest.”

It called on a UN panel to study “the activities of terrorist groups which are operating in impunity on the territory of the US and who have resorted to recruiting mercenaries to carry out their missions of death against the Cuban People.”

Special rapporteur on arbitrary detention Leila Zerrougui expressed concerns over transfer of individuals in the war on terror. She said the working group on arbitrary detention will soon visit the United States.

Cuba criticized the U.S. “arbitrary [judiciary] regime” and mentioned in this respect “five political prisoners who have been kept unjustly in U.S. prisons because they tried to protect Cuban people from the terrorist actions organized by the anti Cuban mafia of Miami with the complaisance of the US government.”

Pakistan on behalf of the Islamic group, in an apparent reference to the U.S., expressed concerns on the link between detention conditions in some countries and the fight against terrorism.

To read the official UN summary of today’s debates, click here. 

For the video webcast, click here.  

UN Human Rights Council awards propaganda victory to Hamas, adopts 16th censure of Israel

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- at March 6, 2008 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Middle East. 0 Comments

The UN Human Rights Council today adopted its 16th one-sided censure of Israel since the supposedly reformed body was founded in June 2006. Apart from passing mention of Burma, the Islamic-dominated council of 47 governments has criticized no other country.

The Arab-sponsored censure came under the council’s only agenda item dedicated to a specific country. In order to rap Israel quickly, the entire timetable of the March session was rearranged, wreaking havoc on the ability of UN experts and NGO activists to participate when their areas of focus will now be debated.

Palestinian representative Mohammad Abu-Koash opened the Council meeting by accusing Israel of “state massacres” in response to what Mr. Abu-Koash referred to as “so-called Palestinian rockets.”

Syria said that “children and babies were being gunned down in pure barbarity” by Israeli authorities. Malaysia called Israeli occupation the “worst form of colonialism and apartheid,” while Sudan said that there is a “holocaust being perpetrated in Gaza by Israel.” The term “holocaust” to describe recent events in Gaza was used repeatedly during the debate.

Algeria asked, “Will this council remain silent and inert before a new holocaust (in Gaza)?” The United Arab Emigrates called on the international community to condemn the current “genocide” against the Palestinians, while Kuwait accused Israel of a “scorched earth policy” in Gaza. A representative from the African Union said the Palestinians have the “right to resist apartheid.”

Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon said Israel had the right to self defense in the face of daily Hamas rocket attacks. “I cannot compete with the exaggerations, distortion and inaccuracies I have witnessed in today’s masquerade.”

The final resolution was adopted by 33 votes in favor, with Canada casting the sole opposing vote, and 13 abstentions. Switzerland was the sole European country to endorse the resolution, which was introduced by the Arab and Islamic blocs. Switzerland also actively lobbied other countries to support the condmenation of Israel by suggesting minor changes.

Malloch-Brown speaks out on abuse in Iran, Zimbabwe

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- at March 5, 2008 in Cuba, High Commissioner of Human Rights, Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Iran. 0 Comments

In an address to the UN Human Rights Council, British Foreign Secretary Mark Malloch-Brown strongly spoke of Iran’s “horrendous” human rights violations towards women and minors, and Zimbabwe’s “actions against its people.”

Sweden criticized Cuba‘s record.

In response to the U.K., the Iranian representative said his country was free to choose its own judicial system. Cuba responded to Sweden by accusing the Scandinavian country of undemocratic practices. “There is not a single model of democracy,” said the Cuban envoy.

Zimbabwe criticized the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, saying it faced unyielding “pressure” by “dubious non-governmental organizations.” Zimbabwe also accused the British government of “well-funded demonization” of Zimbabwe.

Iran attacks “Zionist regime,” embraces UN’s Durban II racism conference

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- at March 4, 2008 in "Defamation of Religion", Belarus, Durban 2009, Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Iran. 0 Comments

Appearing before the UN Human Rights Council today, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki lashed out at Israel, declared unwavering support for the UN’s plans for a “Durban II” anti-racism conference, and attacked the European Union’s stance on freedom of expression.

“I would like to request one minute silence and ask my Muslim brothers and sisters to read the Fatah (from the Koran) for those martyrs in Gaza,” said Mr. Mottaki. After 30 seconds of silence, the Foreign Minister accused Israel of “brutal occupation” and acting in a “horrendous and repressive” manner.

Mr. Mottaki pledged that Iran would play an “active and constructive role” in planning the 2009 follow-up conference to the original Durban conference against racism, a 2001 UN gathering that saw the largest display of anti-Semitism since the end of World War II.

The comments by Iran, which in 2001 hosted a round in Tehran that set the stage for Durban with virulent attacks on Israel and downplaying of the Holocaust, underscore fears that the 2009 conference will repeat the 2001 fiasco.

Foreign Minister Mottaki also called on the world to “prevent the infringement” of “Islamic rights,” specifically asking the European Union to take “appropriate measures” to prevent “any offense” to Islam.

Other highlights from today:

  • Belgium noted its “concern” about the direction of the 2009 Durban II conference.
  • Uzbekistan, Iran, Algeria, and Zimbabwe attacked The Netherlands for comments made by the Dutch Foreign Minister that were highly critical of those countries’ records on human rights.
  • Albania accused Serbia of policies of “genocide and apartheid” in Kosovo.
  • The Foreign Minister of Belarus praised the Council’s decision last year to abolish independent experts who investigated human rights abuses in his country, as well as in Cuba.

UN chief says Human Rights Council falling short

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- at March 3, 2008 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

In his first address to the UN Human Rights Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today questioned whether the world’s highest human rights body was “fully meeting the high expectations” of the international community, in particular the Council’s promotion of “the universal application of human rights values…without favor, without selectivity, without being impacted by any political machinations around the world.”

To see the Secretary-General’s full remarks, click here.

Foreign ministers and other high officials attended the opening of the main annual session, which runs all month. Many of the speeches outlined national human rights policy.

The highlights:

  • Jorge Sampaio, the UN Representative of the Alliance of Civilization, stated that “the universality of human rights is under siege.”
  • Cuba‘s foreign minister blasted the United States, accusing the US embargo as the “longest and most cruel in history.” Cuba also lauded its recent election as an example of democratic values.
  • Serbia‘s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vuk Jeremic, condemned Kosovo’s declaration of independence as an endorsement of the “gross and systematic” violations of human rights of Kosovar Serbs.
  • Mohamed Ali Al-Mardi, the Sudanese minister of Justice, highlighted his country’s “full cooperation” with all organs of the UN human rights machinery. After vigorously defending the government’s actions in Darfur, Mr. Al-Mardi accused Israeli forces of killing Palestinian women and children “in cold blood.”
  • France‘s State Secretary on foreign affairs and human rights, Rama Yade, pledge that France sought to achieve greater women’s rights, as well as additional scrutiny for Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Myanmar.