Archive for August, 2008

French Rights Minister Backs Activist Silenced by UN for Mentioning Sharia

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- at August 31, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Rama Yade 

Speaking before a United Nations audience, French secretary of state for human rights Rama Yade voiced the strongest international backing yet for Geneva activist David Littman, who was silenced by the Human Rights Council this past June for daring to mention the role of Islamic Sharia law in certain violations of women’s rights. Showing more courage and candor than any other European official, Yade said that

…[H]uman rights is all about being very alert. There may be attempts to deny their universal nature but there is also European action to be taken within the French presidency. Certain governments would like certain forms of slander to be acknowledged as criminal law offences which run counter to the principle of universality upon which human rights are predicated.

And along the same line, it is very saddening that within the UN Human Rights Council, last June, a speaker of an NGO was censored because he was talking about the stoning of women in countries applying Sharia law. We have to be very determined as to maintaining the universal nature of human rights even if they are mistreated by States who defend a view of things that they themselves describe as cultural.

The Senegalese-born Yade addressed the opening of the UN’s annual conference of non-governmental organizations, held for the first time in Paris to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing there of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer headed the conference’s NGO expert panel on the UN Human Rights Council.

According to Yade, France took a strong stand rejecting relativism, and would call for a European Union drive to tackle violence against women worldwide. As current holder of the six-month EU presidency, France hopes to use Europe’s diplomats to “set the criteria for EU intervention” in combating violence towards women, said Yade.

Yade also told the conference that Paris plans to submit a draft declaration to the UN General Assembly in December aimed at combating homophobia and decriminalizing homosexuality, which is punishable by prison in 90 countries and by death in six of them.  The Paris conference gathered 1,700 NGOs associated with the United Nations for three days of debate.

More excerpts from Rama Yade’s speech:

…For instance on women, I believe that a Congolese woman from Goma must have the same rights, is entitled the same rights as a Parisian. This is what universality is all about. Do not accept relativism and this is why I decided for the French presidency of the European Union to introduce and defend a subjective gender equality, in particular regarding violence against women.

You know, no doubt, that the European Union already has guidelines on five subjects: death penalty, torture, dialogue with third countries, children in armed conflicts and human rights defenders. When we gather together all the instruments of the European Union, this can serve as a framework to protect human rights beyond European bodies and my objective is to add to this range guidelines on violence against women. It will set the criteria for UE intervention in women rights and will also be applied and trigger measures in the European diplomatic network. The preliminary work is on the way and we are about to submit the draft text to the European parliamentarians in the days coming. The idea is to push this through between now and December, in other words, before the French presidency draws to an end.

The second project I would like to commit to during the presidency – you have to prioritize – is that of homophobia so that certain governments renounce penalizing homosexuals and homosexuality. There are 90 countries worldwide who penalize homosexuality and six who actually apply the death penalty to homosexuals.

My preferred method is to prioritize collaboration with NGOs, not just in drafting the texts but also in identifying the most effective strategy. A draft declaration will be presented in December at the UN Assembly and I trust that we will be able to rely on help from a large number of governments in addressing this subject which remains taboo in many countries.

  • Watch video
  • Full text of Rame Yade’s speech in original French

    • Holocaust Survivor Simone Veil Urges Against Second Durban Debacle

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    - at August 31, 2008     in Durban 2009. 1 Comment

    Simone Veil 

    Speaking before a United Nations audience, Simone Veil, Holocaust survivor and former president of the European Parliament, urged the international community to prevent a recurrence of the 2001 Durban debacle, where a world conference on racism became a hatefest for demonstrators attacking Israel and distributing leaflets praising Hitler.

    In Geneva, we are now starting to look forward to the conference which will follow that of Durban in 2001. May I make an appeal? I would not like there to be the same form of overspill, the same events which occurred in the sidelines of Durban. I know that the international community would condemn that if it were to recur.

    Veil’s comments were part of her keynote address to the UN’s annual conference of non-governmental organizations, held for the first time in Paris to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing there of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

    The declaration had been a reaction against the crimes of the World War II, said Veil. Still, many countries today committed such crimes, and flouted the most basic rights of their citizens. Non-governmental organizations had a vital role to play in defending human rights, even as many countries imposed restrictions on their work, said Veil.

    Oxford Analytica Cites UN Watch Report on UN Rights Commissioner

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    - at August 29, 2008     in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

    Oxford Analytica’s The World Next Week cites the UN Watch report on High Commissioner Louise Arbour. See Human Rights at the UN.

    African Meeting in Nigeria Threatens to Derail World Conference on Racism

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    - at August 26, 2008     in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

    Abuja, Nigeria, August 26, 2008  — Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch expressed alarm over several provisions in a draft declaration set to be adopted today by an African regional meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, in preparation for the UN world conference on racism to be held in Geneva in April.

    “The draft declaration (click here for text) fails to address racial and ethnic crimes committed by Sudan, tramples international human rights guarantees on free speech, places Islam above all other religions, and targets Israel alone, implying that it is uniquely racist,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer. “Regrettably, Durban II is looking more and more like the original Durban debacle of 2001.”  Click here to see final Abuja text

    The stated objectives of the African regional conference, which opened Sunday and closes today, are to review regional implementation of the 2001 Durban declaration, and to map the way forward in preparation for the UN’s Durban Review Conference on racism set for Geneva in April. But the draft declaration fails to review any African country’s actions, and its inflammatory provisions threaten to derail the conference, said Neuer

    Canada is boycotting the April conference, saying that that Durban II was sizing up to be as anti-Semitic as the 2001 original event. French President Sarkozy and cabinet ministers from Britain and the Netherlands have warned that a breach of red lines could also trigger their boycott of the 2009 meeting in Geneva.
    1. Draft Declaration Fails to Review African Performance on Racism

    “By failing to review the performance of African countries on racism and related intolerance, the conference is ignoring its primary mission, and squandering a golden opportunity to help Africa’s many victims of racism and xenophobia,” said Neuer. “This message of impunity for African states places all Africans at risk.”

    “Apart from UN Watch’s plenary speech on Sunday, neither the conference nor the draft declaration have addressed the Sudanese government’s racist crimes against humanity in Darfur, including the ethnic killings of at least 200,000 black Africans, mass rape, and the displacement of over 1 million men, women and children,” said Neuer.  When UN Watch representative Leon Saltiel addressed the Darfur atrocities in his speech to the Abuja conference on Sunday, Sudan immediately interrupted with an objection, and chairman Martin Uhomoibhi of Nigeria ruled that country situations could not be mentioned.

    “Moreover, the text fails to review the xenophobic attacks that recently broke out in South Africa—the leading organizer of the Abuja meeting and the overall Durban process—where foreigners, notably from Zimbabwe and Mozambique, were targeted in May during a wave of anti-immigrant attacks in which at least 62 were killed and tens of thousands were displaced,” said Neuer. “Nor does the text review the ethnic crimes in Kenya this year that killed 1,000 people, displaced another 600,000 and burnt down 40,000 buildings, in an outburst of tribal bloodletting. Millions of African victims of xenophobia — present and future — are ill-served by the conference’s grant of impunity for racial or ethnic crimes committed in African countries.”
    2. Draft Declaration Attacks Free Speech, Seeks to Import Islamic Anti-Blasphemy Prohibitions into International Human Rights Law

    The draft (paragraph 13) calls upon states to avoid “inflexibly clinging to free speech in defiance of the sensitivities existing in a society and with absolute disregard for religious feelings.” Other provisions in the text speak of “incitement to religious hatred.” According to Neuer, “these mirror efforts by Islamic states at the UN Human Rights Council to insinuate Islamic anti-blasphemy prohibitions into international law. Yet the UN expert on religious freedom Asma Jahangir and other international human rights experts have expressly opposed ‘defamation of religion’ resolutions, which seek to alter international human rights law by defining religions—instead of individuals—as the bearers of rights.”

    “The draft declaration’s attack on free speech contravenes the Article 19 guarantee of freedom of expression of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose 60th anniversary the UN will be celebrating next week in Paris. The language goes far beyond the recognized norms for balancing prohibitions of racial hatred with respect for free speech, which is the lifeblood of democracy. If the right to express one’s beliefs — to question the dogmas of the day in society, law, politics, art, science, and, yes, religion — is to be restricted by the ‘feelings’ and ‘sensitivities’ of others, this will mark the end of free speech as we know it,” said Neuer.

    3. Draft Declaration Imposes Hierarchy of Religions

    The draft’s special emphasis on Islamophobia (paragraph 20) “seeks to impose a hierarchy of religions, placing adherents of Islam above all others,” said Neuer. “This is contrary to the basic principles of equality enshrined in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and undermines the very premise of the global struggle against racism.”
     

    4.  Conference Singles Out Israel for Opprobrium, Threatening to Repeat Debacle of 2001

    The declaration makes only one reference to a country situation, “reiterat[ing] its concern about the plight of the Palestinian people under foreign occupations.” Neuer asked, “Why is a non-African situation referenced in a declaration about Africa, one that references neither Sudan’s racist killings, nor any other country in Africa?”

    “The message of the special reference to the Palestinian issue is that Israel is practicing racism. This reverts to the discredited rhetoric of the UN’s 1975 “Zionism is Racism” resolution, sponsored by the Soviet and Arab blocs, repealed by the United Nations in 1991 and repudiated by its highest officials,” said Neuer.

    “Describing the Arab-Israeli conflict in racial terms — instead of territorial or political — is more than political mischief; it’s an attempt to dehumanize Israelis and their supporters as uniquely evil. We urge African states not to allow the extreme political agenda of certain Middle Eastern governments to undermine their legitimate cause.”

    UN Watch has been participating at the Nigeria conference this week in its capacity as an international non-governmental organization. A speech delivered by UN Watch representative Leon Saltiel on Sunday was interrupted by Sudan, after addressing the situation in Darfur and Zimbabwe, and described Libyan hypocrisy. The conference featured little debate, and has been adjourned since Monday afternoon, after hearing from experts. It is expected to convene soon to adopt the text.

    UN Palestine Investigator Richard Falk Lauds Own Campaign

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    - at August 25, 2008     in Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Middle East and Richard Falk. 1 Comment

    Geneva, Aug. 25, 2008 — The UN Human Right Council’s expert on Palestine today praised a boat trip to Gaza by pro-Palestinian campaigners (see UN statement below), without revealing his own affiliation to the group. “Regrettably, this is the kind of questionable conduct that we have come to expect from Richard Falk, a UN official who repeatedly expresses support for the conspiracy theory that the U.S. was behind the terrorist attacks of 9/11,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an independent Geneva-based monitoring group. 

    A June 26 report by the Palestine News Network reported that Falk was initially planning to be a participant on the boat to Gaza, revealing his close ties to the protesters and their campaign. Falk’s statement today called Israel “Tel Aviv,” a designation commonly used by countries that do not recognize the Jewish state.

    * * *

    UN OHCHR Press Release

                                                                           25 August 2008

    UN rights expert welcomes landing of relief vessels in Gaza

            Geneva:  The landing of two wooden boats carrying 46 human
    rights activists in Gaza this past weekend is an important symbolic
    victory said Richard Falk, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of
    Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories. This non-violent
    initiative of the Free Gaza Movement focused attention around the
    world on the stark reality that the 1.5 million residents of Gaza have
    endured a punitive siege for more than a year. This siege is a form of
    collective punishment that constitutes a massive violation of Article
    33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

             The siege, the coastal blockade, and the overflights by
    Israeli aircraft all bear witness to the fact that despite Israel’s
    claimed ‘disengagement’ in 2005, these realities on the ground
    establish that Gaza remains under Israeli occupation, and as a result
    Israel remains legally responsible for protecting the human rights of
    its civilian population.  By severely restricting the entry of food,
    fuel, and medicine the economic and social rights of the people of
    Gaza have been systematically violated. There is widespread deafness
    among the people of Gaza that is blamed on the frequent sonic booms
    produced by overflying Israeli military aircraft. For this reason the
    peace boats brought 200 hearing aids to Gaza added Falk.

            I strongly urge the international community to take action to
    uphold human rights in the Gaza Strip. As with other humanitarian
    catastrophes in the world, here is a situation where the
    ‘responsibility to protect’ norm endorsed by the Security Council
    seems applicable, but has been ignored despite the overwhelming
    evidence of deteriorating mental and physical health in Gaza that has
    reached crisis proportions. With a cease-fire in effect since June 19,
    perhaps the willingness of Israel to allow these boats to land without
    interference signals a subtle change of approach by Tel Aviv that
    includes a show of greater respect for international humanitarian law
    and for the standards of international human rights.

            Falk also called on the government of Israel to grant exit
    permits to several Palestinian winners of a Fulbright Scholarship to
    study in the United States who might be taken back to Cyprus on the
    return voyage of the peace boats. If they are permitted by Israel to
    reach their destination without interference this will be a further
    sign of progress. Above all, what is being tested is whether the
    imaginative engagement of dedicated private citizens can influence the
    struggle of a beleaguered people for basic human rights, and whether
    their courage and commitment can awaken the conscience of humanity to
    an unfolding tragedy.

    UN Watch Addresses African Regional Meeting on Durban II, in Abuja, Nigeria

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    - at August 24, 2008     in Darfur and Durban 2009. 0 Comments

    UN Watch Intervention
    Regional Conference for Africa
    Preparatory to the Durban Review Conference
    Abuja, Nigeria
    24 August 2008

    Delivered by Mr. Leon Saltiel of UN Watch

     Thank you, Mr. President.

     We assemble here in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, in the heart of Africa, to discuss how to fight racism, and to prepare for the Durban Review Conference that will take place in April 2009.

     That I have come here from afar is testament to the great importance that UN Watch attaches to the African cause, to the global struggle against racism, and to the outcome of this gathering.

     Mr. President,

     UN Watch has always stood in solidarity with the African people in their struggle for human rights, equality and freedom.

     A half century ago, UN Watch founder Morris Abram was a leading advocate in the American civil rights movement led by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. It was Mr. Abram who won the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case that recognized African-American voting rights, under the principle of “one person, one vote,” and who went on to head the United Negro College Fund.

     In 1993, guided by the same vision of human rights and equality, Morris Abram founded UN Watch.

     Since then, we have been a leading voice at the United Nations for victims of persecution—for Africans in places like Darfur and Zimbabwe, as for millions of other victims of racism and intolerance around the world.

    Mr. President,

     It is with this legacy, and with these principles, that UN Watch urges this conference to rise to the occasion.

     Let this African gathering give voice to all who suffer from racism, persecution and intolerance.

     Let us promise that the crime of slavery shall never be forgotten. That men and women everywhere should be treated with basic dignity and equality.

     Let us be true to the universal principles of human rights that underlie the struggle against racism.

     Mr. President,

     We will only advance toward these goals if we stay on the true path—by avoiding dangerous diversions, and by remedying the wrongs of the past. We must prevent a recurrence of the foul actions of 2001, which paradoxically turned a conference on racism into a platform for racist hatred and anti-Semitism.

     Let us oppose the campaign by certain governments and lobby groups to distort the language of human rights for a narrow and extreme political agenda, which only distracts from and harms the African cause.

     Let us ensure that our outcome document—which will influence the final declaration of the April conference in Geneva—will neither single out nor demonize any country or people.

     Finally, let us keep this conference a serious one. Its credibility is at stake when countries preach one thing while blatantly practicing the very opposite.

     Consider, for example, the official submission of Libya that is before us today. The Libyan government speaks of racism against the African people and how it confronts, and I quote, “[a] new form of racism related to house helpers [and] (maids).”

     Yet just last month, when Mr. Hannibal Qaddafi was arrested in Geneva for the crime of beating his African maid and African house-helper,

     [At this point, Sudan interrupted with an objection, supported by Morocco and Algeria]

     Libya fully supported his actions. Worse, Libya then punished one of these African victims by kidnapping his mother. With this same country being the chair of the committee organizing the Durban Review Conference, what should the world think?

    Mr. President,

    The eyes of the world are upon us. When history is written, let it be recorded that in Abuja, in August 2008, the struggle against racism was advanced, and not harmed; promoted, and not politicized. We owe its victims—in Africa and around the world—no less.

    Thank you, Mr. President.

    Qaddafi Rights Prize Awarded to Former Malta PM for ‘Defending Palestinian and Iraqi Oppressed Peoples’

    Published by
    Hillel Neuer
    - at August 19, 2008     in Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Jean Ziegler, Libya and Muammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize. 0 Comments

    No shame: Even with the Qaddafi servant-beating and hostage episode still unresolved, the Libyan human rights prize has decided to announce its annual award. The two Maltese news articles below mention the prize-founding role of Jean Ziegler, still denied by the member of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee. (At the committee’s inaugural session, Ziegler, who was nominated to his new post by Swiss Foreign Minster Micheline Calmy-Rey, this week was busy supporting Russia’s phony self-determination claims in its war with Georgia.)

    Continue reading ‘Qaddafi Rights Prize Awarded to Former Malta PM for ‘Defending Palestinian and Iraqi Oppressed Peoples’’

    France to Boycott Durban II If Hijacked, Warns Human Rights Minister Rama Yade

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    - at August 8, 2008     in Durban 2009. 0 Comments

    Rama Yade

    Writing in reply to a parliamentary question, Rama Yade, France’s Senegalese-born Foreign Affairs and Human Rights Secretary, warned this week that France will walk out of the UN’s Durban II process if it veers off track.

    “France will not maintain its participation at any price,” said Yade in her response published on August 5. “The President said at the dinner organized by CRIF, and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights herself said to the UN Human Rights Council: France will remain engaged in this process only if the review conference does not depart from its assigned objectives.”

    French original follows below.

    Source: http://recherche2.assemblee-nationale.fr/visualiser.jsp

    _______________________________________

    Question: M. Roland Blum appelle l’attention de Mme la secrétaire d’État chargée des affaires étrangères et des droits de l’homme sur la participation de la France à la conférence mondiale contre le racisme qui se tiendra à Durban en 2009, sous l’égide de l’ONU. En effet, lors de la précédente conférence qui s’est déroulée en septembre 2001, des États avaient rivalisé d’antisémitisme au point que des délégations avaient estimé devoir quitter la conférence, et la France avait menacé d’en faire de même. Or, la seconde conférence ne s’annonce pas sous de meilleurs auspices : la Libye a été élue à la présidence de cette conférence, et Cuba en occupe la vice-présidence, ces pays étant contestables en matière de démocratie et de respect des droits de l’Homme. Par ailleurs, l’Iran, dont son président appelle régulièrement à la destruction d’Israël, fait partie du comité d’organisation. Ainsi, le Canada en a déjà tiré les conséquences en annonçant son retrait. Il lui demande si le retrait de la France de cette conférence ne lui paraît pas également souhaitable.

    Réponse de Rama Yade: La France, comme la quasi-totalité des membres de la communauté internationale, a accepté de se joindre au consensus pour l’adoption de la déclaration de Durban et de son plan d’action, à l’issue de la conférence mondiale sur le racisme en 2001. Avec ses partenaires européens, la France avait été particulièrement vigilante pour que ces textes demeurent équilibrés et acceptables.

    En réalité, c’est à l’occasion du forum des ONG, en marge de la conférence, que des attaques très dures à l’encontre des États-Unis et d’Israël avaient amené ces pays à quitter la conférence de Durban. Ce forum des ONG s’était achevé par l’adoption d’une déclaration tout à fait inacceptable qui, fait exceptionnel dans ce genre de Conférence, n’avait pas été repris dans les documents finaux.

    La déclaration de Durban porte sur les sources, causes, formes et manifestations du racisme, sur les victimes de ce fléau et sur les mesures à adopter dans les domaines de la prévention, de l’éducation et de la protection des victimes pour éliminer le racisme partout dans le monde. Elle est assortie d’un plan d’action qui souligne l’urgence de traduire les objectifs contenus dans la déclaration en actes concrets. Ces textes ont pu être critiqués par certains qui estiment qu’ils abordent de trop nombreux sujets, parfois de manière partiale et lacunaire. Il n’en reste pas moins qu’en élargissant la problématique du racisme aux discriminations sexuelles, aux droits des peuples autochtones, aux minorités, aux droits des migrants, à la dimension raciale de la traite des personnes, ces textes constituent des textes de référence pour lutter contre le racisme dans le cadre des Nations unies.

    S’agissant de l’initiative des pays du sud de convoquer une conférence d’examen de la déclaration de Durban et de son plan d’action, il s’agit d’une pratique habituelle pour de nombreuses grandes déclarations adoptées dans le cadre des Nations unies (à titre d’exemple, une session spéciale de l’AGNU s’est tenue en 2000 pour faire le point sur la mise en oeuvre de la déclaration de Pékin adoptée à l’issue de la Conférence mondiale sur les femmes qui avait eu lieu dans cette ville en 1995).

    Puisque la France s’était jointe au consensus, en 2001, pour l’adoption de cette déclaration de Durban, il lui revient aujourd’hui de respecter ses engagements internationaux en acceptant que soit examinée la façon dont elle a mis en oeuvre ce texte. Il en sera de même pour tous les pays participants à la conférence. La France et l’UE estiment que cette conférence d’examen doit lui permettre de plaider en faveur de l’application des normes internationales existantes de promotion et de protection des droits de l’homme, partout dans le monde, et en faveur de la mise en oeuvre des recommandations que les comités spécialisés de l’ONU dans le domaine des droits de l’homme formulent à l’attention de chacun des pays concernés.

    À ce stade, il n’est pas envisagé que la France se retire du processus d’organisation de la conférence d’examen. En effet, la Conférence d’examen présente de réels risques de dérives : certains pays pourraient chercher à faire adopter des concepts que nous récusons comme celui de la « diffamation des religions » ou qui irait à l’encontre de l’universalité des droits de l’homme. De plus, l’organisation éventuelle d’un nouveau forum des ONG en marge de la conférence d’examen est sujet à préoccupation. Il reviendra donc aussi à toutes les ONG de défense des droits de l’homme d’être mobilisées à cette occasion.

    C’est en restant présents, vigilants et inflexibles que la France et l’UE pourront faire valoir les principes fondamentaux des Nations Unies et mobiliser tous les pays pour lutter vraiment contre le racisme au niveau mondial. Toutefois, la France ne maintiendra pas sa participation à n’importe quel prix. Le Président de la République l’a déclaré lors du dîner organisé par le CRIF, et la secrétaire d’État chargée des affaires étrangères et des droits de l’homme l’a elle-même dit devant le conseil des droits de l’homme de l’ONU : la France restera engagée dans ce processus que si la réunion de suivi ne s’écarte pas des objectifs qui lui ont été assignés.

    Libya Preaches to Durban II on Racism Against Maids, as Qaddafi Jr. Arrested for Beating Maids

    Published by
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    - at August 7, 2008     in Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Iran, Jean Ziegler and Libya. 0 Comments

    Many newspapers over the past few weeks have reported on Libya’s hostile measures against Switzerland and its citizens. Few, though, have noted the irony of it all, a part of which relates to the United Nations.

    The Incident

    The conflict began after Hannibal, the youngest son of Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Qaddafi, and his wife Aline were arrested by Geneva police in their luxury hotel, which is situated next to the UN human rights office. Two of their servants, a Moroccan man and a Tunisian woman, had complained of being beaten with a belt and coat hanger, causing hotel staff to call in the authorities. (The desert despot’s 32-year-old son has a long record of violent run-ins with the law across European capitals.)

    The couple were charged with assault. Hannibal spent two evenings in detention while his wife, who came to Geneva to give birth, was transferred to a maternity unit. Released on $500,000 bail, they flew back to Libya escorted by doctors from Geneva’s main hospital.

    Qaddafi’s Revenge

    Retaliation was swift. Aisha Qadaffi, sister of the accused, warned that her country would respond on the principle of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” The Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution halted all oil shipments to the Helvetic confederation. Swiss companies in Libya, including Nestlé, were shut down or padlocked, and diplomats sent packing. Two Swiss nationals were seized as hostages. “Spontaneous” demonstrations against the Swiss aggressor erupted in the capital.

    The outrage has ebbed, but the crisis remains. Today’s Tribune de Geneve reports that Foreign Minster Micheline Calmy-Rey may head on a special mission to Libya. Which bring us to the irony of it all.

    Swiss Ironies

    Of all Western democracies, the current Swiss government must be the last to ever have imagined being targeted by mad Middle East dictators, who have always felt so at home at Geneva’s hotels, boutiques and banks — so much so, that their spoiled progeny jet over to have their babies born there.

    Some say Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey stumbled in her early handling of the current crisis. No wonder. She must have been in a state of shock.

    After all, was it not she who, to seal a $28 billion gas deal, recently visited with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at a time when no other self-respecting democratic leader would do the same? Did she not go the extra mile to pose smilingly with the world’s most dangerous fomentor of racist hatred, even donning the Islamic headscarf, for added measure? Did she not keep silent over the brutal human rights situation in Iran, despite being asked to speak out by Shirin Ebadi, the renowned women’s rights advocate?

    But it’s more.

    The current Swiss government has always profited from special ties with Qaddafi – the extent to which the current episode has highlighted as never before. It turns out that half of Switzerland’s oil comes from Libya. That Libyan company Tamoil owns one of Switzerland’s two oil refineries and runs 320 filling stations in the country. The Libyans also threatened to withdraw their assets from Swiss banks. And how much is that? Some $6 billion.

    But it’s more, more than just oil, investments and trade. It’s political and moral support. In the past year, Calmy-Rey and her diplomats worldwide waged a massive campaign to elect her Geneva friend Jean Ziegler — the 1989 co-founder of the “Muammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize” — as a senior adviser to the UN Human Rights Council. When the vote was won, Swiss UN ambassador Blaise Godet literally embraced his colleague from Cuba’s Castro regime, Ziegler’s other favorite government, thereby revealing another unholy alliance.

    This week in Geneva the council’s advisors feted Ziegler at their inaugural session, while choosing as their chair the Cuban Alfonso Martinez — whose long record on a predecessor UN body included killing a resolution for the Kurdish victims gassed by Saddam in Halabja. When the current stand-off was ignited in July, Swiss newspaper Le Matin suggested Ziegler as a natural mediator. “I think Qaddafi appreciates me as a writer and intellectual, because he reads my books which are translated into Arabic in Cairo,” Ziegler told the newspaper. “There is a relationship of mutual respect and listening between us,” said Ziegler, from his place of vacation in Calabria, Italy.

    However, the newspaper noted, “the sociologist categorically refuses to comment on the current crisis between Switzerland and Libya.” Nor did Ziegler ever say a word — or lift a finger – over all the years that the Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor were cruelly held hostage in Libyan jails.

    Durban II: Libya Pledges to Confront “New Form of Racism Related to Maids”  

    Perhaps the greatest unspoken irony is that of Libya’s role. The country currently chairs the planning of the April 2009 Durban Review Conference, the UN’s next world conference against racism and intolerance. In advance of an African preparatory session later this month, Libya has just submitted a UN questionnaire on its policies and practices.

    Here we learn that the sixth principle of Qaddafi’s Green Charter “defines Libya’s society of non-discrimination.” And that the penal code “does not discriminate between local or foreign workers in Libya.”  And that Article 420 prohibits “all forms of slavery” and “forced labor.” Finally, “Libya does not only not practice racism but we combat the practice of regimes against the African people.” How? By confronting — get this — a “new form of racism related to house helpers (maids).” No less.

    Yes, over the next year the world shall look to the Guide of the Revolution to guide us all on how to treat foreigners, how to practice tolerance, and — as its most shining example — how to treat house helpers and maids.

    Meanwhile, in Libya, the mother of the abused Moroccan servant has been thrown into jail, and his brother forced into hiding.

    Eventually, a deal will be struck, Calmy-Rey will kowtow before Qaddafi, the criminal case will be closed. Hannibal will then be free to return to his beloved Lake Geneva playground.

    As Libya’s leading expert on how to address what it calls a new form of racism — how to treat house helpers — why not have Hannibal Qaddafi take the place of the current Libyan represenative and personally head the UN’s Durban II process? More than anyone, he will appreciate the job’s diplomatic immunity.