Archive for February, 2010

NGO to Ban Ki-Moon: Bar UN Goldstone Aide From Palestinian Lobby Event

Published by
UN Watch
- at February 26, 2010 in Goldstone "Fact Finding" Mission for UNHRC. 1 Comment

UN Watch Calls on UN Chief to Stop Francesca Marotta, Head UN Staffer of Goldstone Report, From Speaking at “Russell Tribunal on Palestine”

Geneva, Feb. 26, 2010 – UN Watch, the Geneva-based watchdog organization, today called on UN chief Ban Ki-Moon to stop Francesca Marotta, the head of the UN staff that compiled the Goldstone Report, from participating at a political lobbying event in Lausanne, Switzerland, in support of the “Russell Tribunal on Palestine.” The full letter follows below. Continue reading ‘NGO to Ban Ki-Moon: Bar UN Goldstone Aide From Palestinian Lobby Event’

Irish Times Softens Controversial Remarks by Goldstone Co-author Col. Travers

Published by
Hillel Neuer
- at February 25, 2010 in Goldstone "Fact Finding" Mission for UNHRC and Mary Robinson. 0 Comments

According to the Irish Times’ article on the controversial comments recently made by Col. Desmond Travers, the Irish member of the UN’s Goldstone Gaza inquiry, “he implied that British foreign policy interests in the Middle East seemed to be strongly influenced by Jewish lobbyists.”

Only “implied”? Here is the actual quote from Travers’ rabidly anti-Israel interview with Middle East Monitor: “Britain’s foreign policy interests in the Middle East seem to be influenced strongly by Jewish lobbyists.” For some reason, the Irish Times took pains to make Travers sound less strident and more reasonable.

In the same interview, Travers also dismissed British Col. Tim Collins’s BBC-broadcast findings—about weapons hidden in Gaza mosques—as “drivel.” This co-author of the Goldstone Report equally dismissed “all” Israeli photographic evidence of such weapons caches as “spurious in the extreme!”

It is bad enough when yet another of the Goldstone investigators, supposed to be impartial, reveals himself to be irredeemably biased against Israel.

It’s worse when this bias is covered up. Just like its coverage of last summer’s controversy over Obama’s award to Mary Robinson—the former Irish president and UN organizer of the 2001 Durban hatefest—the Irish Times once again rallies in knee-jerk fashion to the side of any Irish citizen applying an imbalanced approach to the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Palestinians complain: too many U.N. reports on Palestinians

Published by
UN Watch
- at February 21, 2010 in Richard Falk. 1 Comment

For the first time in the history of the UN Human Rights Council, the Palestinians are requesting to delay a UN report on Palestinian rights, saying there are too many.

In an organizational meeting of the council held Thursday in advance of its upcoming March session, the Palestinian representative asked to delay the scheduled report of Richard Falk, the council’s permanent investigator of alleged Israeli violations in the Palestinian territories, and a leading supporter of 9/11 conspiracy theories. (See original schedule’s par. 83.)  

Their reason? Continue reading ‘Palestinians complain: too many U.N. reports on Palestinians’

Dissidents et anciens prisonniers politiques organisent le Sommet de Genève

Published by
UN Watch
- at February 17, 2010 in Geneva Summit for Human Rights. 0 Comments

click here for English version 

Dissidents et anciens prisonniers politiques organisent le Sommet de Genève

Havel & Walesa co-président; Les dissidents appellent à la liberté de l’Internet; 25 ONG sont co-sponsors

Source: Sommet de Genève pour les Droits de l’Homme, la Tolérance et la Démocratie (http://www.genevasummit.org/)
Date: 17 Février 2010

GENEVE – Le 8 et 9 Mars 2010,  en parallèle et en soutien de la session annuelle du Conseil des Droits de l’Homme de l’ONU, des dissidents de renommée internationale, des activistes des droits de l’homme et des experts se réuniront à Genève, en Suisse, pour appeler à agir contre les violations des droits de l’homme, pour soutenir les dissidents dans le monde et pour lancer un appel pour la liberté de l’Internet.

Le Second Sommet de Genève pour les Droits de l’Homme, la Tolérance et la Démocratie, qui aura lieu au Centre International de Conférence de Genève (CICG), est organisé par une coalition internationale de 25 groupes luttant pour les droits de l’homme, y inclus des organisations birmanes, tibétaines et zimbabwéennes (voir la liste complète ci-dessous), et est soutenu par le Canton et la République de Genève. Continue reading ‘Dissidents et anciens prisonniers politiques organisent le Sommet de Genève’

Rights Group Calls UN Review of Iran ‘Insufficent’; Urges Emergency Session, Inquiry, and Permanent Monitor

Published by
UN Watch
- at February 15, 2010 in Iran and Universal Periodic Review (UPR). 0 Comments

GENEVA, February 15, 2010 -  Following Iran’s review today by the UN Human Rights Council (click here for summary and full transcript), Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch commended the U.S., France and other democracies for their “forceful criticism” of Iran’s abuses, but expressed alarm over a report by Le Monde that Asian countries might facilitate Iran’s election this May to the 47-member body, “an eventuality underscored by the litany of speeches today — by China, Cuba, Libya and others – falsely praising Iran.”

UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer welcomed the statements made today on behalf of Iranian rights victims, but cautioned that the outcome of today’s UN procedure is limited to a “toothless” report to be adopted on Wednesday.

“There are recognized and significant ways for the UN Human Rights Council to place a country on its watchlist of abusers, but this week’s procedure, which all states undergo automatically every four years, is not one of them,” said Neuer.

“If the Human Rights Council is serious about tackling Iran’s wide-scale and escalating attacks on its own citizens — and this an open question — then it must use its available tools to convene an emergency session; adopt a resolution condemning the violations and establishing an international inquiry into Iran’s post-election arrests, rapes, show-trials and exections; and reinstate the permanent post of a Special Rapporteur to monitor and report on the Iranian government’s compliance with international human right covenants.” Continue reading ‘Rights Group Calls UN Review of Iran ‘Insufficent’; Urges Emergency Session, Inquiry, and Permanent Monitor’

Democracies slam Iran abuses at UN review, others offer praise

Published by
UN Watch
- at February 15, 2010 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Iran and Universal Periodic Review (UPR). 0 Comments

Iran’s record was reviewed today by the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council, under its quadrennial Universal Periodic Review (UPR) procedure. Click here for UN Watch’s full transcript of the debate, or see summary below. The video webcast archive will be available here.

Iran’s delegation was headed by Mohammad Javad Ardashir Larijani, Secretary General of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, who used the N-word to describe President Obama in a recent speech to the Islamic Engineers Society in Tehran. He mentioned to the UN today that his brother is Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani.

Continue reading ‘Democracies slam Iran abuses at UN review, others offer praise’

Dissidents, Ex-Political Prisoners Organizing Geneva Rights Summit

Published by
UN Watch
- at February 12, 2010 in Geneva Summit for Human Rights. 0 Comments

Havel & Walesa co-chair; Dissidents to call for internet freedom; 25 NGOs co-sponsor

Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy (http://www.genevasummit.org/)

GENEVA – On March 8-9, 2010, to enhance the annual session of the UN Human Rights Council, renowned dissidents, rights activists and experts will come together in Geneva, Switzerland, to urge action against rights abusers, boost democracy dissidents worldwide, and issue a call for internet freedom.

The second annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy, to be held at the Geneva International Conference Center, is organized by a global civil society coalition of 25 human rights groups, including UN Watch, Ibuka, Freedom House, and Burmese, Tibetan and Zimbabwean organizations (see list below), with support from the Canton of Geneva.

Co-chairing the summit’s honorary committee are two of the world’s most recognized former dissidents: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa and playwright Vaclav Havel, the former presidents of Poland and the Czech Republic. Continue reading ‘Dissidents, Ex-Political Prisoners Organizing Geneva Rights Summit’

Geneva Summit Organizer Bo Kyi in the New York Times: ‘Nelson Mandela, My Hero’

Published by
UN Watch
- at February 9, 2010 in Geneva Summit for Human Rights. 0 Comments

  The New York Times published the op-ed below by Burmese dissident Ko Bo Kyi, one of many human rights heroes who will be gathering on March 8-9, 2010, for the 2nd Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy. In what will be the largest pro-democracy event of the year at the UN Human Rights Council, the Geneva Summit is co-organized by UN Watch, Bo Kyi’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma, Ibuka, Freedom House, the Darfur Peace and Development Center and 20 other human rights organizations (see full list below). To register, or for more information, visit http://www.genevasummit.org/.

     Continue reading ‘Geneva Summit Organizer Bo Kyi in the New York Times: ‘Nelson Mandela, My Hero’’