Archive for July, 2010

Watchdog: U.N. Flotilla Probe Marred by Predetermined Verdict

Published by
UN Watch
- at July 23, 2010 in Flotilla Probe. 2 Comments

Geneva, July 23 - After nearly two months where no credible figure would take the job, the UN Human Rights Council today named three commissioners to its inquiry on Israeli actions during the May 31 flotilla incident, but the probe’s credibility is marred by a predetermined verdict, said UN Watch, a non-governmental human rights organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

“The mandate of the probe violates due process and objectivity by presuming Israeli guilt from the outset,” said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch executive director. “It’s another example of what former UN rights chief Mary Robinson recently described as the unfortunate and regrettable practice by the council to adopt resolutions guided not by human rights but by politics.”[See Note 1]

According to Neuer, “by declaring Israel guilty before any facts were even collected, the resolution taints the mission with prejudicial bias, and contravenes the UN’s own Declaration on Fact Finding, which requires objectivity and impartiality.” Continue reading ‘Watchdog: U.N. Flotilla Probe Marred by Predetermined Verdict’

38 Rights Groups Urge U.N. to Investigate Shanghai Expo Eviction of 18,000 Families

Published by
UN Watch
- at July 22, 2010 in China and Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

Geneva, July 22 -  An international coalition of 38 human rights groups called on the United Nations today to investigate allegations that the Chinese government committed gross human rights violations by forcibly evicting 18,000 families to make way for the current 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China. The giant exposition, whose motto is “Better Cities, Better Life,” runs until October.

The non-governmental organizations filed appeals with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, U.N. Habitat director Anna Tibaijuka, and U.N. housing rights investigator Raquel Rolnik, arguing that China breached four articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by violating housing rights and denying evictees the right to protest. Criticism of the land grab was reported recently in the New York Times and the Washington Times. Continue reading ’38 Rights Groups Urge U.N. to Investigate Shanghai Expo Eviction of 18,000 Families’

Israeli Gaza investigations disprove explosive charge of U.N. Goldstone Report

Published by
UN Watch
- at July 21, 2010 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 1 Comment

In advance of the progress report to be published shortly by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, the Israeli government has now published a 37-page update on the status of investigations into its 2009 war with Hamas. The report is written in a conciliatory tone, apparently intended to reassure the international community of Israel’s serious approach.The upshot is that Israel has conducted a series of thorough investigations that take into account not only its own findings but even those allegations made in reports by the UN and NGOs that it has deemed to be one-sided and flawed; that it has punished those found culpable; has drawn lessons and made changes to its operating procedures; but that, at the end of the day, the core thesis of the U.N.’s Goldstone Report — that Israel’s 2009 campaign set out deliberately to kill civilians — continues to be utterly false and without any basis.

The Israeli government announcement follows below.
Continue reading ‘Israeli Gaza investigations disprove explosive charge of U.N. Goldstone Report’

U.S. Envoy Susan Rice: We will combat U.N. attempts to delegitimize Israel

Published by
UN Watch
- at July 16, 2010 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations,
During a Reception for Israeli Ambassadors
Gabriela Shalev and Daniel Carmon
Held by the Conference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish Organizations
New York, NY
July 14, 2010

As delivered

Good evening everybody, and Alan, thank you so much for introducing me. I’m delighted to be able to be here with all of you and to see friends like Mort Zuckerman and Malcolm Hoenlein and many others, and I look forward to having a chance to spend some time here with you a little later on. The Conference of Presidents is a strong, clear voice on behalf of the American Jewish community and for Israel’s security and well-being. So I want to begin by thanking you all for the important work you do.

But today, I mostly want to talk about my very dear friend, Ambassador Gabriela Shalev. She’s truly one of my favorite people, and she’s done a tremendous job representing her country here at the United Nations. Now there have been some rather distinguished Israeli leaders who served as Ambassadors to the United Nations: Abba Eban, Chaim Herzog, and a scrappy up-and-comer named Bibi Netanyahu. But I believe when the history books are written, in all honesty, historians will rank Gabriela Shalev as among the best representatives that Israel has ever had at the United Nations-for her dedication, her skill, and her extraordinary heart. Continue reading ‘U.S. Envoy Susan Rice: We will combat U.N. attempts to delegitimize Israel’

Chinese human rights hero Yang Jianli praises UN Watch appeal against Shanghai World Expo evictions

Published by
UN Watch
- at July 15, 2010 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Chinese nationals protest forced evictions

By Michelle Phillips

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Three Chinese nationals are seeking to overturn their forced evictions from their homes by appealing directly to officials and citizens in New York and Beijing.

Hu Yan, Chen Xuxing and Xu Xiaoqi, the daughter of one of the founders of China’s Communist Party, say they hope to raise international awareness of their and others’ plight, and to pressure Beijing — via the U.N. and the United States — to alter its eviction policy.

The trio is working with the Sparrow Initiative, a project to help the victims of forced evictions, to spread the word about how they are being forced from their homes in China.

In New York, Ms. Hu and Mr. Chen said they shared their stories with hundreds of passersby, aided by the activities of about 100 supporters.

In Beijing, Ms. Xu marched to a government office in Beijing to petition for an audience, in spite of police warnings that she was just making trouble for herself.

“The silence on this is deafening,” said Jim Geheran, director of Initiatives for China, an organization that promotes a peaceful transition to democracy.

As part of the effort, Yang Haihan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, stood with 20 friends outside the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles to send a statement to China and passersby about forced evictions.

Mr. Yang said he chose the consulate so “the people leaving would have to see us and what we were saying.”

The United Nations Watch, a human rights watchdog, is putting together a joint appeal on the forced evictions of the Shanghai World Expo, which Initiatives for China President Yang Jianli said will give the Sparrow Initiative “new momentum to push forward.”

© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC.

Watchdog: New U.N. Flotilla Probe Marred by Predetermined Verdict

Published by
UN Watch
- at July 7, 2010 in Flotilla Probe. 6 Comments

Backgrounder on HRC Resolution 14/1

Geneva, July 7 - The UN Human Rights Council is reportedly naming commissioners to its inquiry on Israeli actions during the May 31 flotilla incident, but the probe’s credibility is marred by a predetermined verdict, said UN Watch, a non-governmental human rights organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

“The mandate of the probe violates due process and objectivity by presuming Israeli guilt from the outset,” said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch executive director. “It’s another example of what former UN rights chief Mary Robinson recently described as the unfortunate and regrettable practice by the council to adopt resolutions guided not by human rights but by politics.”[See Note 1]

According to Neuer, “by declaring Israel guilty before any facts were even collected, the resolution taints the mission with prejudicial bias, and contravenes the UN’s own Declaration on Fact Finding, which requires objectivity and impartiality.” Continue reading ‘Watchdog: New U.N. Flotilla Probe Marred by Predetermined Verdict’

Concordia University Magazine Profiles Hillel Neuer and UN Watch

Published by
UN Watch
- at July 1, 2010 in Hillel Neuer and Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 1 Comment

(From Concordia University Magazine, Summer 2010 edition)

click here for original PDF file (at p. 3 and pp. 14-17)

 THE TALENT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE 

“Editor’s Voice,” by Howard Bosker

When I met Hillel Neuer, BA 93, at a Montreal café in early spring, he apologized for being a few minutes late. Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, explained that he had been on the phone with a writer from the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading ‘Concordia University Magazine Profiles Hillel Neuer and UN Watch’