Archive for October, 2010

Report: German Professor Heading U.N.’s ‘Goldstone II’ Committee Accused Israel of World War II ‘Barbarism’, Removal Urged

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- at October 21, 2010 in Goldstone "Fact Finding" Mission for UNHRC and Tomuschat. 0 Comments

Prior to Chairing Probe, Said Israel Was “State Terrorist” Unwilling to Investigate

GENEVA, Oct. 21 – The German law professor heading the U.N. committee to enforce the Goldstone Report has a history of comparing Israeli actions with the “barbarism” and “inferno” of World War II, and should be removed for lack of impartiality by the U.N. Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said a report submitted by UN Watch today to the world body’s Geneva office. Click here for summary and full report.

In his September 27 report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Christian Tomuschat, a professor emeritus at Humoldt University, faulted Israel for failing to investigate allegations of war crimes by the country’s senior leadership, specifically naming Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who was foreign minister during the 2009 war with Hamas. The Tomuschat Committee will report to the council again in March 2011.

However, according to “Goldstone II,” the 29-page report by UN Watch, a Geneva-based monitor of the world body, Tomuschat’s credibility is severely impaired by his prior legal work for PLO leader Yasser Arafat, which Tomuschat said he “could not recall,” and by a series of public statements and writings that show his lack of impartiality on the Arab-Israel conflict.
Continue reading ‘Report: German Professor Heading U.N.’s ‘Goldstone II’ Committee Accused Israel of World War II ‘Barbarism’, Removal Urged’

Goldstone and the Guerilla Flotilla: An Emerging Pattern

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UN Watch
- at October 20, 2010 in Flotilla Probe and Goldstone "Fact Finding" Mission for UNHRC. 2 Comments

Remarks of Trevor S. Norwitz
Delivered to the Lawfare Project Conference on October 5, 2010,
“Lawfare: Shared Implications for the U.S. and Israel.”
Published here by UN Watch by permission of the author. 

One of the most troubling manifestations of Lawfare today is the increasing abuse of the instruments of international law, specifically to delegitimize and demonize one country (Israel) and to embarrass and weaken another (America).

I thought I would talk today about the latest contribution of the United Nations “Human Rights” Council to this phenomenon, namely its report on what might be called the Guerilla Flotilla (or, if you prefer, the Intifada Armada) which as you probably know was submitted to and accepted by that august body just a few days ago.  After that, I’d like to offer a few general thoughts on the topic of Lawfare. Continue reading ‘Goldstone and the Guerilla Flotilla: An Emerging Pattern’

Brother of Slain Dissident Outraged at Libya’s Joining U.N. Human Rights Council

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UN Watch
- at October 15, 2010 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Libya. 0 Comments

NGO Panel Event at United Nations European Headquarters, Geneva
“Libya on the UN Human Rights Council”
Hosted by UN Watch, September 16, 2010

Thanks to UN Watch and Freedom House. I am honored to be here with you to speak about my late brother Fathi Eljahmi and his struggle to advance democratic reform and human rights in Libya.

Libya’s long night began on September 1, 1969, when Muammar Qadhafi led a coup, which overthrew a constitutional Monarchy.  At the time, Libya was a young country trying to find its way.  It wasn’t perfect but it was in a much better shape than the Libya today.

Today, in Qadhafi’s Libya, political parties are banned and memberships in independent labor unions or parties are crimes punishable by death.  There is also the Collective Punishment law or “Honor Law”, where the State has the right to punish family, city or an entire region for the wrong doing of individual(s).

In Libya, the fulfillments of citizens needs are tied to their absolute and unquestioning loyalty to Mr. Qadhafi. Ordinary Libyans are accountable to a vast security apparatus. Their actions are scrutinized by Orwellian institutions. Should they fail scrutiny, they face Qadhafi’s ruthless death squads, the “Revolutionary Committees”.

Continue reading ‘Brother of Slain Dissident Outraged at Libya’s Joining U.N. Human Rights Council’

British MP Denis MacShane Endorses UN Watch Campaign to Release Liu Xiaobo

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- at October 15, 2010 in China and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. 0 Comments

liuxiaobo-thumb.jpgBritish MP Denis MacShane has endorsed UN Watch’s campaign calling on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to press China to release political prisoner Liu Xiaobo.

Mr. MacShane has also tabled his own motion in the House of Commons, issuing the following statement:

“David Cameron should support President Obama’s appeal to Beijing to release China’s Sakharov. William Hague has said that trade relations should have priority for UK foreign policy but it cannot be right to buy cheap t-shirts from China while ignoring Liu Xiabow rotting in prison for the crime of signing  an appeal for constitutional democract. In the name of trade and money Britain has turned a blind eye to the repression of Chinese citizens asking for rights we take for granted. Mrs Thatcher was willing to condemn Soviet communism for imprisoning dissidents like Sakharov. Mr Cameron should now tell it as it is about Chinese communism and its suppression of its citizens who challenge one-party rule.”

Rights activists urge South Africa to ‘vote like a democracy’ on Security Council, recall poor voting record of prior term

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UN Watch
- at October 12, 2010 in Security Council and South Africa. 0 Comments

GENEVA, October 12, 2010 – UN Watch congratulated Colombia, Germany, India and South Africa on their election as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for 2011-2012.

In regard to South Africa, UN watch executive director Hillel Neuer said it was “important that a major African democracy be represented on the council.”At the same time, Neuer recalled that during South Africa’s previous term at the Security Council, in 2007-2008, “there were serious concerns expressed by civil society groups regarding that country’s voting record on critical human rights issues. At the time, UN Watch and other human rights groups had objected to a series of decisions where South Africa used its seat on the Security Council to stand with the perpetrators instead of the victims.”

For example, said Neuer, in 2007, “South Africa joined China and Russia as the sole members to oppose a resolution urging Burma to free political detainees and end sexual violence by the military. Pretoria helped hardliners Moscow and Beijing to kill the text, shielding the generals of Rangoon.”

“In that same year, South Africa outdid even Saudi Arabia in opposing or refusing to support resolutions for victims of human rights violations in Belarus, Burma, Iran, and North Korea. When questions arose over this policy-which South Africa’s own Archbishop Desmond Tutu called ‘a betrayal of our noble past’, the government’s reaction was to lash out,” said Neuer.

“We urge South Africa – as a leading democracy with a vital role to play in world affairs – to ensure that this time, whenever vital human rights issues are at stake at the UN, it will vote like a democracy.”

UN chiefs fail to call for Chinese prisoner’s release

Published by
UN Watch
- at October 11, 2010 in China, High Commissioner of Human Rights and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. 0 Comments

Ban Ki-moon praised China’s “remarkable advances”

GENEVA, October 11, 2010 – A Geneva-based human rights group welcomed today’s call by four UN experts for China to release Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo from prison, and urged Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN rights chief Navi Pillay to echo the appeal.

“The UN’s two leading voices on human rights issues need to be clear and immediately call on China to release Mr. Liu,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

In their remarks published by the UN on Friday, China was praised for its “remarkable” advances, yet Mr. Ban and Ms. Pillay “glaringly omitted to call for the dissident’s release, or even to say a word about the fact that he is currently in prison,” said Neuer.

In the two years since her appointment in September 2008 as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Pillay has only issued two statements on China, including one in 2009 that dealt with Mr. Liu, said UN Watch. The non-governmental organization monitors the world body’s human rights system.

“There are 1.3 billion people in China-one sixth of the world’s population-who are subjected to the systematic deprivation of universal human rights. Beijing’s power and influence at the UN should never justify silence or reticence by the UN’s highest officials, especially those charged with being a voice for the voiceless and with defending victims of human rights violations,” said Neuer.�