Archive for May, 2011

UN Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon calls nations to “discourage flotillas”

Published by
UN Watch
- at May 23, 2011 in Flotilla Probe, Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Middle East and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. 0 Comments

“The Secretary-General is also following with concern media reports of potential new flotillas to Gaza that can provoke unnecessary confrontations. The Secretary-General calls on all Governments concerned to use their influence to discourage such flotillas, which carry the potential for escalation. He further calls on all to act responsibly to avoid any violent incident.”

(article 21 in: Briefing to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, by Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, 19 May 2011)

Rights groups oppose UN rights seats for Congo, Kuwait, Nicaragua; question India, Indonesia, Philippines

Published by
UN Watch
- at May 18, 2011 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

NEW YORK, May 18 – Three days before the UN chooses 15 new member states to its Human Rights Council, human rights groups today said Congo, Kuwait and Nicaragua failed to meet the membership criteria, while the qualifications of India, Indonesia, Philippines and Burkina Faso were “questionable.” Click here for full report PDF – and here for Executive Summary.

The voting recommendations were submitted yesterday to the New York missions of UN member states by the Geneva-based UN Watch, the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, Directorio, and Initiatives for China, which is headed by former Chinese prisoner of conscience Yang Jianli. The rights groups will be appearing at a UN briefing on Thursday, together with dissidents, to lobby for an improved council membership. Current members of concern include China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Russia, Bahrain and Pakistan. 

“Congo, Kuwait and Nicaragua have poor records in respecting the basic human rights of their own citizens,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, “and have consistently voted the wrong way on UN initiatives to promote and protect the human rights of others.”

“As an observer state in recent UN human rights council sessions, Nicaragua strongly praised the governments of Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, attempting to shield them from scrutiny. It will be an insult to their victims — and a defeat for the global cause of human rights — if the UN now elects Nicaragua as one of the council’s 47 voting members.”

The report also called on India, Indonesia, Philippines and Burkina Faso to pledge improvements prior to the Friday vote. The report documents how India last year refused to support UN resolutions for human rights victims in Iran, Burma, and North Korea, and failed to join other democracies and human rights groups in opposing a UN resolution prohibiting criticism of Islam, which experts said restricted freedom of speech.

The report found that 10 of the 17 candidates are qualified: Austria, Benin, Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, Peru, and Romania.

Congo, Kuwait, Nicaragua don’t belong on UN rights council

Published by
UN Watch
- at May 17, 2011 in Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 0 Comments

EVALUATION OF CANDIDATES FOR 2011-2014 MEMBERSHIP ON THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Click here for full report PDF

As submitted to UNGA member states on May 17, 2011. To be presented in a press briefing United at Nations Headquarters, New York, May 19, 2011.

Executive Summary

This report assesses each candidate country’s record of domestic human rights protection and its UN voting record, based on the criteria for UN Human Rights Council membership established by UNGA Resolution 60/251 (2006). We find that only 10 out of 17 candidate countries are qualified. Three candidates have poor records and are not qualified to be Council members. Four countries fall somewhere in between, with qualifications that are questionable.

Not Qualified: Congo, Kuwait*, Nicaragua

Questionable: Burkina Faso, India, Indonesia, Philippines

Qualified: Austria, Benin, Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, Peru, Romania

The absence of competition in three out of the five regional lists calls into question the very premise and rationale of the election. Nevertheless, UNGA member states can—and should—refrain from casting their votes for countries that are not qualified. Candidate countries with questionable credentials should, at a minimum, be asked to commit to redress the shortcomings—in their human rights record and their UN voting records—as identified in this report.

Click here for full report PDF

* All reports say that Kuwait will run instead of Syria. However, as of May 17, the UN website still lists Syria as a candidate, and Kuwait’s name is yet to appear: http://www.un.org/en/ga/65/meetings/elections/hrc.shtml.

China: Time to Free Dr. Wang Binghzhang

Published by
UN Watch
- at May 16, 2011 in China. 0 Comments

This op-ed about jailed Chinese dissident Dr. Wang Binghzhang—written by Cambridge University law student Gabriel Latner, a recent intern with UN Watch—appears in today’s National Post of Canada. In March, UN Watch and its partners brought Dr. Wang’s daughter, 21-year-old McGill University student Ti-Anna Wang, to testify at the 2011 Geneva Summit: click for video. A week later, UN Watch, represented by Mr. Latner, raised the case of Dr. Wang in the plenary of the UN Human Rights Council. The Chinese government tried to silence UN Watch: click for video. Mr. Latner is already known to many for his winning speech from the October 21, 2010 Cambridge Union debate—”Why Israel is a rogue state”—which went viral on the internet.

It’s official: Shamed Assad pulls Syria out of UN race

Published by
UN Watch
- at May 11, 2011 in Syria. 1 Comment

GENEVA, May 11 – A coalition of 25 human rights groups headed by the Geneva-based UN Watch cheered today’s withdrawal by Syria of its candidacy for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. The Asian group is instead endorsing Kuwait, which will still need a minimum 97 votes in the UN’s May 20 election.

“The defeat and shaming of Syria’s murderous regime in the court of world opinion should be a morale boost for the courageous citizens of that country who continue to brave bullets and beatings to speak out for their universal human rights,” said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch executive director.

“It says a lot when Syria’s actions are deemed so reprehensible by the international community as to cause its rejection by a club whose members already include Bahrain, China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and other notorious human rights violators,” said Neuer. Continue reading ‘It’s official: Shamed Assad pulls Syria out of UN race’

UN Watch hails Syrian defeat at UN, but opposes reported consolation prize for Assad regime

Published by
UN Watch
- at May 10, 2011 in Syria. 0 Comments

GENEVA, May 9 – UN Watch hailed the breaking news that Syria is expected to drop its bid, but expressed concern that it might be replaced by Kuwait — “far better than Syria, but another non-democracy nevertheless” — and urged against giving the Assad regime a consolation prize akin to Iran’s receipt of a seat on the UN Commission on the Status of Women, in exchange for dropping its 2010 bid for a council seat.

The Geneva-based human rights group was the first to sound the alarm over Syria’s bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, and heads a global coalition of human rights groups and dissidents seeking to block Damascus. See details at www.unwatch.org/stopsyria.

“The defeat of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s cynical candidacy is a welcome message to his brutalized population that the world is repulsed by the regime’s ongoing massacres,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

“The Asian states at the UN never should have endorsed the brutal Syrian regime in the first place. And now it would Continue reading ‘UN Watch hails Syrian defeat at UN, but opposes reported consolation prize for Assad regime’

The UN’s two pro-Syrian amendments

Published by
UN Watch
- at May 10, 2011 in Syria. 0 Comments

Colum Lynch’s latest Foreign Policy blog post offers informative analysis of the UN forces — including China, Russia, and Islamic and Arab states — which have rallied behind Syria at the Security Council, and, with less success, at the Human Rights Council, where, in a special session on April 29, the US managed to win a majority for a robust condemnation of Syria and the creation of an investigative mission.

Lynch refers to failed amendments that were presented by the OIC and Egypt — some of which were written by Syria itself — that attempted to dramatically weaken the text. UN Watch has the full text of these pro-Syrian proposals here.

In fact, two of the amendments, regrettably, did make it into the final text. Continue reading ‘The UN’s two pro-Syrian amendments’

Video: U.N. reps questioning Bin Laden take-down are “jerks,” says U.S. Senator

Published by
UN Watch
- at May 9, 2011 in Navi Pillay and Terrorism. 0 Comments

U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay, along with Christof Heyns, the U.N. expert on extrajudicial executions, and Martin Scheinin, the U.N. expert on human rights and counter-terrorism have questioned the U.S. take-down of Osama bin Laden, demanding the United States provide information so the UN can examine whether the operation complied with “international human rights law standards.”

In response, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch said they should “get real… It’s unbelievable to me that these people can be such jerks.”

Senator Hatch said the U.S. Navy SEALS put their lives on the line to defend Americans by eliminating the world’s top terrorist, and the world should be grateful.

UN reps: Syria to lose bid for UN rights council seat

Published by
UN Watch
- at May 9, 2011 in Syria. 0 Comments

The following Bloomberg news report indicates that Syria’s defeat in next week’s elections to the UN Human Rights Council is a done deal. The UN rep of India, a key player in the Asian group — which officially endorsed the Assad regime’s candidacy back in January — says that Syria won’t get the requisite 97 out of UNGA 192 votes on May 20. And Egypt’s UN rep goes on the record to say that they advised Syria to drop its bid. Continue reading ‘UN reps: Syria to lose bid for UN rights council seat’