GENEVA — UN Watch thanked Canada today for being first in the world to answer its call on UN member states to protest North Korea’s presidency of a UN disarmament body. Click here for Canadian statement.
“We now call on the U.S., the EU, and all other UN member states to follow Canada’s lead and demand that this arch-enemy of peace and human rights surrender its presidency to a more credible country,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based human rights monitoring group.
UN Watch salutes the government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for being first in the world to answer our call and protest North Korea’s outrageous appointment as head of UN disarmament. We call on the US, the EU and all other nations to follow Canada’s lead. Below is the statement issued today by Canada.
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Minister Baird Expresses Disappointment over North Korea’s Chairmanship of UN Conference on Disarmament
John Baird, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, today issued the following statement regarding North Korea’s appointment to the chair of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament:
“North Korea is simply not a credible chair of a disarmament body.
“The fact that it gets a turn chairing a United Nations committee focused on disarmament is unacceptable, given the North Korean regime’s efforts in the exact opposite direction.
“We call on North Korea to pass the chair on to a credible country that will advance the disarmament agenda within the UN. Canada will be immediately reviewing our participation in this committee’s activities.
“North Korea should also open its facilities to international inspections.
“In October 2010, Canada announced the adoption of a controlled engagement policy toward North Korea and the imposition of additional economic sanctions against the regime under the Special Economic Measures Act. These measures followed a commitment made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper after the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, which claimed the lives of 46 sailors.
“Canada will continue to take strong and principled positions in support of the fundamental Canadian values of democracy, human rights and justice.”
“Bare months after the U.N. finally suspended Libya’s Col. Muammar Qaddafi from its Human Rights Council, North Korea wins the propaganda coup of heading the world’s disarmament agency,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s asking the fox to guard the chickens, and damages the U.N.’s credibility.” Continue reading ‘UN names North Korea chair of arms control agency’
The International Criminal Court issued yesterday three arrest warrants for Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Senussi for crimes against humanity based on political grounds, and murder and persecution, committed from February 15, 2011 onwards by the Libyan authorities.
The application for the warrant, issued in May by the Office of the Prosecutor Luis Moren-Ocampo, stated that these crimes constituted “widespread and systematic attacks against a civilian population, in particular demonstrators and alleged dissidents.” In the document, Gaddafi is stated to have authorized the mobilization of security forces against protesters, along with the recruitment of mercenaries.
In his television addresses, Gaddafi called protesters “rats” and threatened “to clean Libya inch by inch, house by house, small street by small street, individual by individual, corner by corner until the country is clean from all garbage and dirt.” Victims’ relatives were permitted to retrieve bodies of civilians killed in demonstrations only if they signed a paper stating that the victims were “rats”.
Not even cemeteries and burial sites were spared by the Libyan regime: according to the document, bodies were dug up, loaded on trucks and taken away. On April 30, Gaddafi asked those who claim that the regime was killing its own people to show him the bodies or autopsies or burial sites.
Two years ago, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant of arrest for another head of state, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, for his responsibility in crimes of genocide against the Fur, Masali and Zaghawa ethnic groups, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Ahmad Harun, former minister of State for the Interior and today governor of the South Kordofan region is quoted as publicly acknowledging his mission to destroy specific ethnic groups, stating that al-Bashir had given him the power to kill whomever he wanted and that, “for the sake of Darfur, they were ready to kill three quarters of the people in Darfur, so that one quarter could live.”
The document also reported how thousands of women and girls were, and continue to be, raped in Darfur by members of Bashir’s militias.
Survivors from the attacks by government-related militias are forced into inhospitable terrain to then starve to death, while they are told slogans like “the Fur are slaves, we will kill them”; “You are Zaghawa tribe, you are slaves”;”You are blacks, no blacks can stay here, and no black can stay in Sudan… The power of al-Bashir belongs to the Arabs and we will kill you until the end.”
After UN chief Ban Ki-moon sent warm greetings to Iran’s “Anti-Terrorism” Conference, UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer urges him to retract. Interviewed on the Arlene Bynon Show, Toronto Talk Radio AM 640, June 28, 2011. “This is like Bernie Madoff leading an initiative to combat fraud,” said Neuer.
From today’s daily UN press conference: full transcript here, video here.
Question: Thank you, Farhan. I have a report, message this morning from the organization UN Watch in Geneva about an international conference on global fight against terrorism in Tehran, which has a purported message from the Secretary-General — I am not vouching for the English on this — this is a reproduction from the conference’s website; it says: “In a written message to international conference on fight against terrorism in Tehran, UN Secretary emphasized right against terrorism is a great responsibility for all nations and Governments.” My question to you is…
Acting Deputy Spokesperson: You mean “fight”, not “right” against terrorism.
Question: Pardon?
Acting Deputy Spokesperson: Fight against terrorism; not right against terrorism.
Question: It said “fight”, I am reading… As I said, I am not vouching for the English. Did the Secretary-General make such a statement? In fact, did he say — I am sure he has said something like that any number of times, did he make this, send this particular statement directly on the occasion of this conference?
Acting Deputy Spokesperson: Yes. In fact there is a message that was delivered on his behalf. Obviously, the Secretary-General did not deliver it first-hand; but a message has been delivered on his behalf. We are getting the text, and we’ll put that out in fact this afternoon. As you know, the Secretary-General believes that all nations, all peoples are affected by terrorism; and that it is imperative that we involved as many States, as many peoples as possible in the fight against terrorism.
GENEVA — After a UN spokesperson defended the world body’s endorsement of Iran’s “anti-terrorism” conference—which accused the US, Britain, and Israel of perpetrating terrorism, and asserted a cover-up concerning 9/11 and the Holocaust—UN Watch today called on US and British representatives to intervene.
As reported today by The Jerusalem Post, a UN spokesperson defended Ban Ki-moon’s message to the conference, presented in person by a UN counter-terrorism official, saying, “the UN believes that it is important for all nations to work together in the fight against terrorism.”
UN Watch expressed “deep disappointment” with this reponse, and sent letters today to US Ambassador Susan Rice and British Ambassador Mark Justin Lyall Grant (see below), asking them to demand a UN retraction.
“If the Chinese Communist Party will now organize an international conference for internet freedom, and if Syria’s President Assad will hold one for the right to peaceful protest, will the UN also endorse those, on grounds that it is important for all nations to work together in promoting human rights?” asked Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based human rights monitoring organization.
“With Iran now trumpeting headlines such as ‘UN Chief Praises Tehran’s Anti-Terror Initiative,’ the UN must immediately distance itself from this insult to victims of Iranian terrorism worldwide. Mr. Ban should also condemn Iran’s president – as he has rightly done before — for insulting the memory of the victims of 9/11 and of the Holocaust.”
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mahdi Akhoundzadeh: “We are happy that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is sending his representatives to read out his message to Tehran conference.”
GENEVA — A watchdog organization is calling on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to retract his apparent endorsement of an Iranian government conference on terrorism that seeks to deny Iranian complicity, while instead blaming the US, Britain and Israel. The following letter was sent today to the UN chief by Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch.
# # # # #
His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon
The Secretary-General
The United Nations
New York, NY 10017
25 June 2011
Your Excellency,
Earlier this week, UN Watch warmly welcomed your deserved reelection as UN Secretary-General and applauded your principled leadership. It is in that spirit that we call upon you to distance yourself and the United Nations from a cynical conference now underway in Iran which claims to have your blessing and that of the United Nations.
Organized by the Iranian government, the conference is entitled “International Conference on Global Fight Against Terrorism.” It began today and ends tomorrow. The opening message by Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei attacked “the United States, Britain and some Western governments, with a black record in terrorist behaviors,” “satanic world powers,” and “terrorist organizations such as the Zionism International Agency.” (http://www.icterrorism.com/en/?news=163)
GENEVA — “UN Watch applauds the reelection of Ban Ki-moon, a principled leader who has advanced the cause of human rights in some of the world’s most troubled areas,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based watchdog organization, in a statement issued today in advance of the UN General Assembly decision expected for this afternoon.
“He appointed the expert panel that exposed Sri Lanka’s 2009 mass killings of Tamils, in the face of vehement opposition from that country and its allies,” said Neuer. “He stood behind protesters in Egypt and Tunisia, condemned Syria’s President Assad for violent repression and torture of children, and denounced U.N. expert Richard Falk for suggesting the U.S. government orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks.”
“Mr. Ban has proven that the U.N. Secretary General can make a difference in raising awareness of human rights abuses and focusing the world’s attention on action needed in promoting universal human rights consistent with the U.N.’s charter and founding purpose. In his second term we call upon the Secretary General to confront powerful U.N. players like China and Russia for continuing gross human rights abuses and to demand the release of political prisoners like China’s Liu Xiaobo.”
UN Watch is a Swiss non-profit organization founded in Geneva in 1993. The independent human rights group is governed by an international board chaired by Ambassador Alfred H. Moses, a prominent attorney who formerly served as U.S. Special Presidential Emissary for the Cyprus Conflict and as Ambassador to Romania. The organization’s mission is to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).
Today the Human Rights Council adopted its first ever resolution on gay rights with a vote of 23 to 19. Below are some excerpts from the speeches delivered during the adoption process.
“We commend the US for its strong leadership in the adoption of a landmark UN resolution for gay victims of persecution,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights monitor.
“Yet when it came to addressing the world’s most urgent situations, hypocrisy at the UN Human Rights Council reached new heights today when the 47-nation body condemned Israel for the fourth time, in a resolution sponsored by the Arab and Islamic states, about last year’s flotilla incident, while refusing to condemn Syria’s massacre of many hundreds in recent days. Yemen, Bahrain, and Iran also enjoyed impunity in today’s voting.”
South Africa: “When we were put in prison and repressed (during apartheid), we received help from all over the world, we never said we would not receive support because of sexual identity. And when we seek jobs, we do not seek them based on sexual identity.”
Brazil: “We are here today to live up to the commitment made in 1948 that all human beings are born equal and free.” And then “we hope that winds of change will inspire us for new perspectives.”
Pakistan said that introducing new rights “may misinterpret the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…these attempts jeopardize the entire human rights framework,” and that “while considering the issue of human rights many things must be kept in mind… these things [gay rights] have nothing to do with fundamental human rights.”
Nigeria said: “We are aware that 90% of South Africans do not support this resolution,” which prompted some noise in the room. He went on: “Such attemps constitute contempt to human rights… we are dealing with a matter with falls outside of human rights… and we want to make it very clear: no country should be restrained on having laws on sexual orientation.”
SaudiArabia: As stated in the Vienna Declaration, cultural and religious considerations must be taken into acount on human rights. It is not acceptable and reasonable to impose views on other countries and that this is not only contrary to Sharia but also to all other monotheistic religions.
Mexico, supporting the draft, said: “We are human beings, and discrimination on sexual orientation is the same as others.”
Mauritania: “I wonder: Don’t you think this subject, in addition to being highly controversial on a cultural, religious and moral/ethical level, is it at the level of other subjects we are considering here like rights of women, poverty… ?”
“The agenda of the Council and the framework for the programme of work are as specified in the annex to Council resolution 5/1.” With this one sentence the UN General Assembly, in a resolution planned for tomorrow, will perpetuate the Human Rights Council’s special focus on Israel through its infamous Agenda Item 7, entitled “Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.” Click here for video and text of UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer blasting the UN for its twisted priorities at a time when Syria and other Arab states are massacring their own citizens.
Statement delivered by Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, to the UN Human Rights Council in its debate under Agenda Item 4, “Human Rights Situations That Require the Council’s Attention,” 16 June 2011.
Madam President,
If human rights standards are applied selectively, in what sense can they be considered standards? The credibility of the United Nations turns on this question.
Let us consider and compare two events.
One year ago, this council was holding a three-week session, just like this one. Suddenly, the Arab and Islamic states demanded an interruption, to debate the deaths of nine members of a so-called humanitarian flotilla. As it happens, many of the passengers had been recruited by the Jihadi IHH organization, and had boasted of their seeking to die as martyrs.
GENEVA — Two weeks after the Obama administration announced it would boycott the upcoming UN racism conference known as “Durban III,” the world body unanimously adopted a resolution today detailing the program and speakers for the September 22 event in New York, to include UN chief Ban Ki-moon and top rights official Navi Pillay.
As world leaders will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 2001 Durban Declaration on racism and discrimination, a coalition of 25 non-governmental organizations will be holding a parallel summit, adjacent to the UN, to give voice to victims worldwide, according to a statement issued today by UN Watch, an independent human rights monitoring group based in Geneva.
The NGO Human Rights Summit, to be organized by UN Watch in partnership with an international civil society coalition, will take place on September 21-22, 2011, beginning on the same day as President Obama will open the annual session of the UN General Assembly.
“This will be a golden opportunity for human rights groups to turn an international spotlight on some of the most pressing situations, demand action for victims, and urge the UN to remove violator states from the membership of its human rights agencies,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. Continue reading ’25 rights groups to hold victim summit in parallel to Durban III’
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution this morning that details the program and speakers for its September 22, 2011 summit of world leaders, known as “Durban III,” to commemorate the controversial 2001 Durban Declaration. Notable elements include:
Speakers at the high-level meeting will include UN chief Ban Ki-moon and top rights official Navi Pillay, who recently admitted to being “naive” in having downplayed fears in 2009 that the Durban II conference would be manipulated for political ends by Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Also speaking will be South African President Jacob Zuma.
The date has changed. The event was previously set for Sept. 21, a day after the opening of the UNGA General Debate. But the latter was moved a day later, and so Durban III followed.
The two round-table sessions, co-chaired by two heads of state, will be webcast. This was inserted by the G-77 bloc of developing states to boost the status of the event.
Selected NGOs will be invited. One hopes that GONGOs will this time be excluded. The Gadhafi-created group “North-South 21” — a Libyan-funded propaganda vehicle that masquerades as a NGO but which in fact manages the Moammar Gadhafi Human Rights Prize — was a leading player in politicizing Durban I and Durban II.
Six months after Canada announced its non-participation, the U.S. recently said it would also keep away from the September event.
UN rights chief Navi Pillay is at it again. The first thing she did when she began her job in September 2008 was attack Western countries and Jewish groups for daring to question the UN’s Durban II racism conference organized by regimes like Libya and Iran, and championed by her office. Now she’s calling Australia “racist,” and condemning Israel for defending itself from Assad-organized “demonstrators” seeking to storm the hostile Syria-Israel border. Click here for study showing how Pillay has a long record of turning a blind eye to the world’s worst abusers. Her moral compass is broken. See video and UN press release below.
UN press release: Pillay condemns killing of protestors in occupied Golan Heights and urges investigations
GENEVA – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Tuesday she was deeply troubled by reports of use of live fire by Israeli security forces against civilians protesting along the ceasefire line between the occupied Golan Heights and Syria on 5 June.
“Between 30 and 40 protestors have reportedly been killed by Israeli security forces in the past three weeks,” she said. “The Government of Israel has a duty to ensure that its security personnel avoid the use of excessive force.”
“However difficult the circumstances, the use of live ammunition against allegedly unarmed protestors, resulting in large numbers of deaths and injuries, inevitably raises the question of unnecessary and excessive use of force.”
The 5 June incident occurred as protestors called for an end to the occupation of the Golan, as they marked the anniversary of the 1967 War during which Israel occupied the area. Reports have suggested that more than 20 civilians were killed and hundreds injured as a result of Israeli gunfire. Other reports suggest some of the casualties may have been caused by the detonation of landmines buried on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line.
The High Commissioner urged Israel to comply with its obligations under international human rights and international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilians.
Pillay also expressed concern over allegations that civilians were encouraged by the Syrian authorities to protest in areas where landmines are located. “Syrian authorities have an obligation to ensure that civilians are prevented from entering areas where landmines are planted,” she said.
Especially given conflicting allegations on the use of molotov cocktails by protestors and on whether or not all necessary precautions were taken before the use of live ammunition by security forces, Pillay called on both sides to carry out independent, impartial, transparent and thorough investigations into the events of 5 June. She also reminded Israel of its obligation to carry out investigations into the events surrounding the protests of 15 May in the occupied Palestinian territory, the occupied Golan Heights and on the Lebanese border, which resulted in the loss of 15 civilian lives.
“Where there is evidence that crimes were committed, prosecution and appropriate punishment must follow,” Pillay added.
The High Commissioner echoed the UN Secretary-General’s call for maximum restraint on all sides.
ENDS
OHCHR Country Page – Israel http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/MENARegion/Pages/ILIndex.aspx
OHCHR Country Page – Syrian Arab Republic http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/MENARegion/Pages/SYIndex.aspx
For more information or interviews, please contact spokesperson Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 or rcolville@ohchr.org ) or press officers: Ravina Shamdasani (+ 41 22 917 9310 or rshamdasani@ohchr.org ) or Xabier Celaya (+ 41 22 917 9383 or xcelaya@ohchr.org )
In an exhaustive study, UN Watch examined all statements by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay published on the UN website between September 2008 and June 2010. Our findings show a questionable sense of priorities:
Ms. Pillay turned a blind eye to most of the world’s worst abusers. She made no statement on the human rights situations of 146 countries. She failed to voice any concern for victims in 34 countries rated “Not Free” by Freedom House—meaning those with the worst records, and the most needy victims. She failed to criticize another 50 countries rated “partly free” and 63 countries rated “free.” Among the countries not criticized: Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Brunei, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo (Brazzaville), Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mauritania, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
There were 21 statements on countries in the Middle East and North Africa. However, of these, 9 were on Israel, the only democracy in the region.
Ms. Pillay failed to issue any public statement in response to the well-documented violence against demonstrators in Iran following the June 2009 presidential elections. Her first comment appeared three months after initial reports and video evidence of government-backed paramilitary forces arbitrarily arresting, beating and killing protestors were released. Moreover, her call on the Iranian government to “release those detained for peaceful protest, to investigate reports of their ill-treatment, and to ensure respect for human rights” was made only as part of her traditional opening speech at the UN Human Rights Council session in September 2009. She did not give a press conference and chose not to issue a dedicated statement on the matter.
In an “unprecedented effort to engage” with the Arab countries, Pillay made a 10-day tour of the six Arab countries comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) from April 17, 2010 to April 26, 2010. Public statements during or in reference to this tour were largely positive and benign. While the High Commissioner did raise some human rights concerns, the discussion of human rights situations in those countries was largely muted. In instances when Pillay raised a human rights concern, she favored praising the country’s progress over naming recorded abuses or highlighting ongoing violations.
During this period, the Syrian government continued to repress minorities and restrict freedom of expression and assembly despite promises of greater transparency by President Bashar al-Assad. In July 2010, the military trials of two renowned human rights lawyers, Haytham al-Maleh and Muhanad al-Hasani resulted in sentenced convictions for criticizing the Syrian authorities on human rights grounds. In March 2010, Syrian military stormed the home of and detained Kurdish leader Abdel Hafez Abdel, and detained journalists, bloggers and writers for exposing government abuse and corruption. However, the High Commissioner did not respond to any of these events, and over the course of her tenure, did not make any public comments about the state of human rights in Syria.
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