Archive for the 'Human Rights Watch' Category

Why HRW’s Ken Roth won’t condemn the kidnapping of Israeli children

Published on June 16, 2014 in Human Rights Watch by unwatch. Closed

In contrast to the UN secretary-general and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the head of Human Rights Watch is refusing to unequivocally condemn Thursday’s kidnapping of Israeli teenagers, emphasizing instead that they attended school in an “illegal settlement,” and demanding that his critics first condemn an unrelated event from a month ago, the alleged IDF killing of masked rock-throwers.

After repeated appeals from Twitter users for HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth to end his silence on the abductions, Roth finally responded with this carefully-constructed tweet: “Attending school at illegal settlement doesn’t legitimize apparent kidnapping of Israel teens. They should be freed.”

But why would Roth even bother to mention that the youths — two of them aged 16 — studied in an “illegal settlement”? Continue reading ‘Why HRW’s Ken Roth won’t condemn the kidnapping of Israeli children’

Why does Ken Roth keep blaming Egyptian abuses on Israel?

Published on July 30, 2013 in Human Rights Watch by unwatch. Closed

Outrage over UN’s Sudan election discredits prior apologetics

Published on February 27, 2013 in ECOSOC, Human Rights Watch and Sudan by unwatch. 0 Comments

Néstor Osorio, president of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), has informed delegations that Sudan — whose leader is wanted for genocide by the International Criminal Court — would chair the humanitarian affairs segment of its annual session. A sharp protest by Canada, the US, and the EU has now sparked further consultations. Click here for details.

The welcome new outrage by Western diplomats over the UN’s legitimizing of Sudan discredits earlier attempts by several UN players to minimize Khartoum’s political victory.

When UN Watch first protested Sudan’s November election to ECOSOC, Human Rights Watch’s Peggy Hicks — in a bizarre move for a human rights activist  clearly opposed to genocide in Darfur — rushed to Twitter to downplay the move.

Hicks, herself a former UN human rights official, sought to stem outrage over Sudan’s election by challenging UN Watch’s description of ECOSOC as a top UN body dealing with human rights. Continue reading ‘Outrage over UN’s Sudan election discredits prior apologetics’