May 27, 2013

Opening Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay at the 23rd session of the Human Rights Council

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Media.aspx?IsMediaPage=true&LangID=E

The UN's top human rights official opened the latest session of the "Human Rights" Council with a frontal attack on the United States. According to Navi Pillay, Guantanamo is "an example of the struggle against terrorism failing to uphold human rights...and the injustice embodied in this detention centre has become an ideal recruitment tool for terrorists." Pillay demanded "European States undertake public and independent investigations of past involvement in the U.S. renditions programme...and to make this a priority." She "worried" about "a lack of clarity on the legal bases for drone strikes" and demanded "prompt investigations" and remedies of violations. What she didn't say: one word about Iran, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, etc. etc. Her preposterous series of countries having "crises" worthy of specific criticism were Syria, Myanmar, Iraq, the Central African Republic, Israel and the United States.