What's New

Resources updated between Monday, June 11, 2007 and Sunday, June 17, 2007

June 15, 2007

June 14, 2007

Last summer Iranian-backed Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers and then launched nearly 4,000 rockets at Israeli population centers, with the intent of killing as many civilians as possible. At the UN, the Lebanese delegate justifyies the terrorism excusing the existence and operations of Hezbollah.

Right of Reply of Lebanon to the statement of Israel on the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the follow-up to the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lebanon Development

Iran makes use of the UN Human Rights Council - not for the purpose of protecting human rights.

Right of Reply of Iran to Israel's statement on the Report of the Fact-finding mission on Beit Hanoun Development

The NGOs Badil and Defence for Children International use the UN Human Rights Council to refer to the creation and existence of the State of Israel as 59 years of ongoing "Nakba" or "catastrophe." A Jewish presence - or "Judaization" - inside Israel's 1948 borders is their problem - the UN is their global platform.

Oral Statement of the NGOs Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights & Defence for Children International on the Report of the fact-finding mission to Beit-Hanoun Development

June 13, 2007

Algeria uses the Human Rights Council to legitimize terrorism against Israelis. Algeria criticizes those who "tend to set any violation of human rights by the occupying power against the violence that the people of the occupied territory resort to legitimately to liberate themselves... You cannot set violations of human rights by a military occupant against the violence of the resistance to this occupation."

Statement of Algeria on the Report of the fact-finding mission on Beit Hanoun Development

Malaysia uses the Human Rights Council to blame the victims of terrorism, ignoring the state sponsors of terrorism and their henchman that are responsible for civilian suffering everywhere.

Statement of Malaysia on the Report of the Fact-finding Mission on Beit Hanoun Development

A fictional account of the warfare sponsored and nurtured by Islamic fundamentalism, courtesy of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and broadcast by the UN.

Statement of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on the Report of the Fact-finding Mission on Beit Hanoun Development

Nord-Sud XXI uses the Human Rights Council to promote extremist pro-terrorist views -- stating "[e]very member of the international community can support the Palestinian struggle."

Statement of the NGO Nord-Sud XXI on the Report of the Fact-finding Mission on Beit Hanoun Development

Iran, a country with an appalling human rights record, advocates [successfully] a permanent UN Human Rights Council agenda item on Israel. Only a few years ago, Iran defeated the renewal of the mandate of a UN investigator on Iranian human rights abuse. Another example of how the UN serves human rights abusers - in the name of human rights.

Statement of Iran on the Report of the Fact-finding Mission on Beit Hanoun Development

Luis Alfonso de Alba

In his proposed text on setting up the institutions of the Human Rights Council, the President of the Human Rights Council promotes the condemnation of Israel (and only Israel) as a permanent item on the agenda. -- a move in obvious conflict with his alleged insistence that the agenda conform to principles of "universality," "objectivity," and "non-selectiveness."

Revised Text of the President of the Human Rights Council on Institution Building Development

June 12, 2007

Malaysia joins those who call for eliminating mandates that single out rights-abusing countries: "days of naming and shaming through politically motivated approach should be put behind us."

Statement of Malaysia on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Belarus Development

India expresses reservations about the "indiscriminate" use of country-specific resolutions against the wishes of the country concerned, claiming that promotion and protection of human rights can best be achieved through cooperation and dialogue.

Statement of India on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Belarus Development

Rights abusing countries use the Human Rights Council as a platform to defend each other. The representative of Iran recommends that country mandates be discontinued due to the fact that their "establishment is based on [the] political agenda of Sponsors[,]" and that all country mandates that are politicized, especially the mandate on Belarus, should be terminated.

Statement of Iran on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Belarus Development

Rather than address the serious violations of human rights in Belarus as detailed in the Special Rapporteur's report, Pakistan attacks the messenger.

Statement of Pakistan on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Belarus Development

South Africa advocates for a Human Rights Council that lacks the ability to single out those who abuse human rights. "We strongly believe that in order for this Council to function in a spirit of cooperation and dialogue, it should terminate all country mandates."

Statement of South Africa on Special Procedures Development

The African Group proposes a code of conduct for human rights investigators appointed by the Human Rights Council. The idea? To control or stifle potential condemnation of human rights abusers.

Revised Draft Resolution on a Code of Conduct for Mandate Holders of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council Development

John Dugard

John Dugard, the UN Special Rapporteur with a mandate to criticize Israel and ignore Palestinian human rights violations, is a perfect fit inside a UN that can't define terrorism. Who is the terrorist according to Dugard? Why Israel of course. Dugard accuses Israel of "terrorization of Palestinians." Needless to say, he doesn't mention the word Palestinian terrorist.

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, John Dugard, on the non-implementation of Human Rights Council resolution S-1/1 Development

June 11, 2007

Notwithstanding decades of racism at the hands of Mugabe, Zimbabwe announces "There is no discrimination against any racial group in Zimbabwe."

Right of Reply of Zimbabwe to Special Rapporteurs Development

The NGO Union of Arab Jurists calls Saddam Hussein the "legitimate president of Iraq" and objects to the Security Council's establishing a tribunal to investigate the assassination of Rafiq Hariri.

Statement of the NGO Union of Arab Jurists on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Development

Nord-Sud XXI uses the Human Rights Council platform to accuse the United States of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Statement of the NGO Nord-Sud XXI on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Development

According to Algeria anti-semitism is suffered by Arabs. In fact, the word was coined in the 19th century to mean Jew-hatred, but Algeria would rather foment more Jew-hatred than admit there are Jewish victims of racism. Algeria uses the UN human rights platform to say: "[L]et's not forget that antisemitism is not the privilege of a small small group. It's not only something directed to a small group of Semitic peoples but both Jewish people and Arabs as well are victims of this type of prejudice...[R]ight now it's become politically incorrect to be antisemitic against Jews. Well now it is correct to be antisemitic against the Arab peoples. Antisemitism is a form of racism that we've all experienced..."

Statement of Algeria on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance Development

Responding to the Special Rapporteur on Racism, the Organization of the Islamic Conference laments the trend of "giving preference to freedom of expression over all other freedoms, such as freedom of religions."

Statement of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance Development

This "non-paper" is the result of nearly a year's worth of discussion on the agenda and annual program of work of the Human Rights Council. Proposed agenda items that still require "more negotiation" are "human rights situations that require the Council's attention" and the "Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories" which includes the "Right to self-determination of the Palestinian people." No other group of people is singled out by name.

Non-paper on the agenda and annual programme of work Development

Luis Alfonso de Alba

The General Assembly resolution that created the Human Rights Council called for a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism. It would purportedly conduct a serious review of human rights conditions in all UN states, in particular members of the Human Rights Council. The President of the Human Rights Council weakens the UPR by proposing in this text that it "take into account the level of development and specificities of countries" providing several shields behind which human rights abuses can hide. The President's text includes the singling out of Israel that characterized the former Commission on Human Rights. On his list of proposed agenda items there is only one country-specific mandate that appears - the one used to condemn Israel on the "Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories."

Text of the President of the Human Rights Council on Institution Building: Universal Periodic Review Mechanism Development

In the High Commissioner's follow-up to the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lebanon, Hezbollah (who started last year's war against Israel) is not mentioned once.

Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the follow-up to the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lebanon Development

Doudou Diène

The UN Special Rapporteur on Racism Doudou Diène fails to mention in his newest report the systematically anti-Semitic Palestinian school system or the Hamas charter which notes that "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews...when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say...there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." Instead, Diène fabricates on the part of Israel the astonishing and totally unsubstantiated claim that "On both sides of the divide, political platforms constantly incite ethnic and religious hatred and violence." Diène also notes that in Iran "public statements, including the remark that Israel be 'wiped off the map' have been interpreted as having anti-Semitic connotations."

Updated study by the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Doudou Diène on Political platforms which promote or incite racial discrimination Development

Louise Arbour

The UN's Big Lie Continues: In the name of "human rights" UN High Commisioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour "marks forty years of occupation of the Palestinian territory." She doesn't mark what was then the third attempt to annihilate the state of Israel by Arab states since Israel was created. The occupation is simply created in a vacuum, without context, and without a deeper problem to solve - namely the rejection then and now of the existence of the state of Israel by the majority of the Arab and Muslim world. She assumes the territory is Palestinian and not subject to any negotiation, though agreements between the parties and UN documents state otherwise. She says nothing about Israel's right of self-defense and instead manufactures a moral equivalence between killing the likes of Hamas leaders Rantisi and Yassin - which the UN wrongly labels extra-judicial execution - and Palestinian targeting of civilians. She refers only to the "Palestinians' right to freedom of movement" and the "Palestinians' exercise of a wide range of other human rights, including health, education, work and family life" and says nothing at all about the entitlement of Israelis to any of these rights. She says nothing about the freedom of movement of Israelis afraid to travel on buses or into neighborhoods because they might be blown up along the way. She says nothing about the right to health of Israelis scarred physically and psychologically from enduring the years Palestinians have targeted civilians in the name of "self-determination." She says nothing about the right to family life of Israelis whose parents and children have died at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. When it comes to Israeli rights, she is suddenly a generalist, unable to make any explicit reference to Israelis kidnapped by Palestinians. Nor is she interested in the violation of the rights of Palestinian children by Palestinians - using Palestinian children as human shields by the terrorists that live among them, encouraging Palestinian children to glorify and emulate violence and become suicide bombers, teaching Palestinian children racism across the education system by indoctrinating a hatred of Jews and rejection of the Jewish state. The UN Big Lie continues - the use of human rights to perpetrate human wrongs.

High Commissioner for Human Rights calls for Human Rights framework in search for lasting solution between Palestinians and Israelis Development