Sunday, September 30, 2007

Human Rights Council admits wrongdoing

The president of the UN Human Rights Council has finally admitted that the council has criticized Israel unfairly.

Jerusalem Post: The United Nations Human Rights Council has not managed to deal fairly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the council's president Doru-Romulus Costea told a Spanish newspaper on Saturday, according to Israel Radio.

Doru admitted that he was dissatisfied with the fact the council had overly focused on the degree of human rights violations by Israel.

"The body which I head must examine the actions of both sides equally, and we have not done that," said Costea. "Clearly, from now on things need to change."

Israel Radio reported that earlier this week, US President George Bush criticized the UN Human Rights Council, saying that it had put too great an emphasis on Israeli actions.

It is about time. All that is needed is for the UNHRC to apologise for its previous incompetence and bias. This council has condemned Israel without fail, but rarely (if ever) chastises Hamas and Islamic Jihad for using Qassam rockets against civilians. This council has done very little about human rights abuses in Iran, China, Sudan, Myanmar, Syria, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Belarus.

The UNHRC is not a human rights organisation, because it does very little about serious human rights abuses. It is an anti-Israel organization. The UN has been anti-Israel for decades, and the Islamic countries use their numbers to sway votes against Israel.

Israeli Arabs have more rights than Arabs in many Arab countries. Firstly, all citizens of Israel are entitled to vote, regardless of their race. Many Arab countries are ruled, in part or in full, by an unelected monarch. Israel is one of the only countries in the Middle East that does not have a policy of persecuting homosexuals. In contrast, being openly homosexual in Saudi Arabia would earn you a public flogging at best and at worst, the death penalty.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Israel’s journalists ‘enjoy a freedom not found elsewhere in the region.’ Israel is the only country in the Middle East with a free press. Most Middle Eastern countries are considered by the organization to have ‘noticeable problems’, a ‘difficult situation’ or a ‘very serious situation’ when it comes to press freedom.

What the UN has not realised is that condemnation and pleading does not bring an end to human rights abuses. Hitler was not stopped by diplomatic means, Ahmadinejad and the Mullah won’t be stopped by diplomatic means, and the Darfur genocide will not be stopped by diplomatic means. The only language understood by many of the human rights abusers is intimidation and force. Perhaps the threat of an attack by international forces would persuade Iran, Sudan, Myanmar and the others mentioned to stop?

Disband the UN – an overhaul is impossible. The United Nations needs to be replaced with a proper international organization.

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