The UN, the officials and the reality

The UN tried to rejuvenate itself by recreating what it wanted to eliminate, a Council for Human Rights lead by human rights abusers. Chances are we will see in horror more of the same. However, while some are satisfied with the new organization, others are either skeptical or simply outraged.

- The first part of this post covers those developments at the UN, opposite reactions.

- The second part is a brief reminder of the UN involvement in the Food for Sex Scandal in Liberia.

- The third part is allocated to Sudan, the UN, the Officials and the others. - Compare analyses.

1- The new and revamped UN Human Rights Council, reactions:

Israel against the world. The new UN Human Rights Council is heading straight into the anti-Zionist morass that helped destroy the body it's meant to replace.

David Matas, Citizen Special
May 08, 2006

"We have witnessed the death throes of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, soon to be replaced by a newly created Human Rights Council. The inauguration of this body should rightly signal a promising new era in human rights-building. However, with the General Assembly due to elect members tomorrow to the Council and its first meeting set for June 19, the ostensibly new and improved body looks as if it will fall into the same pitfalls that led to the commission's abolition.
The commission was abolished because it had ceased to function. Human rights violators had come to realize that they could avoid accountability by becoming members of the commission and then diverting attention away from their violations. The principle diversionary tactic was to focus on Israel. Of the commission's two agenda items dealing with country-specific human rights violations, one was reserved solely for Israel, while the other was meant to cover the rest of the world.
The commission became an Israel-bashing consortium, automatically condemning whatever the Jewish state was doing to defend itself against terrorist attacks. For years, one-third of the time and the resolutions of the Human Rights Commission were devoted to Israel alone. At the same time, there were no resolutions on major human rights violators, not on China or Zimbabwe or Iran.
Will the new council be different? Although it was the UN in New York that decided to create the council, it will be the UN in Geneva deciding its agenda and working methods. In the Geneva discussions, Israel has been sidelined -- a bad sign..." Read the rest here at Difficult Images

Diane