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UN Watch Oral Statement
Delivered by Abigail Chernick, 8 June 2009
Agenda ...
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UN Watch Oral Statement
Delivered by Abigail Chernick, 8 June 2009
Agenda Item 3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development
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Thank you, Mr. President.
Today we ask: How can we protect the rights of the Universal Declaration — the rights to life, to equality, to freedom of religion and speech, to be free of arbitrary arrest, torture and slavery?
One way is by recognizing the heroes who inspire activists the world over for the cause of human rights.
In this session, one hero immediately comes to mind. It is the man, whose iconic image is permanently displayed on our website, unwatch.org. Who, 20 years ago this month, exercised his Article 20 right to peaceful assembly, by facing down a column of tanks. To this day, this hero—his identity and fate unknown—stands as a universal symbol of human freedom, courage, and dignity.
And the world still has heroes today who embody these virtues, the founding human rights virtues of the United Nations:
- Heroes like Aung San Suu Kyi, who in 1990 exercised her Article 21 right to run for election, and, when she won, was punished with 13 years of house arrest. Her latest trial only underscores the gross violations of international human rights law that she and her people endure.
- Heroes like Ahamad Batebi, who exercised his right to peaceful assembly in 1999 at the University of Tehran, and gained international fame when The Economist featured a cover picture of him, holding up a shirt splattered with the blood of a fellow protester. He was brutally imprisoned and tortured for nearly a decade. As we heard from his testimony here in April, available at genevasummit.org, his torturers cut him and then put salt in his wounds.
- Heroes like Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo, who suffered years in Cuban prisons for the crime of advocating democracy. And like Saad Eddin Ibrahim, jailed for monitoring elections in the country that just hosted President Obama.
Mr. President, When will this Council follow their example, and take action for victims worldwide?
Thank you, Mr. President.
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HumanRightsUN uploaded a new video
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UN Watch Oral Statement, Delivered by Hillel Neuer, 8 June 2009
Agenda It...
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UN Watch Oral Statement, Delivered by Hillel Neuer, 8 June 2009
Agenda Item 4: Human rights situations that require the councils attention
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Thank you, Mr. President.
In addressing human rights, the world stands at a crossroads. President Obamas decision for the U.S. to join this council next week marks a new opportunity. Will we continue on the same path as before—a path that has failed the victims—or choose a new way?
We know the old way, the prevailing way. I have previously discussed the Councils inaction in face of crimes such as Saudi Arabias subjugation of women; Chinas arrest of pro-democracy bloggers; and the racist discrimination of President Ahmadinejads government, against Sunni Arabs, Azeris, Bahais, Baluchis, and Kurds, and his persecution of gays, even as he denies they exist.
The root problem is the logic that prevails today among the dominant majority. We just heard it at recent special session on Sri Lanka. We ask:
Is it logical to ignore Sri Lankas 20,000 dead civilians, and 300,000 now languishing in camps, until—as its distinguished representative just told this council—we discuss the colonial crimes of France and the UK from decades ago?
Is it logical, as Egypt and others said at the 22 May consultation, that Sri Lankas situation should be ignored until we discuss Afghanistan and Iraq? What stops these countries from convening special session on these situations?
Was it logical for Cuba, a police state, to lead the council in killing the draft resolution that would have spoken for the victims?
Was it logical for a body dedicated to protecting human rights—which means scrutinizing and limiting government encroachment of individual freedoms—to justify inaction on the basis of the long-discredited doctrine of non-interference in internal affairs, a doctrine that no longer applies in international law, in the era of the responsibility to protect?
Mr. President,
This old, prevailing logic says that human rights is a political weapon. But human rights is the birthright of mankind. Let us move to a new logic, a new way — and let human rights start a new day.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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HumanRightsUN uploaded a new video
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On May 27, 2009, after Sri Lankan government troops killed an estimated ...
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On May 27, 2009, after Sri Lankan government troops killed an estimated 20,000 Tamil civilians, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution PRAISING Sri Lanka. Cuba led Russia, Saudi Arabia, China and others in passing a "No Action" motion that killed a Western-sponsored resolution that would have held Sri Lanka to account. UN Watch, represented by Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fellow Marissa Cramer, spoke out for the victims and for basic principles of human rights.
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UN Watch Oral Statement to the UN Human Rights Council Special Session on Human Rights in Sri Lanka
Delivered by Marissa Cramer, Geneva, 27 May 2009
Protecting Human Rights vs. Internal Affairs
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Thank you, Mr. President.
UN Watch is alarmed by the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, and calls for immediate action to help all innocent victims.
UN Watch aligns itself with the many countries in this session who condemned the Tamil Tigers for targeting innocent civilians, forcibly recruiting child soldiers, and using civilians as human shields.
In the history of terrorism, the Tigers will be remembered for pioneering the tactic of suicide bombing, one tragically copied by terrorist groups in other regions.
At the same time, we agree with the High Commissioner that the ends cannot justify the means. We remind the government of Sri Lanka that nothing permits the evasion of its obligation to respect international human rights and humanitarian law.
The government must be held accountable for shelling densely populated areas, including in no-fire zones; for ignoring the UNs urgent appeal for a humanitarian pause; for confining hundreds of thousands of civilians to camps behind barbed wire, causing hunger and disease; and for denying access to such camps to the outside world, including international aid workers.
Doctors that dared to publicize the governments actions against civilians have suffered retaliation, while journalists are systematically repressed. In the words of the UN spokesman in Sri Lanka, we have witnessed the large-scale killing of civilians, indeed a bloodbath.
Mr. President, the situation in Sri Lanka today is a human rights emergency — a human rights catastrophe.
And so the question facing us today is this: Will the Council fulfill its basic obligation to protect human rights victims and improve the situation on the ground?
Based on what we have heard this session, we fear the answer. Because we have heard a great many justifications for inaction — for the Council to ignore its universal mandate and responsibility to protect victims in any country.
We heard Egypt for the African Group describe the situation in Sri Lanka as a matter of (quote) internal affairs.
We heard Pakistan for the Organization of the Islamic Conference invoke a principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. We heard it call this session a (quote) waste of time, effort, and money.
Mr. President,
Is protecting innocent civilians from massive violations of human rights a waste of time, effort and money?
Mr. President,
At the January session, was it not the distinguished representative of Sri Lanka who told this Council, and I quote, We, the Human Rights Council here, must show that we are watching; that we are listening; and that we are responsive?
In that same session, was it not he who asked: If the Council does not stand up for innocent people, then what does it stand for, and why does it exist?
Thank you, Mr. President.
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HumanRightsUN uploaded a new video
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HumanRightsUN uploaded a new video
(2 months ago)
This video was shown for the first time at the Rally for Israel, Human R...
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This video was shown for the first time at the Rally for Israel, Human Rights and Peace, organized in Geneva on 22 April 2009, during the U.N. Durban II conference. The mother of Venus, the rescued Sudanese girl, appeared in person to thank Israel for its humanitarian act. Copyright (c) 2009 UN Watch.
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