\u201cCredibility of UN Rights Council at stake,\u201d says UN Watch<\/p>\n
Thursday, October 27, 2016 5:18 pm<\/p>\n
\u201cCredibility of UN Rights Council at stake,\u201d says UN Watch<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n New Report:<\/u><\/a> UNHRC Candidates China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Malaysia and Rwanda are \u201cNot Qualified\u201d; Guatemala, South Africa and Tunisia are \u201cQuestionable\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n GENEVA, October 27, 2016 \u2013 <\/strong>As the U.N. prepares to elect 14 nations tomorrow to its highest human rights body, UN Watch urged U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power and EU foreign minister Federica Mogherini to end their \u201cdeafening silence\u201d on the candidacies of China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Malaysia and Rwanda, which were found to be \u201cNot Qualified\u201d under the U.N.\u2019s own membership criteria, in a report<\/u><\/a> released by UN Watch, Human Rights Foundation and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights.<\/p>\n The qualifications of Guatemala, South Africa and Tunisia were deemed \u201cquestionable\u201d based on problematic human right records or in their UN voting records.<\/p>\n Click here for PDF of the full report.<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cChina, Cuba, Russia, and Saudi Arabia systematically violate the human rights of their own citizens,\u201d said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, \u201cand they consistently vote the wrong way on UN initiatives to protect the human rights of others.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor the UN to elect Saudi Arabia as a world judge on human rights would be like a town making a pyromaniac into chief of the fire department,\u201d said Neuer.<\/strong><\/p>\n UN Watch has been leading the campaign<\/u><\/a><\/strong> this year with a coalition of NGOs to oppose the re-election of Saudi Arabia, Russia, China and Cuba, as well as the new election bids of Egypt, Iraq, Malaysia and Rwanda, by lobbying governments, and through online petitions<\/u><\/a>, high profile parliamentary events<\/u><\/a>, UN press conferences<\/u><\/a>, university lectures<\/u><\/a>, YouTube videos<\/u><\/a>, and op-eds in the Washington Post<\/u><\/a> and other major newspapers.<\/p>\n \u201cRegrettably,\u201d said Neuer, \u201cneither the U.S. nor the EU has said a word about hypocritical candidacies that will undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the UN human rights system. By turning a blind eye as human rights violators easily join and subvert the council, leading democracies will be complicit in the world body\u2019s moral decline.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be an insult to their political prisoners and many other victims \u2014 and a defeat for the global cause of human rights \u2014 if the UN helps gross abusers act as champions and global judges of human rights. When the U.N.\u2019s highest human rights body becomes a case of the foxes guarding the henhouse, the world\u2019s victims suffer,\u201d said Neuer.<\/p>\n Click here for PDF of the full report.<\/u><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n *********<\/p>\n KEY RESOURCES<\/strong><\/p>\n Following are key campaign resources for activists and journalists:<\/p>\n Report on Candidates<\/strong><\/p>\n Click here for the report<\/a><\/strong>, by UN Watch, Human Rights Foundation and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, analyzing which candidates should be rejected.<\/p>\n Absurd Pledges by Dictatorships<\/strong><\/p>\n Dictatorships have published and submitted to the UN absurd claims about their human rights record, which have been analyzed and exposed by UN Watch:<\/p>\n Quotes by Dissidents & Activists<\/strong><\/p>\n Click here for quotable comments <\/a>on the election by leading human rights dissidents and activists.<\/p>\n Petitions Online<\/strong><\/p>\n Advocacy Videos<\/strong><\/p>\n Victim Testimonies & Press Conferences<\/strong><\/p>\n Click here for a series of YouTube videos<\/a> featuring victim testimonies, and NGO press conferences, opposing the election of abusers to the UNHRC for 2017-2019.<\/p>\n Op-Eds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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