On Oct. 29, in a United Nations chamber in Geneva, a well-orchestrated
farce played out. Unsurprisingly, the western media gave it scant attention.
As is customary for the UN, Israel was the focus. This time, the 47
member nations of the UN Human Rights Council gathered to express brazen
hypocrisy masquerading as earnest politics.
Established in 2006, the UNHRC is intended to monitor human rights
issues and follows a protocol of conducting country-specific reviews every five
years to assess compliance with global standards. The only country in the world
to be singled out by this august body for special scrutiny, set out as a
standing agenda item for every single meeting, is Israel.
Since its inception, of the 19 “special sessions” convened by the UNHRC,
six have focused on Israel. Only when Israel is the subject of such an inquiry
is the phrase “grave situation” used. Fratricide in Syria, apparently, is less
urgent. Not a single special session has been convened regarding North Korea.
Never mind Russia, Saudi Arabia, China.
In the UN, no country on the planet can be a more heinous violator of
human rights than Israel.
Leading the charge against Israel in Geneva were the beacons of
international human rights.
Waffa Bassem, Egypt’s UN Ambassador, condemned Israel’s treatment of
Palestinians, demanded the release of all political prisoners and free movement
for Palestinian refugees.
Wow. This, from a country that condones detention without charges; which
just replaced an elected Islamist government by military putsch; that flooded
Gaza smuggling tunnels and has choked off the passage of goods or people to and
from the territory, with impunity and without exception.
Israel allows building, medical, food and other supplies to pass into
Gaza. Construction materials allowed into Gaza have been diverted to the
building of tunnels burrowing from the Strip into Israel. Hamas makes no effort
to conceal their purpose: to facilitate the kidnap of Israeli soldiers and
execute terrorist raids against civilians. Ho hum.
Iran’s representative refused, in the chamber of a United Nations
conference, to utter the name “Israel,” instead calling it “the regime.” This,
from a country that tortures and murders, en masse, peaceful protesters
demanding basic civil rights.
Qatar. A filthy rich emirate that has been criticized, gently, for using
foreign workers as slaves. In the last few years, according to the Guardian
newspaper, hundreds of migrant labourers went home in coffins, worked to death
in broiling heat, for paltry wages, in deplorable conditions. They die
servicing a $100-billion building spree so that Qatar can put on a big show for
the 2022 World Cup it will host.
Joining in the pile-on were Turkey. Venezuela. Cuba. Is it really
necessary to elaborate?
Why have all the activists — women’s, LGBT, NGOs — gone silent?
The UN is supposed to mean something; it is supposed to set the bar for
decency and integrity.
But, UN operations are predicated on a regional group system, where each
member state belongs to a group intended to ensure equitable geographical
representation. Only through group participation can a state engage, fully, in
the UN’s major juridical institutions, tribunals and inter-state consultations.
Israel’s group — Asia — is dominated by Arab and Muslim members which
block its inclusion.
“This hobbled and undignified position in which … Israel uniquely finds
itself is without doubt morally shocking; but it is also manifestly unlawful
and constitutes a breach of both the letter and the spirit of the Charter of
the United Nations … Israel’s continuing exclusion from the regional group
system is both unlawful and strikes at the roots of the principles on which the
United Nations exists.”
So declared Sir Robert Jennings, eminent Cambridge law professor and
judge of the International Court of Justice, in a legal opinion in 1999.
Not only do his recommendations, reflecting outrage, remain unrectified,
but the UNCHR report on Israel was reviewed and finalized last Friday by the
Maldives, where a 15-year-old rape victim was sentenced to 100 lashes by a
court for “fornication;” and Sierra Leone and Venezuela, hardly renowned for
their human rights record.
Talk about a world gone topsy-turvy.
*Vivian Bercovici is a Toronto lawyer and adjunct professor at the
University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law. Her column appears monthly.
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