The Bush administration was able to accomplish that much even without having a seat on the Human Rights Council itself – which the U.S. in 2006, under Bush and Bolton, declined to join, on grounds that it was too flawed in design to do a decent job. That concern has been richly vindicated. Since the “reformed” Human Rights Council was launched in 2006, it has reverted to the same Orwellian failings as its predecessor, the Human Rights Commission — absolving or ignoring most of the world’s worst human rights abusers (including Iran, on which it has issued not a single condemnatory resolution), and focusing most of its efforts instead on condemning the democratic nation of Israel. Last year alone, the Human Rights Council brought us both the anti-Semitic Durban Review Conference, and terror-biased Goldstone Report).
Under President Barack Obama’s policy of “engagement,” the U.S. reversed course last year, seeking and winning a seat on the Human Rights Council. The rationale of Obama’s UN ambassador Susan Rice was that the U.S. could better leverage good behavior from the Council by “working within.” The effect has been to confer on the Council a renewed legitimacy, which may help explain why Iran again covets a seat.
For Iran to win that seat would send a terrible, disheartening message to the dissidents inside Iran — effectively telling them that the “international community” sides with the thug regime now beating, jailing and killing them in reply to their demands for basic human rights. So where’s the Obama administration on this? We’ve heard nothing yet. Surely “engagement” does not extend to letting Iran slide into a seat on the UN Human Rights Council?
The Obama administration will do nothing to prevent Iran from anything.
The UN should be dissolved — or at the least, the US should get out of it.
Mark Steyn puts it succintly: “What flavor do you get when you mix ice cream and dog feces?”
I don’t know, sure they’re jailing dissidents and disappearing people, and yes homosexuality is a capital offense and all, but are they really qualified for a seat on the Human Rights council? This last round of protests (the anniversary of the revolution) the Iranian government merely shut down the internet to keep protesters from organizing instead of calling the army in to slaughter them. I just don’t see the type of long term devotion to exploring all aspects of human rights violations we have come to expect from members of the UN Human Rights Commission. How can a country fulfill its role on the Human Rights Commission (blaming Israel) unless they have fully explored all the permutations of how to violate human rights?
Come O.J., Come Manson, (and to resurrect a few…) Come Dahmer, Bundy and Gacy!
DOWN WITH THE UN!
These pond scum bottom feeding self-inflated human degrading disembowelments of humanity should be shown for the farce and ANTI-human rights they are just like the global warming alarmists have been rebuked.
CAN I HEAR AN AMEN?!
DOWN WITH THE UN FOREVER!
What bothers me about this is, the UN will probably give them a seat as requested. After all, the “mean” well in all they say, right???
If this happens then the US should pull out of the UN, with all it’s funding and let said council and UN fund itself, if it can. It would not last long.
The Human Rights Council is a travesty of human rights abusers and should be disbanded.
When I was young, the John Birchers had a billboard out on the interstate that said “Get US out of the United Nations.”
I thought they were paranoid and silly. But times sure have changed.
Get US out of the United Nations.
Outrageous!!! Unacceptable! to legitimize Iran’s regime Murdering of their own people.
Why would this surprise anyone. They could follow in the footsteps of Libya who chaired the council, Saudi Arabia, China and many other well known Human Rights protectors
surely we all know by now what a sham the UN is with its inbuilt Arab Afro majority which could vote that the sky is black.
If they are voted on in the secret ballot it will just be further proof that the UN and the HRC are a farce in the same way the Goldstone report is a farce with is flawed inappropriate panel, two of whom had already condemned Israel for committing war crimes before the investigation started and a military “expert” who dates back years with no relevnat experience and who carried out little or no proper military investigation, whcih resulted in him looking at just 2 out of 700 mosques and decreeing he found no evidence of explosives there!!!
Iran is a shoo-in for a seat on the Human Rights Council. They have all the necessary requirements;
1. Anti-Semitism
2. A terrible human rights record at home
3. A well-practiced “victim” act
4. Utter and complete contempt for Western civilization
5. And as a bonus, they are about to become a nuclear power (in the “bomb” sense, that is.)
Plus, their actual leadership are a group of eschatogical fanatics who practice magical thinking at Greenwich Village coffeehouse/Big Sur ashram levels. Except that they believe that they can force a mythical figure to reveal himself if they can Just Kill Enough Unbelievers. Which handily explains (5). (From all indications, being Bats**t F***ing Insane gets you extra-credit points for a seat on the HRC.)
The fact that our present leadership believes that being in the same “club” as this bunch (where they will always be outvoted except when they make a vote unanimous to “be a good neighbor”) speaks volumes about the level of unreality that has always existed at the State Department, and which comes to the surface every time it is equaled or exceeded in the Executive Branch, as it has been since the last election.
I wait with mixed trepidation and anticipation for the first pronouncement from the newly-seated Council. Probably something along the lines of “Death to Israel” plus “Sensible Shoes Will Be Worn On Pain Of Death”.
And our UN delegation (and Te One) will preen themselves at how much “better” things are working. After all, we’re now “engaged”.
Next stop- a really bad marriage.
clear ether
eon
I think Iran should not be deterred from getting a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. If you want to discredit this organization once and for all, then what better way than to have Iran become a member in it? It’s not as if the UNHR Council is a respectable venue, is it? It’s a veritable Mos Eisley, a “wretched hive of scum and villainy.”
Let them be seen for what they are, I say.
I agree with max. What better way to treat human rights in our new Bizarro World and who better to do it?
As a state that has repeatedly threatened another member state, Iran should be expelled from the UN. But Ahmadinejad, every year, is allowed to use the General Assembly as a pulpit to spew his hatred to the entire world. As a serial violator of human rights, I figure that makes Iran eminently qualified for membership on the UN Human Rights Council, according to UN ‘logic’. The entire organization is the worst joke ever perpetrated by humans on the world.
This is very disturbing. I have been against US involvment in the UN for years.
The US will not protest.
Next- Sharia for the world..
Obama will offer some lame reason…”well, I thought if we could mainstream Iran we could help them.” lahblahblahblahblah
YES!! DOWN WITH THE UN ! It would collapse without our support and unless there is some major life changing event, it woun’t happen soon. There is too much money and power envolved.
The UN HRC spends most of its efforts condemning Israel, while ignoring other issues? I wondered if that was true and had a look.
Here are the topics discussed by HRC over the last few months. (I ran out of steam quite quickly)
Leprosy, education, older persons, missing persons, civilians in armed conflict, access to food, peasants, rural women, gender and disability, Haiti, Haiti, elderly, Haiti, food, Haiti, leprosy, missing persons, Haiti, education, implementing Goldstone, Palestine, Occupied Territories and East Jerusalem, Sudan, Cambodia, Somalia, unilateral coercive measures, medicine, advisory services, HIV/AIDS, global financial crises, Myamar (ex Burma), traditional values, Palestine (condemning Palestinian Authority inaction), Cambodia, Somalia, Liberia, Burundi, Cambodia, Judiciary, Education, Migrants, food Honduras, civilians in armed conflict, leprosy, water, food, transitional justice, truth, indigenous people,
Seems the HRC are concerned with human rights of people all over the world, including Palestinians.
What about HRC “silence” on Iran?
The latest HRC report on Iran was three months ago. It’s quite grim. Two paragraphs here:
20. FH noted that torture of prisoners to obtain confessions and for inflicting punishment was routine. AI noted that there had been many reports of torture and other ill-treatment since the disputed presidential elections on 12 June 2009, such as severe beatings, denial of medical treatment, and sexual assault, including rape. There had been official acknowledgement that at least some detainees were tortured and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the closure of Kahrizak detention centre, where treatment had been particularly harsh.
21. KHRA noted that the situation in Iranian prisons for Kurdish prisoners, particularly political prisoners and prisoners of conscience was critical. Torture was systematically practiced by prison guards. Associazione delle Donne Democratiche Iraniane in Italia expressed utmost concern about torture and rape of young people in prisons.
Imagine what the HRC would say if it wasn’t ignoring abuses in Iran?
The problem is that that “the HRC is only interested in condemning Israel” canard is fed both by friends and foes of Israel. The only time either report about the work of the HRC is when it mentions Israel, one side to condemn Israel as particularly evil, the other to condemn the HRC as obsessed about Israel and untrustworthy when talking about Palestinian people.
Neither of those positions seem to be supported by the facts.
With the Obama administration that we have today, this should be a shoe in for Iran. Obama like Carter never met a dictator or tyrant they didn’t love. Not only do we need to get out of the UN, we need to get the UN out of the US. The corruption in the UN even exceeds that of out own politicians, and by God that’s going some.
i hate the un being in new york city ;what with the stench that permeates the air around the complex. john bolton was such a strong voice for everything america once stood for. with bolton gone, we are in treacherous territory. barry and his minions have their faces buried in the groin of every miscreant nation and vile dictator on the planet. the hrc. what a joke.
Dear America,
Is it not time to call it a day,with regards the UN?
The United Nations is not United and is little more than an assembly of disharmonious nations whom use the institution to further often anti-western agenda and block important actions to promote democracy and security within the world.
The UN has failed to deal with dictators and tyrannical regimes and is little more than a very expensive talking shop, which is exactly what world diplomacy can achieve without having to fund a multi-billion $ bureaucracy that is over stuffed with pen pushing gravy train wafflers…
The UN is defunct in the same way the League of Nations was…Pull the plug America and dont look back!
anne is right on. obama would do nothing to stop this. in fact he is in favor of iran being on the committee. it fits into his overall scheme.
Hey, if Barack(spend money on the rabble to buy their votes) Obama can claim to be worried about catastrophic US deficits,why can’t Iran’s theocratic killer thugs aspire to sit on the UN’s human rights`council?It’s a mad,mad,mad,post-modern,surrealist world!
Sickening.
“Surely ‘engagement’ does not extend to letting Iran slide into a seat on the UN Human Rights Council?” …….apparently it does. How would you conclude otherwise, having seen what this group favors and what they resist?
#16 Roy M.
“The UN HRC spends most of its efforts condemning Israel, while ignoring other issues? I wondered if that was true and had a look.”
Well let me take a look at what the HRC really does. Of the 48 resolutions the HRC has passed only 23 (less than 50%) have been addressed to Israel, so I guess you are right there. Note that Burma (Myanmar) and Sudan are tied for 2nd place with 7 each. Note that while the resolutions about Sudan have praised for the country for not killing too many UN personnel, the ones about Israel have criticized it for not allowing more Israel civilians to be killed. But they certainly haven’t ignored it completely.
As for the reports, I wondered what you are talking about. The HRC did in fact “write” a report on Iran about 8 months ago – it was an annual report on human rights in various countries and covered over 40 countries from Bangladesh to Zimbabwe (the annual summary of the Universal Periodic Review). You seem to be referring to A/HRC/WG6/7/IRN/3 from the text, but that has nothing to actually do with the HRC – it is a report of complaints made by various groups to, not the HRC, but the Office of the UHCHR (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) which is a separate body. The UNCHR hasn’t issued a report of the complaints or said the complaints are valid, the report you cite is merely a list of all the complaints made by other groups (Freedom House = FH, Kurdish Human Rights Association = KHRA) to the UHCHR. I suppose the HRC will eventually, in 3+ years, get around to looking at these complaints for it’s next periodic report on Iran (and other countries) but at this point in time the report you cite has nothing to with the HRC aside from the fact that they received a copy of it.
The HRC does weigh and consider other issues besides Israel, however they do put a lot of effort into Israel and criticizing it, far more than do to nations like Iran and considerably more than do to countries like Sudan. You should actually look at what the HRC does (look at the minutes of the 13 special and 13 regular sessions) instead of what other bodies do and the only relation to the HRC is that the HRC receives copies of the reports.
Max,
It was by going through minutes of the last few months that I got my list of issues disscussed by the HRC. From the minutes, mostly what they DO is ‘be an international committee’. International committees can be OK ways of getting stuff done, but when the people represent their national goverenments, and get the little flag on the table in front of them things tend to deteriorate pretty quickly in the ‘doing’ department.
You identified the report correctly, I assumed that the HRC publishing the document on Iran had some signifcance, even if it did not prepare the contents. I can see I could well have been wrong about that, unless ‘some’ means ‘a little.
The reason I started looking at this was that reading Claudia’s article reminded me that I had heard two and only two kinds of stories reported in the media about the HRC
1) It only issues reports about human rights abuses perpetrated by Israel.
2) Iran wants to be a member (from the last time it tried).
When I saw the same two stories from Claudia I though that there has to be more than that.
When I found more, and some stuff that looked like more, I went with it. Of course when I found stuff that backed up my intuitions is precisely the time I should have slowed down and looked more closely, given I was trying to be factual.