09 Oct The U.N. Human Rights Council – Undermining the U.N. System Since 2006
This video from Anne Bayefsky of the Human Rights Council meetings on the Goldstone Report is fascinating (though I am not on board with her over-the-top attack on Goldstone personally). But note the indiscriminate and deeply hypocritical use of the words “genocide,” “war crimes,” and “crimes against humanity” by the least morally attractive member states of the HRC (How is it that Sudan is on the Human Rights Council denouncing Israel’s lack of accountability?). Take genocide: even if every word of the Goldstone Report is true (a highly doubtful proposition), there is no evidence of an Israeli plot to commit genocide against the people in Gaza (e.g. an intent to exterminate a group of people based on their race or nationality). One gets the feeling that there is no matter what the report says (if indeed anyone on the HRC has read the report), those state members would jump up and accuse Israel of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Many defenders of the U.N. point out that the U.N. is much more than the Human Rights Council. But, at least in American public opinion, this latest performance by the HRC will solidify the caricature of the U.N. as a ridiculous, hypocritical, bizarre, and obsessively anti-Israel institution. And this caricature will have some basis in reality.
Almost propaganda, but interesting nonetheless.
Re your parenthetical question: Sudan’s not a member of the Human Rights Council, but as a UN member state it is able to speak as an observer. The same is true for some of the other states shown in the video, i.e. Syria, Iran, Yemen. However, your underlying point that some HRC members are not great human rights examples is true. The list of the current HRC members is here: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/membership.htm
I’m with Julian on this. Actually, I think Julian is too generous on these issues, including the free expression issue among others. But I’ll leave it here in the comments, as I’m too pressed to address it in the posts.
I agree with Julian. This video shows what’s wrong with the U.N. Human Rights Council when it comes to dealing with Israël: the voice of moderation barely exists. The video shows indeed the level of hypocrisy of the Council, when some of the most notorious human rights abusers are accusing Israël. (However, at the same time this propaganda video is hypocritical as well, because I am sure that there were quite some NGO’s and other countries that were making far more nuanced and ‘better’ statements than the ones we’ve seen…)
I love the part at 2:47 where the diplomat from Sudan says “everyone must be held accountable.”
Though I agree with Julian regarding the UN, however, that does not negate the fact that Israel has rarely if ever implemented or took international law into consideration. In fact it is perpetually in violation of such laws. Its continued occupation of Palestinian territories and its annexing Arab East Jerusalem is obviously illegal. Yet no one is bringing this issue up, as if occupation is the norm and international law that prohibits that is the exception. It might a stretch to say that Israel intended to commit genocide in Gaza in the legal technical sense; nevertheless, unleashing a massive firepower and an indiscriminate killing of an imprisoned 1.5 million people are hardly the actions of democratic or civilized state.
Listening to the rhetoric in this YouTube clip, I am most horrified by Anne Bayefsky’s over-the-top equation of legal analysis of Israel’s actions in the Gaza War with a “blood libel.” Surely human rights organizations and advocates must be able to move beyond the assumption that anyone who criticizes our actions, and those of those of our allies, is tainted by the worst form of deep-seated prejudice. Goldstone, by comparison, offers a reasonable reaction to the personal attack, although the video as edited allows him no substantive response. War crimes, crimes against humanity, intentional targeting of civilians – this video tries to shock us by appealing to the assumption that such accusations could not possibly be supported by facts, rather than responding to the factual claims. As to the hypocrisy of the speakers, better to respond by calling their bluff rather than claiming that the hypocritical criticism of Israel delegitimizes the criticism of Israel by anyone else. It certainly goes without saying that Sudan’s refusal to allow its officials to be held accountable does not justify the same response from Israel! Let’s see Israel and its supporters agree to cooperate with independent investigations, then demand that Sudan and other countries… Read more »
This video is selective editing and hyperbole on the side of political actors on all sides of the Gaza war. People who hate Israel invoke war crimes, crimes against humanity etc and people who support Israel call the report a blood libel and question Goldstone’s jewishness. It’s a full contact sport. As to the thank yous by the head of it, geez I have heard outrageous things said by representatives of countries and the head of the session thanking them to go to the next speaker. I never thought those “thank yous” were in anyway “supportive” of the comments of the preceding speaker. Give me a break folks. Were war crimes committed? Yes. On both sides. Do they rise to crimes against humanity? Goldstone does not go that far from what I understand. Israel is a state as are all the other states that are presented. Hypocrisy is monnaie courante in international relations. The Sudan cut is laughable if it were not so atrocious what was going on there. But, that is the parallel universe of states and diplomacy using whatever levers they can find as tools of power for their own ends. Nothing new under the sun.
Best,
Ben