Yesterday's New York Times ran an op-ed piece by Vaclav Havel was the president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003. Today the United Nations General Assembly will vote to fill the vacancies on the 47-member Human Rights Council. According to the article:
"Only 20 countries are running for 18 open seats. The seats are divided among the world's five geographic regions and three of the five regions have presented the same number of candidates as there are seats, thus ensuring there is no opportunity to choose the best proponents of human rights each region has to offer."
Three years ago, the UN made a commitment to create an organization able to protect victims and confront human rights abuses wherever they occur. The original United Nations Commission on Human Rights was ended in 2006 because it had allowed countries who committed human rights violations to block any action on them. This new Council was supposed to take human rights records into account when voting for members. However, the new Council includes Cuba, China, and Saudi Arabia. I guess they didn't reach their goal.
I admire the good will of the writer toward the UN, but considering the UN track record on human rights, I see no reason to expect things to change. Unfortunately, the UN no longer stands for freedom and does not uphold democracy and human rights. I think it is time to ask the UN to give its building back to the people of New York City and move elsewhere.
Leave a comment