From Homeland Security NewsWire:
Syria is set to join the UN Human Rights Council
Published 27 April 2011
The Syrian regime has intensified its campaign against anti-government protesters; some 400 protesters have been killed so far and many hundreds have been wounded by live rounds the Syrian police and military use against the protesters; dozens of people suspected of harboring anti-regime sentiments have disappeared -- apparently abducted by secret service agents and sent to remote prison camps; the military has surrounded several cities in a move reminiscent of Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez, who, in February 1982, ordered the destruction of the city of Hama in a scorched-earth policy against the Muslim Brotherhood; the grim news from Syria notwithstanding, the UN is scheduled to vote on 20 May on Syria's membership in the UN Human Rights Council; the United States will vote against Syria's membership, but the majority of the members of the UN will support it
Preparing to demonstrate Syria's human rights policy // Source: australiansforpalestine.com
Syria’s military and security forces, using live rounds against anti-government protesters, have so killed 400 and wounded hundreds more. In addition, dozens of people suspected of harboring anti-regime sentiments have disappeared.
The UN, and especially the UN’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC), apparently do not view the grim news from Syria as a reason to block Syria from joining the UNHRC as a member in good standing. Calls for the UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon to intervene were unheeded. Fox News quotes Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the secretary-general, to say that “That’s not really for the secretary general to suggest to a member state …. that’s not really something the secretary general would raise specifically, because it’s for other member states to decide on the membership of the Human Rights Council.”
The United States said it would oppose Syria’s membership, but Syria is guaranteed admission because it has been selected as one of the four new members from the Asian block, and it is not likely that any Asian country would challenge that selection.of the
Syria’s admission as a member of the UNHRC is an embarrassment for the Obama administration. Under the Bush administration, the United States bolted out of the UNHRC because of that body’s obsession with criticizing Israel while ignoring flagrant human rights violations by other states. The Obama administration decided to re-join the body in the hope of making it into a true global human rights watch dog, but results so far have been disappointing.
Anne Bayefsky of Hudson Institute told Fox News that “Syria knows a good deal when it sees it and the like-minded countries in the Asian regional group that nominated Syria are just as enthusiastic about the UN’s idea of a ‘human rights’ body. So the question for the Obama administration is not how do we keep Syria out, but why is the United States in?”
Bayefsky, who also edits eyeontheun.org, is not hopeful that the secretary general will intervene. “The secretary-general is focused on securing his reappointment. He doesn’t have time for protecting human rights, at least when it runs the risk of offending potential supporters among the 56 state members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference,” she told Fox news.
The vote on Syria’s membership will take place on 20 May.
Syria is set to join the UN Human Rights Council
Published 27 April 2011
The Syrian regime has intensified its campaign against anti-government protesters; some 400 protesters have been killed so far and many hundreds have been wounded by live rounds the Syrian police and military use against the protesters; dozens of people suspected of harboring anti-regime sentiments have disappeared -- apparently abducted by secret service agents and sent to remote prison camps; the military has surrounded several cities in a move reminiscent of Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez, who, in February 1982, ordered the destruction of the city of Hama in a scorched-earth policy against the Muslim Brotherhood; the grim news from Syria notwithstanding, the UN is scheduled to vote on 20 May on Syria's membership in the UN Human Rights Council; the United States will vote against Syria's membership, but the majority of the members of the UN will support it
Preparing to demonstrate Syria's human rights policy // Source: australiansforpalestine.com
Syria’s military and security forces, using live rounds against anti-government protesters, have so killed 400 and wounded hundreds more. In addition, dozens of people suspected of harboring anti-regime sentiments have disappeared.
The UN, and especially the UN’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC), apparently do not view the grim news from Syria as a reason to block Syria from joining the UNHRC as a member in good standing. Calls for the UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon to intervene were unheeded. Fox News quotes Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the secretary-general, to say that “That’s not really for the secretary general to suggest to a member state …. that’s not really something the secretary general would raise specifically, because it’s for other member states to decide on the membership of the Human Rights Council.”
The United States said it would oppose Syria’s membership, but Syria is guaranteed admission because it has been selected as one of the four new members from the Asian block, and it is not likely that any Asian country would challenge that selection.of the
Syria’s admission as a member of the UNHRC is an embarrassment for the Obama administration. Under the Bush administration, the United States bolted out of the UNHRC because of that body’s obsession with criticizing Israel while ignoring flagrant human rights violations by other states. The Obama administration decided to re-join the body in the hope of making it into a true global human rights watch dog, but results so far have been disappointing.
Anne Bayefsky of Hudson Institute told Fox News that “Syria knows a good deal when it sees it and the like-minded countries in the Asian regional group that nominated Syria are just as enthusiastic about the UN’s idea of a ‘human rights’ body. So the question for the Obama administration is not how do we keep Syria out, but why is the United States in?”
Bayefsky, who also edits eyeontheun.org, is not hopeful that the secretary general will intervene. “The secretary-general is focused on securing his reappointment. He doesn’t have time for protecting human rights, at least when it runs the risk of offending potential supporters among the 56 state members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference,” she told Fox news.
The vote on Syria’s membership will take place on 20 May.
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