GENEVA – The Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch condemned this morning’s election of Sudan as Vice-Chair of the U.N. committee that accredits and oversees the work of non-governmental human rights groups at the world body, noting that the Khartoum regime persecutes human rights activists, while its leader, Omar al-Bashir, remains wanted for genocide at the International Criminal Court.
“Electing Sudan to oversee the work of human rights activists at the U.N. is like picking the fox to guard the henhouse, as he is still wiping the feathers off his mouth from his last meal,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
“This election is absurd, and casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations as a whole,” said Neuer.
The diplomat elected to represent Sudan on the committee was Mr. Hassan Idriss Ahmed Salih.