The Elders Chair Mary Robinson Uses UN Press Conference to Denounce President Trump

The Elders describe themselves as “a group of independent leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007, who use their collective experience and influence for peace, justice and human rights worldwide.” Its chair is Mary Robinson, who served previously as president of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She has also been serving more recently as UN Special Envoy on Climate. In her capacity as Chair of the Elders, she addressed the UN Security Council on Wednesday, along with the Elders’ Deputy Chair, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Some other leading members of the Elders include Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former president of Liberia; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former president of Norway; Ricardo Lagos, former president of Chile; Juan Manuel Santos, former president of Colombia; Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico; and Zeid Raad Al Hussein, the anti-Israel, anti-Trump former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Ms. Robinson’s remarks to the Security Council on Wednesday were relatively temperate in tone. However, this self-important “elder” acted more like one of the progressive Democrats running to take on President Trump in 2020 when she used a press briefing at UN headquarters the day before her address to the Security Council to excoriate President Trump. She blamed, at least in part, what she characterized as President Trump’s “poor leadership” for the rise of populism around the world and the increasing tendency of countries to put “country first in an isolationist, nationalistic way." Ms. Robinson also complained about what she claimed was the “destabilizing” effect of President Trump’s tweets. Ms. Robinson told reporters that the Elders had met with the autocratic presidents of China and Russia. However, the Elders had not requested any meeting with President Trump. "It's difficult to see how constructive a conversation we could have with President Trump at the moment, given his clear views,” she said, referring particularly to the issues of climate change, the nuclear proliferation threat, multilateral trade, and the value of multilateralism. In a not very subtle plug for a one-term Trump presidency, she said the 2020 election in the United States will be “of some significance to say the least,” as it will “determine perhaps whether we can get back to more emphasis on a multilateral approach, which is what the Elders would sincerely hope for.” Mary Robinson’s case of Trump derangement syndrome is nothing new. Within 10 days of President Trump’s inauguration, she called him “a bully” for placing temporary travel restrictions on individuals seeking to enter the United States from certain terrorist-prone countries. She added, “we must stand up to bullies.”

---

In June 2017, reacting to President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, Mary Robinson said it was “unconscionable that one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters would simply walk away from its responsibility to people both at home and abroad.” She accused the president of turning the United States into “a rogue state on the international stage.” Ms. Robinson’s fanaticism on combating climate change puts her on par with the most progressive proponents of the “Green New Deal.” She took it upon herself to solemnly proclaim her idea of an immediate death sentence upon the fossil fuel industry. “We have entered a new reality where fossil fuel companies have lost their legitimacy and social license to operate,” she declared. No more exploration by fossil fuel companies for new reserves, she demanded. Who appointed her as the czar of "legitimacy" and "social license" remains unanswered. In September 2017, Ms. Robinson strongly denounced President Trump’s stern warning to North Korea that he delivered during his speech to the UN General Assembly, worrying that President Trump had used words that “actually had sullied the UN.” She need not worry, however. The UN has done enough to sully its own reputation without the need for any help from President Trump. Ms. Robinson would never admit that the president’s tough rhetoric and his administration’s leadership to secure unprecedented multilateral sanctions against the North Korean regime helped bring the regime to the negotiation table and to suspend nuclear testing and the launching of long-range ballistic missiles.

---

Support Canada Free Press

---

Ms. Robinson has likewise criticized President Trump for withdrawing the United States from the disastrous Obama-negotiated nuclear deal with Iran. No doubt, Mary Robinson longs for the days of Barack Obama’s presidency. After all, Obama had given Ms. Robinson the nation’s highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom, in 2009. What had she done to “deserve” this honor? Perhaps it was when she presided over the UN’s anti-Semitic, pro-Palestinian romp known as Durban I. In early 2002, she said, “What emerged from the World Conference was an historic document of enormous importance.” She praised “the victim-oriented approach in addressing the problems of racism and racial discrimination.” Of course, the “victims” singled out for special recognition were the Palestinians. Or perhaps it was when she was president of the International Commission of Jurists. She presided over a panel which concluded that counterterrorism measures adopted after 9/11 “threaten[s] the very core of the international human rights framework.” Her panel wanted the military detention center at Guantánamo Bay closed in “a human rights compliant manner,” one of Obama’s major unrealized goals. “Human rights and international humanitarian law provide a strong and flexible framework to address terrorist threats,” Ms. Robinson said when her International Commission of Jurists panel report was released in February 2009. “It is now absolutely essential that all states restore their commitment to human rights and that the United Nations takes on a leadership role in this process.” The Elders Chair Mary Robinson is a firm believer in a global governance structure that exalts transnational institutions and the notion of global citizenship over the sovereignty of self-governing nation-states. While we have been taught to respect the wisdom and experience of our elders, this particular group of Elders under Ms. Robinson’s leadership is an exception. No wonder she detests President Trump.