Joseph A. Klein is the author of Global Deception: The UN's Stealth Assault on America's Freedom.
By secret ballot on Thursday, the United Nations General Assembly elected 14 member states to join the 47-member UN Human Rights Council for three-year terms beginning on January 1, 2020. The abysmal human rights abusing Maduro regime in Venezuela, which received 105 favorable votes in the election, is one of them.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched an invasion of northeast Syria last week in order to bring to heel the Syrian Kurdish population there. Erdogan's military operation reportedly displaced at least 160,000 people so far and put many more civilians in harm’s way. At least 38 civilians in Syria have been killed to date since the latest wave of Turkish aggression began. Turkish forces bombarded towns on the Syrian side of its border with Turkey and, with their Syrian allies, have seized large portions of a northern Syrian town six miles from the border.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ speech to the 74th annual High-Level General Assembly meeting on September 24th was full of generalities about world problems the UN is purporting to deal with, in contrast to President Trump's honest discussion of hard truths.
“We are here to advance the common good while upholding our shared humanity and values,” the secretary general said. “That vision united the founders of our Organization.”
Kelly Knight Craft, who is replacing Nikki Haley as the United States ambassador to the United Nations, officially presented her credentials to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on September 12th. In her remarks to the press afterwards, Ambassador Craft declared that she was coming to the UN "as a voice of America's unwavering commitment to democracy, freedom, human rights and whenever possible peaceful resolution of conflicts." She added, " In a world marked by humanitarian crises and geopolitical challenges, strong American leadership is absolutely critical, and I intend to provide it. I will defend America’s values and interests. I will stand by our friends and allies. I will advocate for the poor and the weak.”
The United Nations General Assembly mandate for the scandal-ridden United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is coming up for renewal shortly. The renewal request should be denied. Aside from the financial scandals reaching the very top echelons of UNRWA’s leadership, UNRWA has become no more than a tool serving the Palestinian leadership’s relentless drive to liquidate the Jewish state of Israel.
U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo traveled to New York on August 20 to participate in a UN Security Council debate on challenges to peace and security in the Middle East. The meeting was convened by Poland, which holds the presidency of the Security Council this month. Secretary Pompeo pointed to the continuing threat that the Iranian regime poses to peace and security in the Middle East region and beyond, providing examples of Iranian provocations such as the Iranian regime's seizure of ships in international waters and the regime’s support to terrorist proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.
A statement attributable to the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary General António Guterres "warmly congratulates the Sudanese people on the occasion of the important signing ceremony of the documents on transitional civilian authority in Sudan." The statement lauds the power-sharing agreement entered into between the military authorities running Sudan since dictator Omar al-Bashir was overthrown amidst mass protests against his rule and civilian coalition leaders.
The Trump administration decided last year to cut off U.S. funding for the hopelessly dysfunctional United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). It was a wise decision. A confidential internal report from UNRWA’s own ethics office has chronicled alleged rife mismanagement and corruption reaching the agency’s highest levels of leadership. The report was sent to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres's office last December. The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) has reportedly undertaken a probe into the report’s allegations, which has not yet been completed.
The United Nations Security Council held its quarterly open debate on July 23rd regarding the situation in the Middle East, focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As usual, the meeting was an occasion for Israel-bashing. This time, there was considerable discussion regarding the demolition by Israeli forces on July 22nd of buildings in the Wadi Hummus/Sur Bahir neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Most of the buildings were still under construction. The Palestinians argued that the demolished buildings were technically on land under Palestinian Authority control, which should not have required Israeli permission to construct so long as the Palestinian Authority had issued its own permit. But Israel considered the location of the buildings to be perilously close to Israel’s security barrier, which was intended to create a sort of buffer zone to more easily prevent surprise terrorist attacks. The matter went to Israel's highest court, which ultimately allowed the demolition to proceed.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif complained on Wednesday about the tight U.S. travel restrictions imposed on members of the Iranian UN mission and their families, which, he charged, put them “under basically inhuman conditions.” The restrictions, which also apply to Zarif himself during his visit this week to UN headquarters in New York, basically limit the Iranian diplomats and their families to traveling between the United Nations, the Iranian UN mission, the Iranian UN ambassador's residence, and JFK Airport. “It is certainly not a friendly action,” Zarif added. He’s right. Nothing that the Iranian regime has done deserves any “friendly” action by the United States.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Monday that she is appalled by the conditions in which migrants and individuals seeking refugee status are being held in detention in the United States after crossing the southern border from Mexico. She stressed that children should never be held in immigration detention or separated from their families, declaring that immigration detention is never in the best interests of a child.
A United Nations General Assembly meeting on Wednesday, organized by Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon, was devoted to the global scourge of anti-Semitism, a refreshing event held at a venue usually consumed by animus against the Jewish state of Israel. The most moving speech was delivered by Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was shot at a San Diego synagogue by a Jew hating gunman on April 27, 2019, the last day of Passover. A parishioner, Lori Gilbert-Kaye, was killed.
Three cases of human rights abuses reared their ugly head again this week. The United Nations' role has been called into question, including the responses of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to the criticisms.
The first human rights case involves Myanmar. The Free Rohingya Coalition criticized Secretary General Guterres and former UN Resident Coordinator in Myanmar Renata Lok-Dessallien for failing to safeguard thousands of Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority, in Myanmar.
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.
Jason Greenblatt, President Trump’s special envoy for international negotiations, schooled the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday regarding the obvious cause of Palestinian suffering in Gaza. He said that the Security Council needs “to admit that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are the primary barrier to the dreams of those residents of Gaza who want to live in peace, raise their families and find meaningful work.” Mr. Greenblatt condemned both terrorist organizations for continuing “to target Israeli hospitals and schools” and using Palestinian civilians, including children, as human shields. He asked, “When will the Security Council say this out loud? When will we clearly reject this terrorism?”
The United Nations Human Rights Council once again proved that President Trump was right in pulling the United States out of that dysfunctional organization. It has turned into a forum for some of the world’s worst human rights abusing governments to praise each other’s human rights record as well as their own, while bashing Israel at every opportunity.
It has been a year since President Trump pulled the United States out of the Obama administration's disastrous nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The other parties to the JCPOA - China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom – have remained in the deal. However, the Iranian regime is getting impatient with the Europeans for allegedly not fulfilling their supposed economic commitments, while the Trump administration has imposed escalating sanctions that are crippling Iran’s economy.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) co-sponsored a forum at UN headquarters in New York on May 3rd honoring World Press Freedom Day. For the occasion, UNESCO re-tweeted the words “Against disinformation. Against manipulation. Against polarization.” Too bad UNESCO does not practice what it preaches, particularly when it comes to dealing with the truth regarding Israel and the Palestinians.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres attended the sixth annual forum, held in Beijing, to honor China’s ambitious multinational infrastructure program known as the Belt and Road Initiative. As described by the World Bank, the Belt and Road Initiative “aims to strengthen infrastructure, trade, and investment links between China and some 65 other countries that account collectively for over 30 percent of global GDP, 62 percent of population, and 75 percent of known energy reserves.” The links, involving networks of ports, rails and roads, include countries in Central, South and Southeast Asia, the Gulf Countries, and North Africa. China is also extending its initiative to Europe, where it has made significant investments in ports.
Vice President Mike Pence came out swinging in his remarks Wednesday at a special session of the United Nations Security Council on the crisis in Venezuela. He described in vivid terms the misery and suffering that the Maduro regime has inflicted on the people of Venezuela, causing more than three million Venezuelans to leave the country out of sheer desperation, and the threat the Maduro regime’s repressive policies have posed to the peace and security of the wider region.