GENEVA, October 30, 2012-- As the UN Human Rights Council prepared to review Pakistan today in Geneva, the non-governmental group UN Watch took the following actions today:
UN Watch published a new 16-page report,"In Praise of Pakistan," demonstrating how the last Council review of Pakistan in 2008 was "a missed opportunity," and expressed alarm that many countries would repeat the same politicized behavior and again fail to conduct a genuine review in today's session;
UN Watch distributed an international appeal by 40 MPs and NGOs (see text below) opposing Pakistan’s bid for Nov. 12th to join the 47-nation body;
UN Watch circulated a draft UN resolution to condemn Pakistani abuses; and
UN Watch opened a webpage dedicated to defeating Pakistan's candidacy: (Link)
"A government that fails to confront and is afraid to even name the brutal Taliban who shot Malala, an innocent child asking only for the education of girls, does not deserve to be a global judge of human rights," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch and an international lawyer.
The draft UN resolution circulated by the UN Watch-led coalition—activists and MPs from 19 countries including the USA, France, Britain, Canada, Switzerland, Bahrain, Guinea, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia and Uganda—would see the world body condemn Pakistan for a range of abuses.
“A government that allows extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and violent attacks against Christians, Shia, Ahmadis, and other Muslim and non-Muslim minorities; that grants impunity to terror groups that murder people in the name of fighting blasphemy; and that intimidates and attacks independent journalists, cannot be allowed to join the world’s highest human rights body,” said Neuer.
"Otherwise it will be one more case of the foxes guarding the chickens."
On Nov. 12, the UN General Assembly is to elect 18 new members to the 47-nation council. Pakistan is running uncontested on the slate assigned to Asian countries.
No to Pakistan: Joint Appeal by MPs, NGOs & Human Rights Activists
We, the undersigned members of parliament, human rights activists and non-governmental organizations, strongly oppose the candidacy of Pakistan for the United Nations Human Rights Council. Having regard to its poor record on human rights protection at home, and its poor record in human rights promotion at the UN, the government of Pakistan fails to meet the minimum membership criteria established by the UN General Assembly. Instead, we urge the UN Human Rights Council to adopt this NGO-drafted Resolution on Pakistani abuses.
Matteo Mecacci, Member of Italian Parliament, Chairman of Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Riccardo Migliori, Member of the Italian Parliament, Vice President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Denis MacShane, Member of the UK Parliament, former Minister for Europe
Irwin Cotler, Member of Canadian Parliament, Liberal Critic for Human Rights, Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Human Rights
Michael Danby, Member of Australian Parliament, Committee on Foreign Affairs
Fiamma Nirenstein, Member of the Italian Parliament, Vice President of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Morten Hoglund, Member of Norwegian Parliament, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
Karin S Woldseth, Member of Norwegian Parliament, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
Hillel Neuer, United Nations Watch, Switzerland
Dr. Yang Jianli, Chinese dissident and former political prisoner, Founder and President of Initiatives for China
Robert R. LaGamma, President, Council for a Community of Democracies, USA
Laurence Kwark, Secretary General, Pax Romana, ICMICA/MIIC, Switzerland
Javier El-Hage, General Counsel, Human Rights Foundation
Jacob Mchangama, Center for Political Studies, Denmark
Anyakwee Nsirimovu, Insitute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Nigeria
Ali AlAhmed, The Gulf Institute, USA
Nazanin Afshin-Jam, President and Co-Founder, Stop Child Executions, Canada
John J. Suarez, International Secretary, Cuban Democratic Directorate
Nguyên Lê Nhân Quyên, Delegate, Vietnamese League for Human Rights, Switzerland
Dr. Francois Ullmann, President, Ingenieurs du Monde, Switzerland
Fazal-ur Rehman Afridi, Institut de recherche et d’études stratégiques de Khyber, France
Hu Ping, Chinese dissident, editor of Beijing Spring, former president of the Chinese Alliance for Democracy
Christina Fu, New Hope Foundation, President
Michael Craig, China Rights Network, President
Huang Hebian, The Alliance of the Guard of Canadian Values
Mamady Kaba, African Assembly for the Defense of Human Rights (RADHHO), Guinea
Ann J. Buwalda, Esq., Executive Director, Jubilee Campaign USA
Ali Egal, Fanole Human Rights & Development Organization (FAHRO), Somalia/Kenya
Jean Stoner, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, USA
Amina Bouayach, Morrocan Organisation For Human Rights, Morocco
Faisal Fulad, Gulf European Centre for Human Rights, UK
Dickson Ntwiga, Executive Director, Solidarity House International, Kenya
Faisal Hassan, Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, Bahrain
Elizabeth Vanardenne, UN Rep, International Federation of Business & Professional Women
Yang Kuanxing, Chinese dissident, editor of Yibao and original signatory to Charter ‘08, the manifesto calling for political reform in China
Yuri Dzhibladze, Center for Development of Democracy & Human Rights, Russia
Huguette Chomski Magnis, Mouvement Pour la Paix et Contre le Terrorisme, France
Kabaale G Timothy, African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, Uganda
Gibreil I. M. Hamid, President, Darfur Peace and Development Centre, Switzerland
UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).
