UN Rights Council and Israel: Three Out of Three

By Patrick Goodenough
November 15, 2006
CNS News
Original Source: http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200611/INT20061115c.html


(CNSNews.com) - For the third time in its five-month existence, the United Nations' newly formed Human Rights Council on Wednesday held a special session that ended with a condemnation of Israel.

By a 32-8 vote, the HRC meeting in Geneva passed a resolution expressing grave concern at the continued violation by the occupying power, Israel, of the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The measure called the Israeli military's recent anti-terror operations in the Gaza Strip a collective punishment of the civilians. Six members of the 47-nation council abstained and one was absent.

The resolution voiced particular concern about an incident last week, when 18 Palestinians were killed as a result of what Israel called errant fire. Israel said it was targeting terrorist rocket-launching sites when artillery accidentally hit several buildings on the outskirts of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.

Early this month the Israeli army said terror organizations had launched more than 300 rocket attacks into Israel from the Beit Hanoun area since the beginning of the year. Eight more rocket attacks from Gaza were reported Wednesday morning, and an Israeli woman was killed when a rocket landed in a busy street.

During Wednesday's session, speakers leading the condemnation of Israel included the envoys of Pakistan on behalf of the Islamic bloc, Bahrain on behalf of the Arab members, and Cuba on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, according to a U.N. record of the event.

Finland's representative, speaking for the European Union, voiced concern about civilian casualties and urged Israel to exercise restraint, while also calling on the Palestinians to end acts of violence, including the firing of rockets at Israel.

Although not members of the HRC, representatives of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the United States also addressed the meeting.

Palestinian envoy Mohammed Abu-Koash accused Israel of horrendous war crimes and said the perpetrators should be brought to international justice.

Israeli ambassador Itzak Levanon said the Palestinian Authority and its government bore the blame because they did nothing to stop terrorists from firing rockets at Israeli civilian communities from within Beit Hanoun, setting the stage for an Israeli response.

According to the U.N. report on the session, Levanon also questioned the council's impartiality, saying that those members who pushed for the special session were conspicuously ignoring tragedies elsewhere in the world.

U.S. envoy Warren Tichenor said the loss of life in Beit Hanoun was tragic and noted that President Bush had called on all parties to act with care so as to avoid harming civilians. 

But he also questioned the use of the HRC's limited resources to discuss subjects that he said were not squarely within its mandate - military actions taken during a period of armed conflict - when there were pressing issues elsewhere that did fall explicitly within the council's purview.

'Disappointment'

Wednesday's meeting was the third special session called by the HRC since it was established to replace the 60-year-old U.N. Commission on Human Rights, an organization which critics said had been discredited by the presence and voting conduct of rights-violating nations and by a disproportionate focus on Israel.

The council held its first special session last July, when it condemned Israeli military operations in Gaza. A second special session, the following month, dealt with Israel's war against Hizballah in Lebanon.

In both instances, the same 11 nations voted against the resolutions - Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, United Kingdom, and Ukraine.

In the third special session vote on Wednesday, France, Japan and Ukraine chose to abstain, along with Guatemala, South Korea and Switzerland.

The United States is not a member of the council, having decided not to stand for election in its first year. The U.S. earlier this year also voted against the resolution setting up the council, arguing that it did not go far enough to prevent recurrence of the difficulties that troubled its predecessor.

Apart from its three special sessions, the HRC has also held two regular sessions since its formation. At those two meetings, in June and September, the body considered a handful of resolutions but passed only one that condemned a specific country - Israel.

During the council's first annual report to the U.N. General Assembly last Friday, a U.S. diplomat called the new body a disappointment.

Miriam Hughes, deputy U.S. representative to the U.N.'s economic and social council, said the HRC has failed to reach agreement to address egregious violations of human rights in places such as Sudan - a reference to the conflict in Darfur, which has cost more than 200,000 lives since 2003.

Some states seem to view the council as just another arena in which to play political games - and not as a vehicle for advancing the cause of human rights or for giving redress to the victims of abuse, Hughes said.

The HRC's full membership is: Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Britain, Cameroon, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gabon, Ghana, Germany, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, South Korea, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uruguay and Zambia.