Another U.N. Classic

March 2, 2007
The Wall Street Journal
Original Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117280563528624420.html

Whenever the United Nations weighs in on human rights, our thoughts invariably turn to Lewis Carroll. A recent contretemps between U.S. diplomats and the U.N. bureaucracy takes us through the Turtle Bay looking glass again.
On the occasion of the annual meeting of the U.N.'s Commission on the Status of Women, the American delegation decided to organize a panel on the subject of State-Sanctioned Mass Rape in Burma and Sudan. After years of reporting by human-rights organizations about atrocities committed by government forces against women in both countries, that sounds like a reasonable topic to discuss.
Enter U.N. bureaucrat Sylvie Cohen of the Division for the Advancement of Women. Ms. Cohen refused to list the panel discussion on the U.N.'s Web site because it would be perceived as offensive to named member states. Besides, the name of one member state concerned is not mentioned in accordance with its official country name. That name is Myanmar, which is what the military junta that seized power in Burma renamed the country in 1988. The Burmese democracy movement of Aung San Suu Kyi continues to call it by its rightful name, and we'll stick with her over the junta.
Even more amazing is that a U.N. organization that purports to look out for the interests of women seems more concerned about defending the sensibilities of the governments who harbor and support their rapists. Come to think of it, this isn't a Lewis Carroll episode at all. At the U.N., it's routine.