Adoption of Israel's UPR report

UN Watch Statement
Item 6: UPR on Israel
27 March 2014 

Delivered by Mr. Nicolás Calderón

Thank you, Mr. President. UN Watch welcomes today’s debate on Israel’s UPR report.

We regret that, as a result of the ongoing exercise byIsrael’s foreign service officers of their right to strike, representatives from the country concerned were precluded from attending this session. UN Watch hopes that the strike will end soon, in favorable terms, so that Israel can continue to engage with this Council and its mechanisms.
Today’s report contains valuable comments and recommendations, and we call on Israel to pay attention to them in order to better promote and protect human rights for all. These include the recommendations for Israel:
·        To consider additional measures to improve the status of women in all communities with a view to promote equality in law and practice;
·        To continue its efforts to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; and
·        To take all necessary measures to fight against manifestation of religious intolerance, and to thoroughly investigate all cases of religious hatred, including acts of vandalism of religious sites.
Mr. President, paragraphs 6 and 7 of the report address an important issue that cannot go ignored, that of this Council’s selective and politicized treatment of Israel.
This is manifest in the targeted agenda item that we had on Monday; and in the one-sided mandate that will see a new appointment tomorrow.
When it comes to country resolutions, most countries are ignored; the few that are addressed are never done so by more than one resolution per country.
And yet today we have before us no less than five separate resolutions condemning Israel. We note: the very same countries who constantly argue that UPR review obviates the need for country resolutions are all supporters of today’s one-sided, redundant and disproportionate country resolutions against Israel.
It is time for this Council to uphold its principles of equality and universality.
Thank you, Mr. President.