UN Watch in the News
Winnipeg Free Press
February 1, 2008
WHEN Syria signed the Arab Charter on Human Rights in 2006, it particularly singled out for praise the document’s demands for the elimination of “Zionism.” Zionism in this context is code, a term used by some Arab and Muslim governments that cannot bring themselves to utter the name of Israel. The Arab Charter of Human Rights in effect calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
That flies in the face of the most reluctant policy the United Nations ever adopted. The UN in 1975 eagerly passed a resolution equating Zionism with racism. Only years later, in 1991, under intense Western pressure, did it repeal that motion. The new Arab charter thus runs counter to the UN’s official position on Israel and racism. It was somewhat surprising this week, then, when United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour enthusiastically endorsed the Arab view.
Ms. Arbour, a former Canadian Supreme Court justice, was able to restrain her enthusiasm for this Arab charade to the point of expressing reservations about its provisions regarding the rights of women and children — the charter refers to the restrictions of the human rights of those two groups under Sharia law as “positive discrimination.”
The high commissioner, however, could find no fault with its tacit endorsement of the destruction of Israel until a chorus of international reaction caught her attention. The Canadian government urged her to distance herself entirely from the racist document because “eradicating Zionism would mean the eradication of the Jewish state” and other Western governments echoed that dismay. Even international human rights groups such as Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists — traditionally no great friends of Israel — urged Ms. Arbour to recant. On Wednesday she capitulated, issuing a statement that noted “the incompatibility of some of (the Arab charter’s) provisions with international norms and standards” and withdrawing her support for it.
As high commissioner, Ms. Arbour does not hold an official Canadian position at the UN, but as a former Canadian Supreme Court justice she is inextricably linked with this country in the mind of the international community. Her about-face on the Arab charter spares Canada the continued embarrassment of her original position but cannot erase the image it at first enforced. The UN may be comfortable with that image but Canadians should not be. They might feel grateful, however, that Ms. Arbour now sits on the human rights commission in Geneva rather than on the Supreme Court in Ottawa.
Copyright 2008, Winnipeg Free Press
Original URL: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=1fdd9d3e-b53c-4bdb-b929-d64c40c3be53
