🇨🇳 China to UN: “Tibetan cultural traditions are promoted and protected, and human rights of all ethnic groups are protected.”

Fact-check: #False. Forced assimilation and erasure of Tibetan language and culture constitute human rights abuses.https://t.co/a8vwjjO0ec @jltib88 pic.twitter.com/pskiZbngoz

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 3, 2023

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Congratulation to President Xi Jinping on 🇨🇳 Beijing's recent election to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Credentials: Herded 1 million Uighurs into camps; jails human rights activists; crushed Tibet; disappeared those who sounded the alarm on coronavirus; subjugated Hong Kong. pic.twitter.com/zy7fEDJ5ds

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 19, 2023

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China’s Communist regime crushed peace-loving Tibet and democratic Hong Kong, but they want UN statehood and “justice” for terror-infested Gaza and Jenin. https://t.co/bDG8JigTyq

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 18, 2024

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GENEVA, October 9, 2020 – Human rights dissidents who have been persecuted for their activism by China, Russia, Cuba and Pakistan joined today in calling on all UN member states to oppose those countries’ bids for election to the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.

The human rights activists were hosted for an international press conference today by UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights group based in Geneva.

Click below for their remarks:
• On China: Yang Jianli, President of Initiatives for China, former political prisoner
• On Cuba: Rosa Maria Paya, Cuban human rights activist, daughter of late dissident Oswaldo Paya
• On Russia: Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian democracy activist and vice president of the Free Russia Foundation
• On Pakistan: Taha Siddiqui, Award-winning Pakistani journalist attacked for criticizing the military

Background: the UNHRC Election to be Held on October 13, 2020

On Tuesday, October 13, the UN will elect 15 nations to its highest human rights body.

Earlier this week, a coalition of non-governmental human rights groups from Europe, the U.S. and Canada called on UN member states to oppose the election of China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, which were deemed “unqualified” due to their human rights records as well as their voting records on UN resolutions concerning human rights.

Abuses by those candidates were detailed in a 30-page joint NGO report published by UN Watch, Human Rights Foundation and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, which is being circulated to UN diplomats.

“Electing these dictatorships as UN judges on human rights is like making a gang of arsonists into the fire brigade,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

As shown in the report, Cuba and Russia have no competition in their regional groups. While technically they still must obtain 97 positive votes, in practice their election is virtually certain.

The Asian regional group is the only one being contested, with five candidates vying for four available seats. “Yet because China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are so powerful at the United Nations, it’s almost certain they will be elected as well,” said Neuer.

“It’s logically absurd and morally obscene that the UN is about to elect to its top human rights body a regime that herded 1 million Uighurs into camps, arrested, crushed and disappeared those who tried to sound the alarm about the coronavirus, and suffocated freedom in Hong Kong,” said Neuer.

“Saudi Arabia carried out a record 184 executions in 2019. Russia assassinates journalists and poisons dissidents. Cuba is a police state,” said Neuer.

UN Watch has filed formal protests at the United Nations, published last week as official UN documents, against the election of China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.

Despite the lack of competition in almost every regional group, Neuer emphasized that there is a myth among UN diplomats that they are obliged to vote for all candidates on a clean slate. “Yet as made clear in our report, voting nations can and should refrain from electing rights abusers to the UN’s highest human rights body. We need to hear the EU’s high commissioner Josep Borrell and member states lead the call to oppose the worst abusers. So far, they have been silent.”

The report also listed Bolivia, Cote d’Ivoire, Nepal, Malawi, Mexico, Senegal and Ukraine as having “questionable” credentials, due to problematic human rights and UN voting records that should be improved.

“Sadly, all signs are that the UN will disregard its own rules and principles next Tuesday by rubber-stamping the election of China, Russia, Cuba, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia — even though these regimes systematically violate the human rights of their own citizens,” said Neuer, “and consistently frustrate UN initiatives to protect the human rights of others.”

UN Watch Call to Scrap Elections if Criteria Ignored

UN Watch is proposing a major reform to the election system. “If our own democracies continue to disregard the election criteria by voting for abusers,” said Neuer, “then we should just scrap elections altogether, and make every country a member, as is the case in the General Assembly’s human rights committee. Non-democracies could no longer hold up their UNHRC election as a shield of international legitimacy to cover up the abuses of their regime.”

“Regrettably,” said Neuer, “the EU has not said a word about hypocritical candidacies that only undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the UN human rights system. By turning a blind eye as human rights violators easily join and subvert the council, leading democracies will be complicit in the world body’s moral decline.”

“It will be an insult to their political prisoners and many other victims — and a defeat for the global cause of human rights — if the UN helps gross abusers act as champions and global judges of human rights. When the UN’s highest human rights body becomes a case of the foxes guarding the henhouse, the world’s victims suffer,” said Neuer.

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 Testimony before the UN Human Rights Council plenary, delivered by
UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, on March 11, 2016

Ten years later, we ask: Is the Council living up to its founding promise? Let us listen to the voices of the victims. We heard them two weeks ago at the 8^th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, organized by UN Watch and more than 20 other NGOs.
We heard from Darya Safai of Tehran, who testified that “the life of women in the Islamic Republic of Iran is imbued with discrimination. A woman is not allowed to work, study or travel without her husband’s permission.”
We heard from Ensaf Haidar, whose husband Raif Badawi was sentenced by Saudi Arabia to 10 years in prison and a thousand lashes. His crime? Creating a website to promote freedom.
We heard from Jigme Golog, a Tibetan monk who testified of being arrested and tortured by Chinese authorities.
We heard from 24-year-old Antonietta Ledezma of Venezuela, whose father Antonio Ledezma, the Mayor of Caracas, was arrested without warrant last year, in a violent raid on his office and jailed. He now faces 26 years in prison under trumped-up charges.
We heard from Rosa Maria Paya of Cuba, whose father Oswaldo Paya, the leading democracy dissident in that country, was killed under circumstances that have never been properly investigated.
We heard from Iraqi MP Vian Dakhil, whose fellow Yazdi women and girls are being captured by ISIS, sold as slaves in Iraq and Syria, and subjected to mass rape.
We heard from Polina Nemirovskaia, about repression in Russia; and from Turkish journalist Orhan Kemal Cengiz, whose newspaper Zaman was just violently seized by the Erdogan government.
And so Mr. President, we ask: Why are there no resolutions at all—zero—for human rights victims in China, Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela? Why, on the contrary, are those governments elected members of this Council?
Why are there no urgent sessions on gross and systematic rights abuses in Iran, Iraq, Syria, or Turkey?

President: Point of order has been asked.
Cuba: Thank you, Mr. President. President, we’re taking the floor to raise a point of order here. At no time have we been able to understand clearly what has been said by the representative of this alleged NGO. At no time, given the Human Rights Council mandate, a represenative of an NGO cannot question the membership of a state that belongs to this council. They cannot do that. So I would ask you, Sir, to to call to order the representative of this supposed NGO. I know he’s going to carry on talking in this council, that’s not a problem for us, but I ask you to call him to order. But he should not refer to this — namely, whether a country may be a member of this council. You may have a diverging opinion, but you don’t have a mandate here to refer to that. Thank you.
President: U.S. has the floor.
USA: Thank you, Mr. President. We wold like to highlight that the United States firmly believes that accredited NGOs should be permitted to speak in the Council, though member states including the United States may occasionally disagree with the content of their statements—and an NGO just criticized us about four speakers ago—it is essential that civil society voices be heard here in an atmosphere of open expression. We believe the content of this NGO was relevant to the issue under debate, and as a result the Council should allow it to continue to finish their statement. Thank you, Mr. President.
President: I give floor to the distinguished representative of Venezuela.
Venezuela: Thank you, Mr. President. We would also like to suppport the point of order raised by Cuba. I think it’s a very pertinent one. I think the representative of the political organization needs to be called to order. So-called NGO. And as the Cuban delegate said, no NGO can, if you like, point fingers at the membership of the states who represent the Council. So again, we need to restate clearly our support to Cuba on this.
President: Is Cuba asking for another floor? You have the floor.
Cuba: Thank you. Just a clarification. We’ve seen that the U.S. delegate referred to the fact that we’re not letting people talk in this Council. Namely in the terms that have been mentioned by the NGO. We’re not having problems with the criticism as such, it’s an NGO on the topic itself, the issue itself, can an NGO actually refer to membership of a state in this council, that’s my point. I certainly didn’t say that we don’t want them to talk, I simply wanted to draw attention to that particular point.
President: I give the floor to the distinguished representative of China.
China: Mr. President, the Chinese delegation supports the response made by Cuba and Venezuela. We believe also that NGO representatives have no right to challenge the membership of states in the Council. Thank you.
President: Distinguished representative of the Russian Federation.
Russia: Thank you, President. We agree with the arguments expressed by Cuba and Venezuela and China, and we would also ask you to call upon the distingushed NGO, which not for the first time has been highlighted and corrected in this, to correct their statement.
President: I now give floor to the distinguished representative of the Netherlands.
Netherlands: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Netherlands feels that sometimes we may disagree with what NGOs say in their statements, but we find it important that accredited NGOs participate in the consultations of this council. And as our minister said in the high level segment, the members of the Council especially are held to a high standard, and that is also what the council has laid down in its founding documents. Thank you very much.
President: I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Pakistan.
Pakistan: Thank you, Mr. President. My delegation would like to support the point of order made by Cuba. While NGOs shoud have the right to express their views, they should not be allowed to question the membership of the Human Rights Council.
President: I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of United Kingdom.
United Kingdom: We would like to reiterate the comment that has already been made by the U.S. and the Netherlands that while we may not agree with all comments made, we support the right of accredited NGOs to make them. Thank you.
President: I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Canada.
Canada: Thank you, Mr. President. Canada firmly believes that accredited NGOs must be permitted to speak at the Council. We may occasionally disagree with the statements we hear in this chamber, whether from NGOs or from other states, but it is essential to respect the Council’s emphasis on open dialogue. This is a question of freedom of speech. And civil society voices should be heard here in an atmosphere of respectful exhange. In this case we are of the opinion that we have heard in the intevention so far, without endorsing the substance of the statement, is pertinent to the subject matter of the Council, Session 31, Item 3. Mr. President, we respectfully ask that you rule that the speaker be allowed to finish his presentation. Thank you.
President: Any other request for the floor? I see none. I now give floor back to the representative of the NGO ask him to take into consideration the various comments made.
(3 seconds left on the clock)
Hillel Neuer, UN Watch: They can censor at home, but they cannot censor at the United Nations. Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause)
President: Cuba, you have the floor.
Cuba: Mr. President, the expression we have just heard from this NGO is a total lack of respect for what you, you sir, have just asked for. It’s a lack of respect to this whole room, total lack of respect for the people sitting here, and the various opinions that have been expressed, and indeed a lack of respect for what you yourself said, President. This NGO, or this supposed NGO, if we’re going to be frank, next time they take the floor, they cannot address Council in this fashion. Cetainly my delegation won’t let that happen. We won’t let that happen. We cannot do things along this… And it’s a lack of respect to you, sir.
President: Point of order?
Cuba: I was referring to this NGO, it’s a lack of respect, and you yourself asked this NGO one thing, and he didn’t respond to that.
President: You can ask for a point of order, if you have a point of order. But it seems like you are making comments. So next I give the floor to…..
UN Watch on Saturday, March 12, 2016

#HRC31: "@Raif_Badawi is in prison for making #freedom website in #Saudi
@UN_HRC made #HumanRights abusers members" pic.twitter.com/CbHmmKEIjV

— ECDHR (@ECDHRbxl) March 11, 2016

https://twitter.com/mdedora/status/708325843576229888
https://twitter.com/mdedora/status/708326471446749185
 
 

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GENEVA, Feb. 24, 2015 – The Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch today led a coalition of 20 NGOs in giving a rare UN platform to the Nigerian girl who jumped off a truck to escape from Boko Haram, the student leaders of the Hong Kong umbrella protest, and courageous dissidents and victims from China, Cuba, Iran, Tibet, Pakistan, Turkey, North Korea and Venezuela.

The 2015 Geneva Summit for Human Rights, which opened yesterday in a packed UN chamber below the Human Rights Council, concluded today in an adjacent conference center before an audience of 500 human rights activists, diplomats, journalists and students.

The summit aims to place critical human rights situations on the world agenda days before foreign ministers gather on Monday in Geneva to open the annual session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Worldwide media coverage focused on the Nigerian girl who escaped the Boko Haram kidnapping (“Bring Back Our Girls”); a memorial to the murdered Charlie Hebdo journalists by two of their Paris colleagues, Philippe Val and Caroline Fourest; and the bestowal of awards to jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, and to Masih Alinejad, creator of a viral Facebook page that allows Iranian women to show hijab-free photos of themselves.

Notable speakers also included:
· Alex Chow & Lester Shum, Student leaders of Hong Kong protest movement
· Pierre Torres, French Journalist held hostage by ISIS for 10 months
· Yeon-Mi Park, 21-year-old North Korean defector
· Il Lim, North Korean defector and former slave laborer
· Ashiq Masih, Husband of Asia Bibi, Christian mother of five on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy
· Dicki Chhoyang, Foreign Minister of Central Tibetan Administration
· Maria Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition leader persecuted by Maduro regime (by video)
· Yang Jianli, Former Chinese political prisoner, survivor of Tiananmen Square massacre
Canada, the Czech Republic and the U.S. co-sponsored yesterday’s UN opening session. Some 15 governments also met privately with the dissidents and victims at a meeting hosted by the Canadian Mission in Geneva.

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GENEVA, May 23, 2014 – Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch presented its annual Moral Courage Award on Thursday to Canadian cabinet minister Jason Kenney, one of the country’s most influential national figures, a decision that drew strong praise from the Dalai Lama, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Tibetan spiritual leader who sent a special envoy to the Geneva ceremony attended by UN officials, ambassadors, and community leaders.

“UN Watch honors Minister Kenney for demonstrating the courage to lead in upholding the founding principles of the United Nations, and defending the true principles of human rights,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.

“When others have been silent while serial perpetrators of human rights abuses like Iran and Syria seek to hijack the UN’s human rights and anti-racism causes, Minister Kenney has been a clear and consistent voice for their millions of victims, opposing tyranny, hypocrisy and injustice.”

In an emotional moment, the Dalai Lama’s envoy placed a traditional Tibetan scarf upon Kenney to recognize his outspoken defense of oppressed Tibetans.

“I have great admiration for your leadership, the concern and active support you have shown for the Tibetan cause, and your role in enhancing Canada’s diverse multi-ethnic and multicultural society,” wrote the Dalai Lama in remarks submitted for the event.

“I have been impressed by your efforts to support the rights of oppressed people around the world.”
Many other community leaders also sent their congratulations.

Last night’s ceremony was held next to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, by the shores of Lake Geneva.

Previous winners of the UN Watch award include Spanish prime minister Josa Maria Aznar, British parliamentarian John Mann, and North Korean dissident Dong-hyuk Shin.

UN Watch’s international advisory board includes Nobel Peace Prize Laureate David Trimble, Chinese dissident Yang Jianli and Katrina Lantos Swett, Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The Geneva non-governmental organization is best known for bringing dissidents, human rights defenders and victims to testify before the United Nations, including most recently from China, Cuba, Egypt, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Sudan and Venezuela.

Each year, together with 25 NGOs, UN Watch assembles top dissidents to spotlight the world’s most critical human rights issues at its annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.

Canadian Health Minister Rona Ambrose was in attendance, as were numerous Canadian diplomats.

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I took this video at a demonstration in front of UN headquarters in November.

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