The Committee AGAINST Non-Governmental Organizations

Iran’s Record on Human Rights NGOs
According to the most recent US State Department report on Iran:

• Iran’s new Political Crimes law restricts NGOs, with barriers to speech and advocacy by defining political crimes to include insult against the government and “the publication of lies.” The law also criminalizes political activism. Delineated acts are deemed “political crimes” if they “are committed with the intent of reforming the domestic or foreign policies of Iran”; acts intended to damage the “foundations of the regime” are deemed “national security crimes.”
• Human rights defender and journalist Narges Mohammadi was sentenced to 16 years in prison in May 2016 for “propaganda against the state,” “assembly and collusion against national security,” and “establishing the antisecurity and illegal ‘Step by Step to Stop the Death Penalty’ party.”
• The regime periodically imprisons political activist and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and briefly suspended her law license due to her advocacy for prisoners of conscience.
• The government restricts the work of NGOs through harassment, arrests, online hacking, and monitoring of individual activists and organization workplaces.
• The government also routinely intimidates human rights activists by repeatedly summoning them in for questioning, and confiscating personal belongings such as cell phones, laptops and passports.
• Iran imprisons lawyers and others affiliated with the Defenders of Human Rights Center advocacy group.
• Human rights defenders who engage with the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran are subjected to reprisals.

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Democratic Republic of Congo

Current 2018 members of UN Human Rights Council include:
•Iraq
•Cuba
•China
•Qatar
•Angola
•Burundi
•Pakistan
•Venezuela
•DR Congo
•Afghanistan
•Saudi Arabia
•United Arab Emirates pic.twitter.com/Fy5S6M94bs

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 5, 2018

Here’s how UN Watch fights the dictatorships and defends human rights:

In 2017:

In 2016:

The post Farce: Meet 2018 Membership of U.N. Human Rights Council appeared first on UN Watch.

Item 10 General Debate

UNHRC 32nd Session, 30 June 2016

Delivered by Mr. David Lando

Thank you, Mr. President.

UN Watch strongly condemns the Government of Burundi for its gross and systematic violations of human rights.

The President of the Burundi Senate, speaking last November about how police break up protests, said: “Today, the police shoot in the legs. But when the day comes that we tell them to go to work, don’t come crying to us.” And to work they went, Mr. President.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed by government forces; the number of unlawful detentions is in the thousands; over quarter of a million people have been displaced.

Special Rapporteur Christof Heyns, in his March oral report, said the following:

• “Evidence points towards extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, torture and disappearances that have taken place during the crisis.”
• “Freedom of expression and the space for civil society is under sustained and often violent pressure.”
• “Covert violence, for example in the form of disappearances, seems to have increased. There is cause for serious concern about the human rights situation in Burundi. The crisis is by no means over though it may be less visible.”

And it is this Council’s task, its obligation, to make this crisis visible.

And so we ask: Mr. President, distinguished delegates, is the proper response to these grave human rights violations a discussion about “technical assistance” and “capacity building” for Burundi?

Do we not owe the people of Burundi a more substantial response?

Mr. President,

We urge the Council not to downplay the suffering of Burundi’s people. Instead, the United Nations should shine a light on this grave situation and bring to an end the abuses of the Government of Burundi.

Finally, we ask: Does the recent election of Burundi as a member of this Council not make a mockery of its work? Does it not pour salt on the wounds of the victims?

Thank you, Mr. President.

The post This Council must bring to an end the abuses of the Government of Burundi appeared first on UN Watch.

#Burundi n'est pas exclu du conseil des Droits de l'homme et ne le sera pas. élu par 162 Etats avec l'endossement de l'Union Africaine.

— Amb. Albert SHINGIRO (@AShingiro) December 20, 2015

UN Watch responded by noting a famous 2011 precedent where a large majority for election did not prevent a Council member from getting suspended:

Dear Burundi Ambassador @AShingiro:
Col. Qaddafi was also elected to @UN_HRC & thought he'd never be removed. Wrong. https://t.co/BSQi0sNEn0

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) December 20, 2015

@UNWatch @UN_HRC very different context

— Amb. Albert SHINGIRO (@AShingiro) December 20, 2015

Amb. @AShingiro:
No, same context: @UN_HRC's Qaddafi, like #Burundi today, said he'd kill own people.#ExpelBurundi https://t.co/YTVwjrIpvx

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) December 21, 2015

@UNWatch @UN_HRC accusation gratuite poliquement motivée. On sait d'où ça vient. Le complot contre les Burundais échouera

— Amb. Albert SHINGIRO (@AShingiro) December 21, 2015

Above: “Gratuitous and politically-motivated charge. We know where it comes from. The plot against Burundians will fail.”
Shortly after the October 28th election of Burundi to the UNHRC, the ambassador boasted of winning 84% of the votes of the UN General Assembly:

#Burundi-Elections au Conseil des Droits de l'Homme: sur un total de193 Etats, le Burundi a eu 162 voix, soit 84%. 8e place sur les 18 élus

— Amb. Albert SHINGIRO (@AShingiro) November 4, 2015

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_______________

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Draft Resolution to Suspend the Membership
of Burundi on the UN Human Rights Council

The General Assembly,
Recalling the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,
Recalling its resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, in particular OP8 which states that the General Assembly may suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of a member of the Council that commits gross and systematic violations of human rights,
Noting Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/S-24/1 of 17 December 2015, entitled “Preventing the deterioration of the human rights situation in Burundi,”
Recognizing the importance of the prevention of genocide and human rights abuses in Burundi, especially in the context of past mass atrocities in the region,
Acknowledging that serious abuses and violations of human rights can be an early indication of a descent into conflict or escalation of conflict, as well as a consequence thereof,
Expressing grave concern with the human rights situation in Burundi,
1. Decides to suspend the rights of membership in the Human Rights Council of Burundi, which was elected on 28 October 2015, and was otherwise due to take its seat on 1 January 2016.
2. Decides to review the matter, as appropriate.

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GENEVA, December 18, 2015 – Ahead of today’s special UN Human Rights Council session on Burundi, UN Watch, the Geneva-based NGO, issued the following statement:
UN Watch commends the United States for taking the initiative to hold today’s special session and to speak out for the men, women and children of Burundi who—as British Ambassador Mathhew Rycroft warned last month at the Security Council— could face “possible genocide.” Many others have echoed this alarm.
Less than two months ago, on the eve of the elections for the Human Rights Council, a UN Watch delegation went to the United Nations in New York, together with our colleagues in the Human Rights Foundation and the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights, and we pleaded with them not to elect Burundi.
We pointed to the Burundi government’s gross human rights abuses, including the excessive force by Burundi police during demonstrations earlier this year, which claimed the lives of 58 people.
We spoke about the August 3rd attempt to silence civil society, namely, the shooting of human rights activist Pierre Claver Mbonimpa—who will be with us today in the Council chamber.
Sadly, however, despite our entreaties, the UN went ahead and — by an overhwhelming majority of more than 80 percent — elected Burundi to the Human Rights Council.
Inexcusably, instead of putting Burundi’s leaders on notice, the UN sent them a message of impunity.
Only days later, Burundi’s president delivered an infamous speech threatening violence against opponents; while the president of the Senate said “you have to pulverize, you have to exterminate.”
On November 6th, the son of Mr. Mbonimpa was arrested, and was soon found dead.
Hundreds of others have been killed; more than 200,000 have fled and become refugees.
Today, UN Watch calls for an amendment to the draft resolution that has been circulated. We urge the Human Rights Council to invoke Article 8 of Resolution 60/251, and to cancel Burundi’s new membership before it begins on January 1st.
And we call on the United Nations to apologize to the victims — for having elected this gross human rights abuser in the first place.

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GENEVA, December 17, 2015 – About to speak at today’s special UN Human Rights Council session on Burundi, UN Watch will deliver the following oral statement before the UNHRC plenary this afternoon:
UN Watch commends the United States for taking the initiative to hold today’s special session and to speak out for the men, women and children of Burundi who—as British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft warned last month at the Security Council— could face “possible genocide.” Many others have echoed this alarm.
Less than two months ago, on the eve of the elections for the Human Rights Council, a UN Watch delegation went to the United Nations in New York, together with our colleagues in the Human Rights Foundation and the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights, and we pleaded with them not to elect Burundi.
We pointed to the Burundi government’s gross human rights abuses, including the excessive force by Burundi police during demonstrations earlier this year, which claimed the lives of 58 people.
We spoke about the August 3rd attempt to silence civil society, namely, the shooting of human rights activist Pierre Claver Mbonimpa—who is with us today in the Council chamber.
Sadly, however, despite our entreaties, the UN went ahead and — by an overwhelming majority of more than 80 percent — elected Burundi to the Human Rights Council.
Inexcusably, instead of putting Burundi’s leaders on notice, the UN sent them a message of impunity.
Only days later, Burundi’s president delivered an infamous speech threatening violence against opponents; while the president of the Senate said “you have to pulverize, you have to exterminate.”
On November 6th, the son of Mr. Mbonimpa was arrested, and was soon found dead.
Hundreds of others have been killed; more than 200,000 have fled and become refugees.
Today, UN Watch calls for an amendment to the draft resolution that has been circulated.
We urge the Human Rights Council to invoke Article 8 of Resolution 60/251, and to rescind Burundi’s absurd and offensive membership before it begins on January 1st.
And we call on the United Nations to apologize to the victims — for having elected this gross human rights abuser in the first place.
 

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