“The re-election of Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa was marred by vote suppression, arrest of observers, voter intimidation, threats of violence, harassment and coercion. The credibility of this election is in grave doubt,” tweeted UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights groups based in Geneva. (See below about UN Watch’s advocacy for human rights in Zimbabwe.)

In response. President Mnangagwa’s chief of strategic communications, Dr. A. Mutambudzi, challenged UN Watch’s right to criticize the election, tweeting: “Why are you overstepping your mandate? Zimbabwe is not the United Nations, we only a member state. And why do you have people listed as dissidents on your board?”

UN Watch’s tweet was reposted by Citizens’ Coalition for Change, the main opposition party, and drew praise from many in Zimbabwe.

The re-election of Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa was marred by vote suppression, arrest of observers, voter intimidation, threats of violence, harassment and coercion. The credibility of this election is in grave doubt. We must stand with opposition like @advocatemahere. pic.twitter.com/CRcC2SySre

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) August 29, 2023

Why are you overstepping your mandate? Zimbabwe is not the United Nations, we only a member state. And why do you have people listed as dissidents on your board? https://t.co/t0YVzBYbS5

— Dr A. Mutambudzi (@DrMutambudzi) August 30, 2023

UN Watch: A Leading Voice for Human Rights in Zimbabwe 

• UN Watch brought Zimbabwe dissident Fadzayi Mahere to testify at the United Nations, for its renowned 15th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy

• UN Watch exposed and reversed the WHO’s appointment of Mugabe as a “Goodwill Ambassador.” UN Watch’s protest sparked world outrage, generating reports in CNN, Washington Post, Newsweek and 140 other news agencies. Then the U.S., Britain and Canada protested. As a result, the dictator was dropped. A month later, he was overthrown.

• UN Watch led the international coalition of NGOs that challenged the Mugabe regime’s massive human rights abuses, in a major address to the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights in 2005.

• UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer debated Mugabe’s rep on CNN to oppose their UN human rights commission membership.

• UN Watch brought Zimbabwe dissident Jestina Mukoko to testify at its renowned Geneva Summit for Human Rights, as it hosted Dewa Mavhingha and other Zimbabwe activists.

• UN Watch was the NGO to confront Zimbabwe in the 2008 UPR debate at the UN.

• UN Watch hosted the first NGO debate on human rights and “Zimbabwe’s New Deal”, with -Arnold Tsunga of the International Commission of Jurists and Daniel Molokele of the Global Zimbabwe Forum.

• UN Watch led the campaign opposing Mugabe’s appointment as Chair of the World Summit on Tourism.

7/ When Ethiopia's former minister @DrTedros was elected to replace Chan in 2017, he saw no reason not to follow her example and exploit the WHO's name, and so he quickly named ally Robert Mugabe, then dictator of Zimbabwe, as "Goodwill Ambassador."

But we made him cancel that: pic.twitter.com/2liGacRqGh

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) June 5, 2020

The post Credibility of Zimbabwe’s election “in grave doubt” appeared first on UN Watch.

A Belarus academic, Douhan was appointed in March 2020 by the UN Human Rights Council as its second “Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures.” The Cuban-backed post was created in a 2014 resolution sponsored by Iran on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, and was designed to define Western sanctions against rogue regimes as violations of human rights.

Her first report to the UNHRC complained about Western sanctions that target the regimes of Iran, Syria, Venezuela and Cuba. Instead of calling out their gross abuses, Douhan blamed problems in those countries on Western sanctions. In February 2021, she undertook a major propaganda visit to Venezuela, portraying the Maduro regime as a victim of U.S. sanctions. Maduro cited Douhan in his latest speech to the UN General Assembly.

Douhan’s latest visit is to Zimbabwe, a country rated “Not Free” by Freedom House and sanctioned for its poor human rights record by the U.S., the UK the European Union and others.

Zimbabwe’s regime invited Douhan as part of its campaign to lift international sanctions. “We welcome the UN Special Rapporteur Dr, Douhan, who is coming to interact with our people to unpack the effects of sanctions,” said a spokesperson.

“It was a pleasure to welcome the UN special rapporteur for human rights to Zimbabwe,” said President Emmerson Mnangagwa, after meeting with Douhan in the capital Harare. “Her 10-day trip aims to assess the impact of punitive economic sanctions on ordinary Zimbabweans. These sanctions are illegal and hurt the most vulnerable in our society.”

It was a pleasure to welcome @AlenaDouhan, the @UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, to Zimbabwe.

Her 10-day trip aims to assess the impact of punitive economic sanctions on ordinary Zimbabweans. These sanctions are illegal and hurt the most vulnerable in our society. pic.twitter.com/vUAEToJx0a

— President of Zimbabwe (@edmnangagwa) October 18, 2021

Despite the regime’s claims that international sanctions have undermined the Zimbabwean economy, the reality is that the U.S., UK, EU and others have applied targeted sanctions to individuals and companies linked to the ruling Zanu PF party’s human rights abuses and not against the country itself.

Douhan  to Meet with 26 Regime Ministers

In addition to a meeting with the president, Douhan’s initial itinerary included individual meetings with an astonishing 26 government ministers as well as other officials.

Notably, however, the supposed human rights expert did not plan to meet with members of the opposition or civil society.  Neither would Douhan be speaking with the media as, according to government officials, this would “jeopardize” her mission.

UN Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan's schedule of appointments#263Chat pic.twitter.com/21r6EQEgxk

— 263Chat.com 🇿🇼 (@263Chat) October 18, 2021

Bizarrely, though, Deputy Foreign Minister David Musabayana claimed that “as a government, we are not even privy to whom she is going to meet. She just said non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civic society groups or any other interested groups would also be involved.”

“As government, we have been asked to stay away from her. We have not looked for her or phoned her. I don’t even know where she is and what she is doing because it is her independent research. She has her own systems on how she is going to navigate, to get the leads and get the information that she needs,” he said.

Is sending 26 ministers to meet Douhan the government’s idea of staying away from her?

Zimbabwean Academic: Douhan is “hardly an honest broker”

The top-heavy emphasis in her itinerary hardly comes as a surprise given Douhan’s previous visit to Venezuela, of which a U.S. State Department spokesperson noted: “Instead of meeting with NGOs, independent journalists, members of the opposition, political prisoners, and other victims of harassment and attacks directed by Maduro and his supporters, the UN Special Rapporteur visiting Caracas spoke almost only to regime insiders and others the regime authorized.”

This sentiment was echoed by UK-based Zimbabwean academic Alex Magaisa, who said “the so-called special rapporteur who comes from Belarus, one of the world’s biggest human rights violators, which is also facing sanctions, is hardly an honest broker. Her itinerary, which is brazenly one-sided, is a clear indicator that the script has already been written in advance.”

Eventually, perhaps under pressure to at least give the impression of balance, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Commission (OHCHR) released a statement inviting submissions from all interested parties saying that Douhan “would also like to meet with non-governmental, business community, civil society organizations and opposition, in particular, those whose activities may be affected by unilateral coercive measures, as well as academics with specific expertise in this field.”

The statement is similar to comments Douhan made during her Venezuela trip where she claimed to have “sought to meet the widest range of people to listen to their experience and insights,” including opposition members. Whether she in fact will meet with and listen to Zimbabwe opposition figures is the question.

If her Venezuela mission is any guide, Douhan’s report to the UNHRC on Zimbabwe, due next year, will likely call for the lifting of sanctions with little or no consideration for the regime’s abuses that prompted them, blame Western democracies for problems caused by Mugabe and his successor, and turn a blind eye to the government’s oppression of the Zimbabwean people.

UPDATE OCT. 29:

As predicted, Alena Douhan called for the lifting of unilateral sanctions against Zimbabwe in a statement released at the conclusion of her visit, saying: “The US and other States should lift their sanctions on targeted individuals and entities and end over-compliance. The time is ripe for sanctioning States and key national stakeholders to engage in a meaningful structured dialogue on political reform, human rights and the rule of law, and abandon rhetoric on sanctions as an advocacy tool.”

According to Zimbabwe’s Times, Douhan “didn’t meet opposition parties outside the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad), a collective of political parties sympathetic to President Emmerson Mnangagwa — something which didn’t sit well with the majority of civic society and the MDC Alliance.”

In her full preliminary report, however, Douhan claimed to have met with a wide cross-section of society but noting “with regret that a substantial number of NGOs and some other interlocutors failed to engage with the mandate due to various hateful and intimidating messages that appeared in social media and news outlets, and an alleged fear of losing foreign donations.” The nature of this is left unclear.

The Times of London noted: “Douhan has a history of blaming problems in countries such as Iran, Syria, Venezuela and Cuba on western sanctions, according to the monitoring group UN Watch.”

The post UN Mission on Sanctions Rejoices Zimbabwe Regime appeared first on UN Watch.

In October, the U.N.’s World Health Organization named Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe a “goodwill ambassador.” UN Watch’s protest sparked world outrage, generating reports in CNN, Washington Post, Newsweek and 140 other news agencies. Then the U.S., Britain and Canada protested. As a result, the dictator was dropped. A month later, he was overthrown—no thanks to the United Nations, which only sought to legitimize him.

.@Reuters text & video reports quoting @UNWatch: "Critics urge WHO to reverse choice of Mugabe as goodwill envoy" https://t.co/btZ7g0NeEl pic.twitter.com/jOYEhbb1lo

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 21, 2017

The @Independent citing @UNWatch: "UN agency sparks outrage after naming Robert Mugabe a 'Goodwill Ambassador'" https://t.co/sfnYqBR9BH pic.twitter.com/0fx4wTkYrl

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 21, 2017

.@Corriere quotes @UNWatch: «L’idea che l’Onu debba definire Mugabe un grande sostenitore della salute è disgustosa» https://t.co/8Cqs318Avc

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 22, 2017

.@Newsweek compares Mugabe appointment as @WHO 'Goodwill Ambassador" to @UN_Women election of #Saudi, cites @UNWatch https://t.co/rOhyC4tdiU pic.twitter.com/L9P1fHeebD

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 21, 2017

Robert Mugabe removed as WHO goodwill ambassador amid outcry. @CNN citing @UNWatch protest: https://t.co/kLvci0eURD

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 22, 2017

In #Swahili: Mugabe inawakandamiza wanaharakati wa haki za binadamu. (He oppresses dissidents, should not be @UN 'goodwill ambassador.') pic.twitter.com/KMZPpcGD7C

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 21, 2017

.@CNN citing @UNWatch: "WHO is under fire after naming Robert Mugabe a goodwill ambassador" https://t.co/C8qtY5ZbKr pic.twitter.com/st3ZDwex3x

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 21, 2017

English
Reuters: Choice of Mugabe as goodwill WHO envoy shocks, baffles
CNN: Robert Mugabe removed as WHO goodwill ambassador amid outcry
BBC News: Robert Mugabe’s WHO appointment condemned as ‘an insult’
New York Times: W.H.O. Removes Robert Mugabe as ‘Good-Will Ambassador’
Washington Post: WHO’s ’goodwill’ appointment draws the opposite (paywall)
Agence France-Presse: WHO chief rescinds Mugabe ambassador role after outcry  
The Independent: British government leads barrage of criticism after World Health Organisation names Robert Mugabe a ‘goodwill ambassador’
ABC News: World Health Organization rescinds Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s ‘goodwill ambassador’ appointment amid scathing criticism
The Washington Post: WHO rescinds ‘goodwill ambassador’ appointment of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe
New York Post: WHO’s sickening honor for butcher Mugabe
CNBC: Choice of Mugabe as WHO envoy shocks human rights groups
 The Daily Telegraph Australia: They love a tyrant
Express: Robert Mugabe STRIPPED of World Health Organisation ’goodwill’ role following outcry
The Times: WHO denounced over ambassador role for Robert Mugabe (paywall)
The Telegraph: WHO chief ‘rethinking’ after Mugabe honour outrage
The Australian: WHO scrap ‘sick joke’ Mugabe as UN goodwill ambassador
Newsweek: What do Saudi Arabia, Barack Obama and Robert Mugabe have in common? Five appointments that shocked the world
PJ Media: The UN’s Mugabe Moment, and Its Perennial Iran Problem
 
The Zimbabwe Daily: UN to investigate ‘suspect’ appointment of Mugabe as spot-light focuses on Tedros
The Zimbabwe Mail: UN to investigate ‘suspect’ appointment of Mugabe as spot-in light focuses on Tedros
New Zimbabwe: UN Watch says WHO boss must be investigated for “immorally” awarding Mugabe
The Zimbabwean: Robert Mugabe removed as WHO goodwill ambassador amid outrcry

.@washingtonpost: "Hillel Neuer found it odd that a man accused of destroying Zimbabwe’s health system is now…" https://t.co/kyqVk0FWeg

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 22, 2017

French
RFI: Après <<l’affaire Mugabe>>, l’OMS a un peu plus terni son image
La Tribune Afrique: L’OMS annule la nomination du président Mugabe comme ambassadeur de bonne volonté
Africa Post News: OMS: <<Robert Mugabe, Ambassadeur de bonne volonté, c’est une insulte>>
 
German
Badische Zeitung: Simbabwes greiser Staatschef Mugabe wurde beinahe UN-Botschafter
Frakfurter Rundshau: Mugabe kurzzeitig Sonderbotschafter der WHO
Der Standard: Mugabe als WHO-Sonderbotschafter entlassen
Bild: Ausgerechnet Tyrann Mugabe jetzt UN-Botschafter
 
Spanish
El Pais: La OMS recula y le quita el puesto de embajador al presidente de Zimbabue
 
Portuguese
Publico: Mugabe já não vai ser embaixador da boa vontade da OMS
 
Italian
Corriere Della Sera: Lo Zimbabwe distrutto dal presidente Mugabe (l’Oms lo nomina ambasciatore)
 
Dutch
NOS: Mugabe misschien toch geen goodwill-ambassadeur WHO
NU Buitenland: Mensenrechtenorganisaties boos om benoeming Mugabe tot VN-ambassadeur
De Dagelijkse Standaard: De wereld op zijn kop: Mugabe wordt benoemd tot VN-ambassadeur
 
Other
ABC Nyheter (Norway): WHO trekker utnevnelsen av Mugabe som goodwillambassadør
Dagens Nyheter (Sweden): WHO-chefen drar tillbaka utnämningen av Mugabe (paywall)
Ara (Catalan): L’OMS rectifica i deixa Mugabe sense el càrrec d’ambaixador de bona voluntat

The post CNN, BBC, NYT report UN Watch protest over WHO's Mugabe appointment appeared first on UN Watch.

Robert Mugabe, left, and Dr. Tedros of WHO.

GENEVA, October 22, 2017 – The non-governmental human rights group UN Watch welcomed the WHO’s cancellation of its “absurd, immoral and insulting” appointment of Robert Mugabe as goodwill ambassador but called for a full, independent and international inquiry into any possible deals made between the WHO chief—Ethiopia’s former foreign minister—and Zimbabwe’s ruler.
“There must be more to the story. How could Dr. Tedros, a sophisticated political figure, have chosen to honor a man who has brutalized human rights activists, crushed democracy dissidents, and turned the breadbasket of Africa and its health system into a basket-case?” asked UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.
“We regret that Dr. Tedros’ statement shows no remorse, nor any mention of Mugabe’s gross human rights abuses. On the contrary, he seems to double down and justify his decision by speaking of the need to ‘include everyone’, presumably tyrants as well.”
“We ask Dr. Tedros to agree to a meeting in Geneva of victims of Mugabe, which we will gladly organize, giving the WHO chief a chance to compensate for the damage he has done to the cause of human rights in Zimbabwe. He should now honor the victims, instead of the perpetrator.”
“The tyrant of Zimbabwe is the last person who should have been legitimized by a U.N. position of any kind,” said Neuer. “Something is very ill at the U.N.’s world health agency.”
###
UN Watch has been a leading voice at the United Nations for Zimbabwe’s victims and in combating Mugabe’s abuses:

• UN Watch led the international coalition of NGOs that challenged the Mugabe regime’s massive human rights abuses, in a major address to the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights in 2005.
• UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer debated Mugabe’s rep on CNN to oppose their UN human rights commission membership.
• UN Watch brought Zimbabwe dissident Jestina Mukoko to testify at its renowned Geneva Summit for Human Rights, as it hosted Dewa Mavhingha and other Zimbabwe activists.
• UN Watch was the NGO to confront Zimbabwe in the 2008 UPR debate at the UN.
• UN Watch hosted the first NGO debate on human rights and “Zimbabwe’s New Deal”, with -Arnold Tsunga of the International Commission of Jurists and Daniel Molokele of the Global Zimbabwe Forum.
• UN Watch led the campaign opposing Mugabe’s appointment as Chair of the World Summit on Tourism.

Click here for original UN Watch protest against Mugabe’s appointment by WHO.

The post UN should investigate ‘suspect’ appointment of Mugabe, WHO chief should meet Zimbabwe victims & apologize appeared first on UN Watch.

Human Rights Activists Decry “False Legitimacy to Brutal Regime”
GENEVA, October 19, 2017 – The non-governmental human rights group UN Watch joined NGOs worldwide in expressing “grave concern” at the U.N. health body’s appointment of Zimbabwe’s dictator as a goodwill ambassador on health, even as his policies have devastated Zimbabwe’s once-prosperous economy, leaving a crumbling health system while Mugabe obtains his own medical assistance outside the country.
“The government of Robert Mugabe has brutalized human rights activists, crushed democracy dissidents, and turned the breadbasket of Africa — and its health system — into a basket-case. The notion that the U.N. should now spin this country as a great supporter of health is, frankly, sickening,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.
“Amid reports of ongoing human rights abuses, the tyrant of Zimbabwe is the last person who should be legitimized by a U.N. position of any kind,” said Neuer. Over the past decade, UN Watch has brought numerous Zimbabwean human rights activists to testify on the sidelines of UN conferences.
Speaking on October 18 in Uruguay,  WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “honored to announce that President Mugabe has agreed to serve as a goodwill ambassador.” He praised Zimbabwe for “placi[ng] universal health coverage and health promotion at the center of its policies to provide health care to all.”
Tedros in August also thanked Mugabe for his “strong commitment to health.”
Rights activists are outraged. 
“Given Mugabe’s appalling human rights record, calling him a Goodwill Ambassador for anything embarrasses WHO and Doctor Tedros,” Iain Levine, program director at Human Rights Watch, commented on Twitter.
A coalition of 24 NGOs present at the conference are “shocked and deeply concerned to hear of this appointment, given President Mugabe’s long track record of human rights violations and undermining the dignity of human beings. Given these systematic abuses and his approach to NCDs and tobacco control in the past,” said the coalition, “President Mugabe’s appointment as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for NCDs cannot be justified.”
“When Mugabe flies to Singapore for special medical treatment, he leaves behind poorly funded health services, which most of their citizens have to rely on,” said Neuer. “It’s a disgraceful show of support — and a terribly-timed award of false legitimacy — for a brutal, corrupt and authoritarian regime.”
In Zimbabwe, state-run hospitals and clinics often run out of basic medicines like painkillers and antibiotics, according to Zimbabwean health watchdog Citizens Health Watch. It says that the public health care system “continues to deteriorate at alarming levels” with lack of money being the main problem.
“Zimbabwe’s healthcare system, like many of its public services, has collapsed under Mugabe’s authoritarian regime, with most hospitals out of stock of essential medicines and supplies, and nurses and doctors regularly left unpaid,” reports AFP.

Shame on you, @WHO, for legitimizing brutal tyrant Mugabe, who devastated the health system of Zimbabwe & flies abroad for his health care.

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 20, 2017

FM HAILS COUP FOR ZIMBABWE”
Foreign Affairs minister Walter Mzembi hailed the appointment as “a major health diplomacy coup for Zimbabwe.”
“New feather in President’s cap,” blared the headline of Zimbabwe’s Herald, one of many local newspaper to extol the U.N. appointment.
“It’s outrageous that the UN is allowing itself to be used like this as a propaganda tool,” said Neuer, “The decision to honor Mugabe despite his long history of human rights abuses brings discredit upon the UN.”
“The good name of the world body is being used to legitimize Mugabe’s massive abuses of civil liberties which contravene U.N. human rights conventions. How can someone who violates core U.N. principles be elevated as a kind of example to the world?” Neuer asked.
He added: “If this is the stance of the United Nations, then where else can Zimbabweans turn to for human rights protection?”

The post Sickening: U.N. health agency names tyrant Mugabe ‘goodwill ambassador’; rights activists outraged appeared first on UN Watch.

• Mauritania allows slavery. According to a recent report by the Guardian, “up to 800,000 people in a nation of 3.5 million remain chattels,” with power and wealth overwhelmingly concentrated among lighter-skinned Moors, “leaving slave-descended darker-skinned Moors and black Africans on the edges of society.
• Pakistan turns a blind eye to acid attacks against women, and continues to sentence Christians and minority Muslims to death for blasphemy, including its recent confirmation of Asia Bibi’s verdict.
• Uganda‘s president this year signed into law its ‘Anti-Homosexuality Act,’ one of the harshest in the world, imposing life imprisonment against gays in some cases.
• Zimbabwe continues to harass and intimidate human rights dissidents.

“When the criminals are made the judges, when the arsonists are named as fire-fighters, it’s a travesty of justice. These countries will now exercise power over human rights groups within the world body, and will try to silence their voices,” said Neuer.
“Tragically, the UN’s election today of regimes such as Mauritania — where there are hundreds of thousands living in slavery — sends a message that crass politics trumps basic human rights. The UN is letting down millions of victims around the globe who look to the world body for vital protection,” said Neuer.
ECOSOC’s Power Over UN Human Rights Bodies

• Under the UN Charter, ECOSOC is the sole principal organ mandated to adopt resolutions for the purpose of “promoting respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.”
• The elected regimes will now play a major role in choosing members of the Commission on the Status of Women, the executive of UN Women, and UNICEF, which protects children’s rights.
• ECOSOC is the body that accredits and oversees human rights groups at the UN, deciding who can participate at the UN Human Rights Council. The dominant influence of non-democracies has often led to the rejection or expulsion of human rights groups that dare to criticize China, Cuba or other repressive UN member states, and they have often barred gay rights NGOs.”
• Recent ECOSOC annual sessions debated resolutions on the treatment of prisoners, Internet freedom, discrimination, gender equality and female genital mutilation.
• ECOSOC decides which nations will sit on, among others, the UN Commission for Social Development, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

The post Rights abusers win coveted UN rights posts appeared first on UN Watch.

1. The UN Human Rights Council elected Hezbollah supporter Jean Ziegler, founder and recipient of the Muammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize, as a top advisor.
2. The UN General Assembly adopted 21 condemnatory resolutions against Israel, compared to 4 on the rest of the world combined.
3. The same UN General Assembly elected China, Cuba, Russia, and Saudi Arabia to the UN Human Rights Council. The dictatorships will take their new seats on January 1, 2014.
4. UN human rights expert Richard Falk blamed the Boston Marathon terror bombings on “the American global domination project” and “Tel Aviv.”
5. The UN Special Committee on Decolonization, charged with upholding fundamental human rights and opposing the subjugation of peoples, elected the murderous Syrian regime to a senior post.
6. The UN Conference on Disarmament in May 2013 made Iran its president.
7. The UN Economic and Social Council, which oversees the UN women’s rights commission, elected genocidal Sudan as its vice-president.
8. The UN Human Rights Council elected slave-holding Mauritania to be its vice-president.
9. The UN chose Zimbabwe, a regime that systematically violates human rights, to host its world tourism summit.
10. UNESCO, which condemned no other country but Israel, and which was silent as Hamas bulldozed a world heritage site to make a terrorist training camp, allowed Syria to sit as a judge on UNESCO’s human rights committee.

The post UN Watch Releases Annual Rating: "Top 10 Worst U.N. Decisions of 2013" appeared first on UN Watch.

The post Mugabe Hosting UN Summit for Zimbabwe “Rebranding” appeared first on UN Watch.

The post UK, Canada protest Mugabe’s UN tourism summit appeared first on UN Watch.

“Amid reports of election-rigging and ongoing human rights abuses, Zimbabwe is the last country that should be legitimized by a UN summit of any kind,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.

“The government of Robert Mugabe has brutalized human rights activists, crushed democracy dissidents, and turned the breadbasket of Africa into a basket-case. The notion that the UN should now spin this country as a lovely tourism destination is, frankly, sickening,” said Neuer.

Over the past decade, UN Watch has brought numerous Zimbabwean human rights activists to testify on the sidelines of UN conferences.

Over 500 diplomats and dignitaries from 150 countries will be attending the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) 20th General Assembly at Victoria Falls starting 26th August.

“UN Watch applauds Canada’s Foreign Minister John Baird for taking the initiative last year to pull out of this misguided venture and spotlight the grossly inappropriate UN honor to Mugabe,” said Neuer.

UN Watch documentation of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe:

Testimony of human rights dissident and victim Jestina Mukoko, Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, at UN Watch’s 2012 Geneva Summit for Human Rights

Testimony of Dewa Mavhinga, human rights lawyer and activist from Zimbabwe, at UN Watch’s 2010 Geneva Summit for Human Rights

CNN Debate featuring Zimbabwe’s UN Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku vs. UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer

Video: UN Watch Confronts Zimbabwe in UN Plenary, debate on 2012 UPR report

UN Panel Debate on 2008 Zimbabwe power-sharing accord, with Arnold Tsunga, International Commission of Jurists; Hillel Neuer, UN Watch; Daniel Molokele, Global Zimbabwe Forum; and Katinka Ridderbos, International Monitoring Displacement Center

The post UK, Canada protest Mugabe’s UN tourism summit appeared first on UN Watch.