The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has appointed as Senior Advisor an individual who has compared Israel’s policies to those of the Nazis.
Analysis: Integrity. That quality, along with efficiency and competence, is of paramount consideration in hiring UN staff. That is according to the UN Charter.
But Mary Robinson has just hired as a Senior Advisor Mona Rishmawi, a human rights lawyer who has accused Israel of having “colonial interests;” who has charged Israel with pursuing a “strategy of Judaization;” and who in a 1989 article compared Israel’s regulations in the occupied territories with Nazi laws.
All these charges have been made in writing. And an official close to Ms. Robinson tells us that the High Commissioner was aware of these opinions before she made the appointment.
This appointment is shocking. The Office of the High Commissioner, created to ensure respect for human rights, was designed to deal with highly sensitive issues.
Victims of human rights abuses must have trust in the integrity of those who work there. And if we want governments to cooperate with the Office, they too must have confidence in its senior staff.
It will be argued that now that as the Senior Advisor works for the UN she will have to meet the standards of integrity, regardless of her previous writing.
Now the Charter’s precondition for appointment is “the highest standards of…integrity.” Imagine if in 1989 someone had argued in favor of apartheid, or had made some other hideous comment. Would we today be expected to trust that simply by being employed in the UN, that person’s integrity would be ensured? Of course not.
There is no sensitivity in equating Israel’s policies with those of the Nazis. This viewpoint is scandalous, and it is shameful that the High Commissioner would see fit to accept within her ranks someone who has so argued.
