Rights Group Criticizes Election of UAE, Venezuela and Kyrgyzstan to UN Human
Newsweek – Oct 29, 2015
A number of countries criticized by rights groups for serious human rights abuses against their citizens were elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday, weeks after a Saudi Arabian representative was elected head of a key human rights panel amid international outcry.
Eighteen countries—Belgium, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Panama, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Togo, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela—were elected by the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday for three-year terms on the council, which begin on January 1, 2016.
U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based group that monitors the U.N, said it considers only nine of the 21 countries that were candidates for election to the council as eligible, based on their human rights record. A number of the countries elected, including Burundi, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates, have authoritarian regimes. Human rights records of other elected countries include violence against women, human trafficking and limits on freedom of expression and assembly, U.N. Watch said in a report published ahead of the elections on Wednesday.
The United Arab Emirates’s poor treatment of its migrant workers has made international headlines over the past few years, while men are legally allowed to beat their wives, according to U.N. Watch. In Venezuela, activists and students continued to be detained and jailed in overcrowded prisons and the media is heavily censored.
In September, U.N. Watch similarly criticized the U.N.’s appointment of Faisal bin Hassan Trad of Saudi Arabia to the head of the panel that oversees the Human Rights Council. Saudi Arabia executed more than 90 people in 2014 and sentenced blogger Raif Badawi to more than 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam” earlier this year.
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Pakistan Loses UN Human Rights Council Election
NDTV – Oct 29, 2015
According to a report by UN Watch, Human Rights Foundations, and the Lantos Foundation, Pakistan, UAE, Burundi and Ecuador were cited by human rights groups for having committed serious violations of numerous articles of the Universal Declaration of ...
A closeup look at the UN Human Rights council explains its betrayal of rights
World Tribune
Hillel Neuer of UN Watch stated emphatically, “The election of even more rights abusing regimes on a body that already counts China, Russia, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia as members — marks another severe blow the credibility and efficacy of a body that is supposed to improve on its discredited predecessor, by taking action to protect victims. It’s a black day for human rights.”
Rogues’ gallery as UN elects a slew of human rights-abusing countries to Human Rights Council
New York Daily News
What do Burundi, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Venezuela, Togo, Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates have in common? Two things. First, they severely crimp freedom. A partial rundown, according to UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental organization:
Korea re-elected to United Nations Human Rights Council
Newzy – Oct 29, 2015
“It’s a black day for human rights”, said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer. Other members elected were: (African States): Togo, Ethiopia, Ivory Coat, Kenya and Burund; (Latin America/Caribbean States): Panama, Ecuador and Venezuela…
