1. @UNHumanRights rep @AlfreddeZayas in Venezuela for fake investigation arranged by Maduro regime & just posted propaganda photos of abundant food—as millions face mass hunger. Also poses with Maduro soldiers. Why is @UN_HRC High Commissioner Zeid silent? https://t.co/EHW5ZC32Ey pic.twitter.com/8QGEeV2gUO

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 1, 2017

November 30, 2017 – UN Watch today called on UN chief Antonio Guterres and rights commissioner Zeid to condemn and dissociate themselves from this week’s “fake investigation” of Venezuela by the only U.N. human rights expert to be allowed in by the Maduro regime after 15 years of it rejecting repeated requests by separate monitors on arbitrary detention, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, independence of the judiciary and arbitrary executions.
Alfred de Zayas, installed in 2012 to the Cuban-created U.N. post of “Expert on promotion of a democratic and equitable international order” was warmly welcomed and embraced in Caracas on Monday by Venezuelan foreign minister Jorge Arreaza.
Zayas has often used his UN post to spread overt propaganda praising Venezuela’s Maduro regime. He is a long-time defender of Fidel Castro and a hero to Holocaust deniers for his writings accusing the World War II allies of committing “genocide” against Germany.
He is the first UN expert to be allowed into Venezuela since 2002.
A coalition of 50 NGOs sent an open letter to Zayas in advance of his visit urging him to set a precondition that Caracas allow in the other UN investigators. He refused.
Many Venezuelan NGOs expressed suspicion about the visit and called on Zayas to meet with human rights defenders and speak out for Maduro’s victims while in the country.

No Joke: @UN_HRC expert @AlfreddeZayas now visiting #Venezuela had earlier this year published & praised speech hailing "Commandante Chavez" & "the indispensable role that Venezuela plays in UNHRC, tirelessly denouncing double standards & politicization."https://t.co/kconDPXP9X pic.twitter.com/kCNGyM9aob

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 30, 2017

Foreign Minister Arreaza Embraces Zayas
Arreaza greeted Zayas warmly with smiles and handshakes, hosting a meeting with him at the Foreign Ministry. Arreaza has already used the visit to spread government propaganda, seeking to deflect blame for the humanitarian crisis engulfing the country. The meeting was followed by a press conference, a government press release and multiple tweets by the Foreign Ministry (@CancilleriaVE), and was widely covered in the press.

Canciller @jaarreaza: El Experto Independiente para un Orden Internacional Democrático y Equitativo de la ONU, Alfred De Zayas, se reunirá próximamente con el poder popular sin ningún tipo de restricción. pic.twitter.com/kdzTfzL1O1

— Min.Relaciones Exteriores y Comercio Internacional (@Cancilleria_ve) November 27, 2017

One self-serving tweet proclaims that Zayas “will soon meet with the people’s power without any kind of restriction.” It is unclear who this is referring to, but there is no indication that Zayas met with political prisoners or opposition leaders.
The Maduro regime clearly views Zayas as an ally. According to Arreaza, the pro-Castro U.N. expert was invited (even as Venezuela denied entry to other UN experts) during the September 2017 Human Rights Council Session. This was a transparent bid to deflect criticism of the Maduro regime by UN rights chief Zeid Hussein, whom Arreaza accused of attacking Venezuela.
The fact that de Zayas is cozy with the regime is no secret. In the September UNHRC session, Zayas sat on a Venezuelan-chaired panel of pro-dictator UN experts who attacked the West and defended Venezuela. Also on the panel were Jean Ziegler, founder and recipient of the now-defunct “Qaddafi Human Rights Prize”; and ex-Algerian ambassador Idriss Jazairy, who took $50,000 from Russia and then issued a report claiming that the Putin regime is a victim of Western sanctions.
Arreaza’s remarks following the meeting with de Zayas
On economic sanctions against Venezuela, Arreaza said that de Zayas was concerned about “the financial blockade against Venezuela and the way our debt is being used to block access to resources for social investment for Venezuelans.”
On the political violence in April and July, Arreaza lauded the government for responding with “democracy” to the opposition’s use of “the street, pain and death to justify – as in 2002 – a change of government by force.” This, after 163 protesters were killed and 15,000 injured in anti-government rallies in 2017, and the government stripped the National Assembly of its legislative powers.
Zayas fails to condemn Maduro’s Crimes
Instead of using the meeting as an opportunity to hold the Maduro regime to account for its crimes and to demand change, as UN experts are supposed to do, Zayas reportedly acknowledged Maduro’s efforts to “promote peace” through “national dialogue.”
Not surprisingly, the government press release concluded with a statement that it expects Zayas to issue a UN report reflecting his “balanced and rigorous opinion on the Venezuelan reality.” Russia likewise received a positive report from Zayas’ close ally, UN expert Idriss Jazairy.
Zayas’ own UN press release about his Venezuela visit confirms that he is aligned with the government and has no intention of speaking out for Maduro’s victims. He says that his visit will be about promoting “social progress” and “better standards of living,” and researching the impact of global civil society on “investment in food, housing, health and education programs.”
This, while Venezuelans are starving on a massive scale, with 75% of the population having lost weight in 2017 (some as much as 78 pounds), girls as young as 12 being forced into prostitution to feed their families, acute malnutrition rising from 8% to 12% in the first half of 2017, and record high levels of malaria which is not being adequately treated due to lack of medicine.
Zayas’ press release also suggests Venezuela’s human rights catastrophe is the making of outsiders, not the Venezuelan government, stating “human rights and development cross borders in today’s globalized world,” and there is a need to “strengthen relationships to overcome obstacles” to civil liberties.
His press release notably fails to mention Maduro’s many crimes: jailing political prisoners, silencing of opposition leaders, torture and killing of protesters, causing mass hunger.
 

The post U.N. chief must condemn own expert's 'fake investigation' of Venezuela rights record appeared first on UN Watch.

The panelists:
1. Lead panelist was UN expert Idriss Jazairy, who described Putin’s Russia as a human rights victim. Coincidentally, as UN Watch revealed today, Jazairy received $50,000 from the Russian government. As Algerian ambassador to UN, he once said “antisemitism targets Arabs”; and, most famously, he led a major effort to muzzle UN human rights experts. And then he became a UN human rights expert himself.
2. Alena Douhan, a Belarus academic with a soft spot for Russia, whose doctorate was on the principle of “non-interference” in countries’ “internal affairs.”
3. Alfred de Zayas, the Cuban-appointed expert for a “democratic and equitable international order.” Zayas has defended Iran’s right to nuclear weapons, and writes books claiming Germany suffered a “genocide” in 1945. Zayas is a hero to Holocaust deniers.
4. Jean Ziegler, co-founder & 2002 recipient of the Qaddafi Human Rights Prize. In his presentation, Ziegler actually defended the murderous Maduro regime of Venezuela, which he said was being victimized by a U.S. “economic war.”
5. Panel Chair: the ambassador of Venezuela’s Maduro regime, Jorge Romero. He effusively thanked Ziegler for his kind words.
6. Peggy Hicks, a top official in the office of UN high commissioner Zeid, delivered the opening statement. A former Human Rights Watch official, we hoped she would provide a dissenting voice. Instead, she echoed the same line. And when Ziegler spouted pro-Maduro propaganda, Hicks was silent.

The entire topic is a thinly veiled mechanism to attack the West and portray gross abusers like Sudan as victims. Those pretending to oppose coercive economic measures are silent about the many Arab countries who exercise a boycott against not only Israel, but also a secondary or tertiary boycott against those who do business with Israel.
The whole discussion on “unilateral coercive measures” is so transparently selective and politicized as to be a complete fraud. Similarly, the composition of the panel was a disgrace.
The fact that a former top official of Human Rights Watch would deliver remarks legitimizing this fraud, and taking it seriously, without a word of dissent — without a word of objection when panelist Ziegler defended a dictatorship — is shameful.

1. Even within the rogues' gallery that is the U.N. human rights Council, this panel speaking now is the mother of all rogues' galleries. pic.twitter.com/KvUejQ63oL

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 14, 2017

2. Jean Ziegler, panelist who just addressed @UN_HRC—defending Maduro regime—is co-founder & 2002 laureate of the Qaddafi Rights Prize. pic.twitter.com/KstAztFAlu

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 14, 2017

3. After UNHRC panelist Jean Ziegler defended Maduro regime, he was thanked by the panel chair: yes, #Venezuela's ambassador, Jorge Valero. pic.twitter.com/qfrw3MWDN8

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 14, 2017

4. Another panelist today was @UN_HRC expert Alfred de Zayas, a defender of Iran's right to nuclear weapons—and a hero to Holocaust deniers. pic.twitter.com/WraozLhQUz

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 14, 2017

5. Lead panelist was UN expert Idriss Jazairy—who defends Putin's Russia. As Algeria ambassador to UN, he said "antisemitism targets Arabs." pic.twitter.com/EalWGHllbG

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 14, 2017

6. Finally, OHCHR's @hickspeggy (ex-@HRW). I hoped she'd dissent—but she echoed same line. And when Ziegler praised Maduro—Peggy was silent. pic.twitter.com/NsQzuhEFEQ

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 14, 2017

The post The End of Human Rights at the U.N. — Panel was "Mother of All Rogues' Galleries" appeared first on UN Watch.

The post Paris attacks: UN official blames U.S., West & Israel; “They came to us because we went to them” appeared first on UN Watch.

—————-

(Source: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights)

UN rights expert hails Arms Trade Treaty and urges States to do more to also regulate production

GENEVA (3 April 2013) – The United Nations Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, welcomed the adoption of first legally-binding UN Arms Trade Treaty that prohibits states from exporting conventional weapons to countries when they know those weapons will be used for genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.
“Those who sell or facilitate weapons to individuals that will commit human rights violations know that they have responsibility for the death and misery caused by those weapons and at some stage may be liable to face the International Criminal Court for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Mr. de Zayas warned.
For the human rights expert, the adoption of the treaty is a significant first step with the potential to reduce “the appalling human cost of the trade in conventional weapons and the conflicts they fuel. Undoubtedly, this treaty constitutes an historic moment toward the goal of meaningful disarmament and the reduction of hostilities,” the expert stressed.
“However, the treaty is not perfect, since numerous ambiguities remain in the text which could end up favoring the arms industry,” the expert said, stressing that nothing in the treaty prohibits selling weapons to non-state entities. “More reflection is needed and a subsequent agreement should address outstanding issues that were left out in the final compromise. It is for civil society in the countries concerned to participate in this debate.”
“The world needs to stop not only the trade but the production of arms, since once weapons have been produced, there is an incentive to use them and to continue producing them,” he underscored. “All these resources and energy must be shifted away from the logic of armed conflict and toward the advancement of peace and the promotion of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.”
“Peace, as the absence of war and of structural violence, cultural hegemonism and the eradication of extreme poverty -as envisaged in the Millennium Development Goals, is a necessary condition for an international order that is more democratic and more equitable,” he said
Recalling his 2012 reports* to the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly, Mr. de Zayas emphasized that the endorsing of the draft arms trade treaty was urgently needed for the realisation of a democratic and equitable international order.
(*) Check the reports
UN General Assembly: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IntOrder/A.67.277_en.pdf
UN Human Rights Council: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session21/A-HRC-21-45_en.pdf
ENDS
Alfred de Zayas (United States of America) was appointed as the first Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order by the Human Rights Council, effective May 2012. He is currently professor of international law at the Geneva School of Diplomacy. Mr. de Zayas practiced corporate law and family law in New York and Florida. As a Human Rights Council’s mandate holder, he is independent from any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity. Learn more, log on to: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IntOrder/Pages/IEInternationalorderIndex.aspx
Watch the Independent Expert on OHCHR YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEa6RvDwekQ&feature=share&list=UU3L8u5qG07djPUwWo6VQVLA
For more information and media requests, please contact Thibaut Guillet (+41 22 9179329 / spbconsultant10@ohchr.org) or write to ie-internationalorder@ohchr.org.

The post After treaty UN calls for total ban on arms production appeared first on UN Watch.

U.N. Expert Alfred de Zayas, in his own words:

• The Old Testament is characterized by “cruelty” and “profound unreligiousity,” its patriarchs “equipped with divine legitimacy and justification to take our promised Lebensraum by force.” (Original source now deleted by Zayas — see instead Alternative Source.)

• Churchill and Roosevelt connived at “a form of genocide” against the Germans.

•  The World War II Allies who fought Nazi Germany should have been prosecuted for “barbarous” and “gruesome” crimes; the Nuremberg Court that judged Nazi war criminals had “hardly any legitimacy.”

• “Nuremberg was an exercise in hypocrisy. A continuation of hate and war… a corruption of legal norms and procedures, a pollution of philosophy, a truly Pharisee tribunal.” Original source now deleted by Zayas Alternative Source

•  “Israel emerged out of terrorism against the indigenous population” and its representatives should be denied U.N. accreditation. Source

• America bears “responsibility for the destabilization of… countries in the Middle East.”

• “George W. Bush and Tony Blair too are Pharisees.” Original source now deleted by Zayas Alternative Source

• “Moses had such a rough time bringing the Jewish people across the Red Sea because half of them were busy picking up pretty shells.” Source

____________

GENEVA, Dec. 19 – Tomorrow, the United Nations General Assembly will adopt a resolution ratifying all of the 2012 resolutions and decisions of its subsidiary, the 47-nation Human Rights Council.

While a handful of these decisions were good, many were despicable. One stands out for its ignominy: the appointment of a top official whose life’s work—authoring books on World War II that make Germans the victims and the Allies the war criminals—has made him a hero to Holocaust deniers.

Alfred de Zayas was appointed in March as the council’s “Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order,” an anti-Western mandate created by Cuba’s Communist regime.

Inexplicably, Zayas was unanimously recommended by a U.N. committee that included British Ambassador Peter Gooderham, who was supposed to effectively represent the interests and values of Western democracies such as Britain, France, Germany and the United States.

To undo this wrong, tomorrow U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice should lead the world’s democracies in calling for a vote on the omnibus resolution—which includes the appointment of Zayas—and vote No.

Ambassador Rice should also take the floor and explain to the U.N. and the world why America and all decent people categorically object to an appointment that contradicts the principles of the U.N. and its founding history as the anti-Hitler alliance. Click here to send an email urging action.

In September, when UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer confronted Zayas in the council plenary (click for video), the new U.N. human rights expert claimed his World War II history books were acclaimed by scholars, saying “I’ve only received positive comments from professors hitherto.”

The evidence, however, shows otherwise.

Expert comments on Alfred de Zayas:

• Dr. Bernward Dörner, German historian specializing in antisemitism: Zayas ignores decades of research in his quest to absolve the Germans of having known about the Holocaust, and his evidence and reasoning are faulty. (Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, April 18, 2011, review of Zayas’ most recent book Völkermord als Staatsgeheimnis – Vom Wissen über die “Endlösung der Judenfrage” im Dritten Reich (Genocide as State Secret – on Knowledge about “the Final Solution to the Jewish Question” in the Third Reich).

• Professor Frank M. Brucher, in 1993 German Studies Review article: Zayas “makes no attempt to integrate his work with that of existing historiography on World War II, Nazi Germany or war crimes in general.”

• Main-Taunus-Kurier, 17 September 2011, article by Willi van Ooyen: “Controversial international law expert Alfred de Zayas operates in the discourse of the extreme right.”

• Frankfurter Rundschau, “Revanchismus an Schulen; Vertriebenen-Thesen für Abendgymnasien,” 15 September 2011: German historian Wolfgang Wipperman accuses Alfred de Zayas of historical revisionism.

• Rainer Ohliger, German social scientist and historian, reviewing Zayas’ book “A Terrible Revenge” in 1997 German historians’ forum: The “murderous Nazi-German foreign policy that was in place between 1938 and 1945. . . is starkly underemphasized [by Zayas’] book and arouses suspicion that we are dealing with a historical revisionist work.”

Click here to urge U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice to take action tomorrow, Dec. 20

Other countries: click here for contact info of your ambassador to the U.N.

The post U.N. to Endorse Hero of Holocaust Deniers, Alfred De Zayas appeared first on UN Watch.

The post UNGA to ratify 2012 Human Rights Council decisions tomorrow appeared first on UN Watch.

UN Watch supporters send thousands of emails to U.S. Ambassador Rice, urging opposition

One of many Holocaust denier websites that have featured material

by the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Alfred De Zayas.

GENEVA, Dec. 19 – UN Watch is urging U.S. ambassador Susan Rice to oppose a U.N. resolution tomorrow that will ratify the appointment of a Human Rights Council official whose life’s work—authoring books on World War II that make Germans the victims and the Allies the war criminals—has made him a hero to Holocaust deniers.

Alfred de Zayas was appointed in March as the council’s “Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order,” an anti-Western mandate created by Cuba’s Communist regime.

Inexplicably, Zayas was unanimously recommended by a U.N. committee that included British Ambassador Peter Gooderham, who was supposed to effectively represent the interests and values of Western democracies such as Britain, France, Germany and the United States.

“To undo this wrong,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, “U.S.Ambassador Susan Rice should lead the world’s democracies in calling for a vote on the omnibus resolution—which includes the appointment of Zayas—and vote No.”

“Ambassador Rice should also take the floor and explain to the U.N. and the world why America and all decent people categorically object to an appointment that contradicts the principles of the U.N. and its founding history as the anti-Hitler alliance. That is why UN Watch has launched an email
campaign urging the U.S. to take action,” said Neuer.

In September, when UN Watch confronted Zayas in the council plenary (click for video), the new U.N. human rights expert claimed his World War II history books were acclaimed by scholars, saying “I’ve only received positive comments from professors hitherto.”

The evidence, however, shows otherwise.

Expert comments on Alfred de Zayas:

• Dr. Bernward Dörner, German historian specializing in antisemitism: Zayas ignores decades of research in his quest to absolve the Germans of having known about the Holocaust, and his evidence and reasoning are faulty. (Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, April 18, 2011, review of Zayas’ most recent book Völkermord als Staatsgeheimnis – Vom Wissen über die “Endlösung der Judenfrage” im Dritten Reich (Genocide as State Secret – on Knowledge about “the Final Solution to the Jewish Question” in the Third Reich).
• Professor Frank M. Brucher, in 1993 German Studies Review article: Zayas “makes no attempt to integrate his work with that of existing historiography on World War II, Nazi Germany or war crimes in general.”
• Main-Taunus-Kurier, 17 September 2011, article by Willi van Ooyen: “Controversial international law expert Alfred de Zayas operates in the discourse of the extreme right.”
• Frankfurter Rundschau, “Revanchismus an Schulen; Vertriebenen-Thesen für Abendgymnasien,” 15 September 2011: German historian Wolfgang Wipperman accuses Alfred de Zayas of historical revisionism.
• Rainer Ohliger, German social scientist and historian, reviewing Zayas’ book “A Terrible Revenge” in 1997 German historians’ forum: The “murderous Nazi-German foreign policy that was in place between 1938 and 1945. . . is starkly underemphasized [by Zayas’] book and arouses suspicion that we are dealing with a historical revisionist work.”

The post Tomorrow: U.N. to Endorse Holocaust Deniers’ Hero appeared first on UN Watch.

Alfred de Zayas, a new official appointed unanimously by the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council,
 says Churchill and Roosevelt helped carry out “genocide” against the Germans;
Israel must be kicked out of the U.N.; Iran has a right to nuclear energy under the U.N. Charter;
and the West is “inciting” against the Ahmadinejad regime.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Cuba Interrupts, Defends Anti-American Appointee

U.N. Human Rights Council, Sept. 12 session with Alfred De Zayas, newly appointed to 
Cuban-sponsored mandate for a “democratic and equitable international order”

Council President:  I now give the floor to UN Watch.

UN Watch Director Hillel Neuer: Thank you, Madam President. And we thank you, Mr. De Zayas, for this opportunity to engage in dialogue and learn more of your plans for this new mandate. 

With great interest we read your report, and also participated in your session with human rights groups.

Section II of your report examines historic documents that guide this council’s mission to promote and protect human rights, such as the United Nations Charter.

As you note, the term United Nations began in a declaration by the anti-Hitler coalition, articulated by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which you also examine, was drafted, as stated in the preamble, in response to “barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.”

Like the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions, the Declaration was influenced by the Nuremberg Tribunal which prosecuted top officials of Nazi Germany. The court, affirmed by Resolution 95 of the General Assembly, has indeed become a bedrock of our international human rights law.

Now, Section 22 of your report outlines your future plans for the mandate. Note 6 references your just-published article on “Forced Population Transfers,” which in turn cites your numerous books and articles—I think it’s fair to say, this is your life’s work—on the history of World War II and its aftermath, in particular on the suffering of Germans.

We have some questions in this regard.

– You wrote last year that because the Allies weren’t prosecuted for their “barbarous” crimes, the Nuremberg Court that judged Nazi war criminals has “hardly any legitimacy.”

– You accuse Churchill and Roosevelt of conniving to carry out “a form of genocide” against the Germans.

– You have said that calling the Holocaust unique can negate the suffering of others — such as expelled Germans — and this is “tantamount to a serious violation of their human rights.” 

Mr. De Zayas, do you believe these statements support the principles of the United Nations?

Now, when a book was published about the complicity of Germans in the Holocaust, you accused the author of “racism,” and, as you wrote, you met with a lawyer in Canada to get him prosecuted for “hate literature.” 

Not surprisingly — and sadly — your publications and lectures are promoted on the most virulent websites of Holocaust deniers, such as the “the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust.” 

Your report references “dialogue” and engagement. Yet you have called, in your public writings only a few years ago, for the Jewish state to be suspended from the UN, and its delegates to be denied accreditation.

You’ve also said that Israel “emerged out of terrorism,” remains “privileged on the international scene” and. . .  

Council President:   Please stop reading from your statement. Cuba you have the floor.

Cuba (objecting to UN Watch): Thank you, Madam President. Cuba will speak now to make a point of order. We would ask the president to call the speaker to order.

We believe that at this point the delegations and the representatives of civil society should be referring to the report that we have in front of us, and they should express their comments and their points in a respectful way complying with UN language.

In no way can this be used to qualify the present statement which has strayed very far, referring to the latest words used.

We would ask that the speaker not be allowed to divert from normal procedures. We would ask you to take the floor from him on an unconditional basis at this stage. Thank you.

Council President: We are currently holding an Interactive Dialogue with the mandate holders of the Special Procedures. It is thus expected that participants in the dialogue ask questions or make comments in relation to the report’s remarks. May I request the NGO representative to continue his statement with this in mind.

UN Watch Director Hillel Neuer:  Thank you, Madam President. Mr. De Zayas, in reference to your writings cited in section 22 of the report, footnote 6 — I’m reading from the report in my hands now, your cited article entitled “Forced Population Transfer” — do you think your plans for this mandate conform to the United Nations’ founding principles? Thank you, Madam President.

Alfred De Zayas:  With regards to the first speaker [UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer], I was a bit surprised – by the insinuations and innuendos. I think they are not consistent with the practice of this house.

In any event, I think anybody who knows my own website, and anybody who knows my publications, knows that I published in Oxford, and in Rutledge and in Macmillan, and in St. Martin’s Press, and that my books have been very well received by the American Journal of International Law.

Benjamin Ferencz, United States prosecutor at Nuremberg, reviewed two of my books very prominently at the American Journal.

And Professor Berkhof of the Leiden University, in the Netherlands International Law Review.Professor Bert Röling, former judge in the Tokyo Tribunal — also, very positively.

And the article mentioned, “Forced Population Transfer,” is from the Oxford Encyclopedia of International Law. I’ve only received positive comments from professors hitherto.

So, as I said, I was a bit taken aback…  Nonetheless, I welcome all comments. I listen to all of you with respect, and with attention, and I will do my level best to accomplish the mandate that you have conferred upon me. I thank you.

The post Issue 384: Confrontation in Plenary: UN Watch calls out official for World War II revisionism; Cuba interrupts appeared first on UN Watch.

•  See full story below in today’s New York Daily News

•  TAKE ACTION: CLICK HERE TO URGE ACTION BY U.S. AMBASSADOR SUSAN RICE

______________________

Another bad UN egg

BY HILLEL C. NEUER

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

GENEVA – Promoters of the UN’s hypocrisy-ridden Human Rights Council say it’s been reformed. Yet the 47-nation body stooped to a new low today by installing a top official whose life’s work — authoring books on World War II — make Germans the victims and the Allies the war criminals.

Alfred de Zayas made his first appearance this afternoon as the council’s “Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order.” I participated in the debate and took the floor to call him out. Now it is U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice who must act.  

The post was initiated by Cuba — the same country that interrupted my remarks today — in order to criticize Western countries that “wish to dominate the world with their economic and military models.”

At first glance, De Zayas seems highly qualified. He was born in Havana, grew up in America and graduated from Harvard Law School. He spent 22 years with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, for whom he continues to freelance in his Geneva retirement.

But a closer glance at De Zayas’ writings — his website has everything, including the minutiae of his daily activities — raises troubling questions.

De Zayas is not a Holocaust denier. But he is a hero to them. His publications and lectures are promoted on websites such as “Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust.” It’s easy to see why.

One of his key themes is that hardly any Germans knew what was happening to their Jewish compatriots.
In 1996, when historian Daniel Jonah Goldhagen published “Hitler’s Willing Executioners,” documenting the complicity of the broader German population, De Zayas responded that Germans could not have been anti-Semites because there were “many German Jews in Bismarck’s circle,” and “many mixed marriages.”

Rather, he said, it was Goldhagen who was “racist.”

And, he argued, just as Americans never assumed their government would kill the Japanese-Americans sent to internment camps, Germans had no reason to imagine the Nazis would do such things to Jews.

De Zayas pressed Germans in Canada to prosecute Goldhagen’s book distributors on charges of “hate literature,” and advised them how to win at a UN human rights tribunal for which he then worked. Referring to a Canadian revisionist, De Zayas boasted in an email to supporters that “Jim Bacque and I even visited a lawyer in Toronto to suggest this procedure.”

He urged Germans in the U.S. to do like the Jewish community, which he said contributes millions of dollars to “the Lobby.”

His books’ other focus concerns the suffering of Germans during and especially after the war, in population transfers that he said cost over two million Germans their lives.

While uncovering unpleasant truths is worthy, De Zayas’ accusations against the Allies are invariably overstated, while Nazi atrocities are minimized:

– Churchill and Roosevelt connived at “a form of genocide” against the Germans.

– Because the Allies weren’t prosecuted for their “barbarous” and “gruesome” crimes, the Nuremberg Court that judged Nazi war criminals has “hardly any legitimacy.”

– Proposals for dealing with Germany by Henry Morgenthau, Roosevelt’s Jewish cabinet member, were “racist” and “inhuman.”

– Calling the Holocaust unique can negate the suffering of others, such as expelled Germans, “tantamount to a serious violation of their human rights.”

Scholars criticize his work as shoddy and revisionist. According to a 1993 German Studies Review article, De Zayas “makes no attempt to integrate his work with that of existing historiography on World War II, Nazi Germany or war crimes in general.”

But Cuba and its gang chose De Zayas not for his history, but current politics.

As a Third Worlder, he’s unlikely to criticize any of the countries who supported his mandate, including Bangladesh, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Uganda.

Second, they can rely on De Zayas to dutifully attack the U.S., whom he recently accused of “responsibility for the destabilization of the situation of countries in the Middle East.”

Third, De Zayas hates the Jewish state. Israel, he says, “emerged out of terrorism against the indigenous population,” remains “privileged on the international scene” and its representatives should be denied UN accreditation.

When it comes to Nazi Germany, he focuses on the suffering of its citizens without any historical perspective. For Israelis, it’s the exact opposite.

A top source for De Zayas is Norman Finkelstein, author of “The Holocaust Industry” and a leading anti-Israel activist. De Zayas endorsed Finkelstein’s bid for tenure and compared him to Socrates.

Today, as this detractor of Western democracies is now armed with a global U.N. podium, we should ask:

Why did the British delegate on the selection committee join the jackals in unanimously endorsing him? Obviously Havana pressed hard for their candidate, but London had the moral duty to object.

And when will U.S. Ambassador Rice speak out, and demand that this wolf in sheep’s clothing be fired?

Hillel Neuer is executive director of UN Watch in Geneva.

The post Issue 382: Exposed: Top U.N. Official is Holocaust Deniers’ Hero appeared first on UN Watch.