Delivered by Sarah Reibman

Thank you, Mr. President,
UN Watch is deeply concerned by the human rights abuses committed by Boko Haram and the Islamic State throughout West Africa and the Middle East, as documented by two reports before us.
Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist terrorist group is most known for kidnapping schoolgirls, of whom many have never been found. In addition, they enlist young girls, whom they radicalize, in order to commit suicidal terrorist attacks. For example, in August of this year one 14 year-old girl killed herself and 5 others, wounding 41 in a crowded bus station in Damaturu, Nigeria. In Yobe State, Nigeria, June of this year, a 12-year-old girl killed 10 people in an open market. Other suicide attacks have taken place in mosques and colleges.
Boko Haram has further aligned itself with the mission and ideology of the Islamic State. In Iraq, “honor” remains a permissible defence for violence against women allowing fatalities of many hundreds of women by “honor killings” every year. ISIS has imposed strict regulations on women wherein they must be fully covered and accompanied by a man in public, yet girls and women are still targeted for sexual violence and sexual slavery.
Girls younger than 15 and 16 are taken from their home and separated from their sisters and mothers before they are raped and sold as wives, naked, in open air markets, reminiscent of the darkest ages of humanity. Many of these girls come from the Yazidi and Christian minorities, which require the urgent protection of the international community.
We urge the Human Rights Council to condemn these horrific atrocities and to protect the innocent victims of Boko Haram and ISIS, many of whom are now knocking on Europe’s door for protection. These abuses against women and girls shock the conscience of humankind. It is unacceptable that they are so prevalent in our world today.
Thank you Mr. President.

The post UN should condemn the horrific atrocities of Boko Haram and ISIS appeared first on UN Watch.

• Several delegations spoke of “asymmetric warfare”
• The Coordination Committee of Special Procedures raised the issue of children being used as human shields by Boko Haram
• Many states spoke against passing on arms to terrorist groups

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cameroon, Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, made the following frank remark:
“We call for understanding from our friends in the Human Rights Council. A proportionate response to the attacks can only be made to the degree that the army has the capacity to assess the scope of the attack. That is not our case. We don’t have the technological and satellite instruments to see how Boko Haram will attack us. They always take us by surprise and we have to react.”
All these points are interesting especially when one compares them to the prevailing discourse during the discussion of the Council’s pet issue, that is the Israel-Arab conflict, and the tactics of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

The post Rights Council condemns Boko Haram terror appeared first on UN Watch.

——————————

UN Watch Statement

23^rd Special Session, UN Human Rights Council

 
Thank you, Mr. President.
UN Watch welcomes today’s meeting. Yet given that it has been more than five years now since Boko Haram has been on the rampage, killing thousands of innocent men, women, and children, we must ask: Why has the UN waited so long?
On Christmas Eve 2010, when Boko Haram killed 32 people in bomb blasts targeting churches in the central Plateau state, and when it did the same on Christmas Day in 2011, killing dozens of people outside Abuja and other cities, why was this Council silent?
When two months later, Boko Haram attacked the UN headquarters in Abuja, killing 23 people, and then released a video describing the UN as a “forum of all the global evil,” and praising Osama Bin Laden, why was this Council silent?
When in July 2012, a suicide bomber detonated himself at a mosque in Borno, apparently to target a moderate Muslim leader, and five worshippers were killed, why was this Council silent?
Mr. President, last year the world heard the cries of the victims of Boko Haram when the group abducted more than 200 school girls. Their plight was made famous when the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, posted the Twitter hashtag “Bring Back Our Girls.”
Yet when an attempt was made here during the June 2014 session to condemn this kidnapping, the Council refused to give its support, and the text had to be withdrawn.
Mr. President, last month at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, UN Watch and 20 other NGOs hosted one of the Nigerian girls who managed to escape the kidnappers.
She said: “I want my friends and colleagues to come back, who are still in captivity for almost a year now. I want help from the United Nations to bring back the girls so they can continue their studies and be back with their families.”
We ask: When will the UN take action for the innocent victims of Boko Haram?
Thank you, Mr. President.

The post UN Watch statement on today's urgent session on Boko Haram appeared first on UN Watch.

23^rd Special Session, UN Human Rights Council

April 1, 2015

 
Thank you, Mr. President.
UN Watch welcomes today’s meeting. Yet given that it has been more than five years now since Boko Haram has been on the rampage, killing thousands of innocent men, women, and children, we must ask: Why has the UN waited so long?
On Christmas Eve 2010, when Boko Haram killed 32 people in bomb blasts targeting churches in the central Plateau state, and when it did the same on Christmas Day in 2011, killing dozens of people outside Abuja and other cities, why was this Council silent?
When two months later, Boko Haram attacked the UN headquarters in Abuja, killing 23 people, and then released a video describing the UN as a “forum of all the global evil,” and praising Osama Bin Laden, why was this Council silent?
When in July 2012, a suicide bomber detonated himself at a mosque in Borno, apparently to target a moderate Muslim leader, and five worshippers were killed, why was this Council silent?
Mr. President, last year the world heard the cries of the victims of Boko Haram when the group abducted more than 200 school girls. Their plight was made famous when the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, posted the Twitter hashtag “Bring Back Our Girls.”
Yet when an attempt was made here during the June 2014 session to condemn this kidnapping, the Council refused to give its support, and the text had to be withdrawn.
Mr. President, last month at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, UN Watch and 20 other NGOs hosted one of the Nigerian girls who managed to escape the kidnappers.
She said: “I want my friends and colleagues to come back, who are still in captivity for almost a year now. I want help from the United Nations to bring back the girls so they can continue their studies and be back with their families.”
We ask: When will the UN take action for the innocent victims of Boko Haram?
Thank you, Mr. President.

The post When will the UN take action for the innocent victims of Boko Haram? appeared first on UN Watch.

______

UN Press Release

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO HOLD SPECIAL SESSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS, ABUSES AND VIOLATIONS COMMITTED BY BOKO HARAM
The Human Rights Council will hold its twenty-third special session on Wednesday, 1 April 2015, “in light of the terrorist attacks and human rights abuses and violations committed by the terrorist group Boko Haram”.
The special session will start at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, 1 April in Room XX at the Palais des Nations. The meeting will be webcast live at webtv.un.org.
The President of the Human Rights Council received a letter on 26 March by the Permanent Mission of Algeria, on behalf of the African Group in Geneva, containing the request to convene the special session.
In order for a special session to be convened, the support of one-third of the Council – 16 or more – is required. This request was thus far supported by the following States Members of the Council (20): Algeria, Botswana, Brazil, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russian Federation, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Venezuela.
The request was also supported by the following observer States (four): Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Djibouti and Mozambique. The list of signatories remains open up to the holding of the special session.
In connection with the special session, the Human Rights Council will hold an organisational meeting on Monday, 30 March, at 3 p.m. in Room XX. This meeting is also open to the media.

The post Rare: UN to hold special session on crimes of Islamist terror group appeared first on UN Watch.

On the eve of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 2015 session, courageous champions of human rights from around the world will unite to place urgent situations on the international agenda.
February 24, 2015 Centre International de Conférences Genève 17 rue de Varembé, 1202 Geneva
Register now: www.genevasummit.org
 Interprétation simultanée en français 

The post Nigerian Girl Escaped from Boko Haram to Headline UN Watch's 7th Annual Human Rights Summit appeared first on UN Watch.