It is not just the U.N.’s Human Rights Council that has an institutional bias against Israel, in the form of its infamous Agenda Item 7. Almost every U.N. agency has one or more special agenda items or reports that single out Israel. As a form of widespread bias, the gross and systematic singling out of Israel damages the credibility of the United Nations and calls into question its commitment to the the organization’s own principles of equality, universality, and impartiality.
Following are several examples of U.N. agencies and their special agenda items, reports or programs designed to single out Israel for unique scrutiny and opprobium. This is apart from the dozens of anti-Israel resolutions adopted annually by numerous U.N. agencies, while egregious violations by China, Cuba or Saudi Arabia go ignored.
General Assembly
Under International peace and security
Item 17- “The situation in the Middle East”
Item 18- “Question of Palestine”
Item 26- “Armed Israeli aggression against the Iraqi nuclear installations and its grave consequences for the established international system concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and international peace and security”
Item 32- “United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East”
Item 33- “Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories”
Item 41- “Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources”
Under Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Assistance
Item 71 (c) Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance: Assistance to the Palestinian people.
Under Disarmament
Item 94- “Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region of the Middle East”
Item 101- “The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East”
Subsidiary organs of the General Assembly
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP)
Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories
UN Secretariat
Division for Palestinian Rights, Department of Political Affairs
Human Rights Council (HRC)
Item 7- “Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories”
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Item 11- “Economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan”
World Health Assembly (World Health Organization)
Item 20- “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan”
International Labor Organization (ILO)
“The situation of workers in the Arab occupied territories”
United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
General Conference
5.2 “Jerusalem and the implementation of 35 C/Resolution 49”
5.3 “Implementation of 35 C/Resolution 75 concerning educational and cultural institutions in the occupied Arab territories”
Executive Board
5.I- “Implementation of 36 C/Resolution 43 and 190 EX/Decision 5 (II) relating to the Ascent to the Mughrabi Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem”
9- “Jerusalem and the implementation of 36 C/Resolution 43 and 190 EX/Decision 13”
10- “Implementation of 190 EX/Decision 14 on “The two Palestinian sites of al-Ḥaram al Ibrāhīmī/Tomb of the Patriarchs in al-Khalīl/Hebron and the Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ Mosque/Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem” ”
34- “Implementation of 36 C/Resolution 81 and 190 EX/Decision 38 concerning educational and cultural institutions in the occupied Arab territories”
35- “Report by the Director-General on the reconstruction and development of Gaza”
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP)
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Item 11b: “Report on UNCTAD’s Assistance to the Palestinian people”
