And while Libya is not a member of the Council, Najat al-Hajjaji is back. She is chairperson of the preparatory committee for the 2009 Durban Review Conference. Cuba is vice-chairperson, and other committee members include Iran and Pakistan. The conference will take place in Geneva. It will review the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, which turned into a hate-fest against Israel and Jews. The US and Israeli delegations walked out.
Already, Mrs al-Hajjaji is proving true to form, allowing Arab and Islamic countries to filibuster and use procedural devices to marginalise and exclude Jewish and pro-Israel NGOs. The Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy eventually withdrew its application for accreditation to ‘Durban II' as the Review Conference is dubbed, after repeated and fervent objections from Iran. The Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign was accredited without any difficulties. Canada has already announced that it will boycott the Durban Review Conference, and the US, UK, France, Germany and Israel may follow.
All of which begs the question, does it matter what the UN Human Rights Council decides? After all, most of the world's population has never even heard of the body. But yes, it matters very much. In the best Orwellian tradition, the abusers club has hijacked the very language of human rights. At the same time, states such as Egypt and Iran argue with increasing confidence that rights such as free speech and free association are ‘western' concepts irrelevant to the developing world. They claim it is ‘politically biased' to single out regimes that abuse human rights, and that all problems in the middle east have Israel as a source.
The dark farce of the Council certainly matters to Abdel Kareem Soliman, an Egyptian blogger, jailed in 2007 for four years after a five minute trial, for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak. It certainly matters to the family of Mohammed Hassanzadeh, a seventeen year old Iranian who was hanged at Sanandaj prison on June 10, in direct contravention of international law which forbids the execution of minors. And it should matter to us. The Durban Review Conference will cost at least $6.8 million, monies drawn from the UN budget, all of which is paid for by member states, meaning taxpayers. We are funding a hate-fest for human rights abusers to castigate the west. Why?
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