The Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council has long been regarded by the sane world as a farcical organization consisting of the world’s worst human rights abusers. It is a place where nations like Saudi Arabia – which still implements oppressive Sharia laws, subjugates women and bans all religions except for Islam – sits in judgment of other nations and dictates to them ways in which to address human rights abuses. In metaphoric terms, it’s akin to the fox guarding the chicken coop.
Driven by blind anti-Semitism and hatred for the “infidel Yahuds” who defile “holy Arab-Muslim soil,” Israel frequently and almost exclusively finds itself on the receiving end of the UNHRC’s hypocritical invective. Occasionally, however, the democracy stalwarts of the UNHRC will challenge the human rights records of other democracies. On Monday, the Council zeroed in on the United States and took great pleasure in needling the world’s greatest democracy.
The U.S. absurdly allows itself to be subjected to review by the UNHRC and, consistent with that nonsensical practice, the State Department issued a self-flagellating report to the UNHRC detailing a plethora of areas where the US ostensibly lags in human rights and areas where it instituted measures aimed at ameliorating purported abuse.
Among the items noted in the report and listed under the subject heading of “Profiling and excessive use of force by law enforcement,” was the August 2014 shooting of the felonious Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson. A grand jury failed to indict Wilson and the Department of Justice, headed by arguably the most anti-law enforcement attorney general in the history of the United States, concluded that there was no basis to pursue criminal action against Wilson. Why this incident was so prominently featured in the State Department’s report remains a mystery. The riots triggered by Brown’s death were spearheaded by thugs and professional agitators like the “Reverend” Al Sharpton, who specializes in stoking the flames of hate and causing general mayhem.
The State Department report also included items where it asserted progress on human rights. These included the promoting of same-sex marriage and fighting discrimination against transgender children in school. I’m certain that the virtuous Saudis, Iranians and Pakistanis were thrilled and tickled pink by these developments. Incidentally, the punishment for homosexuality in Saudi Arabia is death by stoning and in Iran, its death by hanging.
US transparency and improvements in human rights notwithstanding, Turkey, Pakistan, Russia and China and other assorted champions of democracy wasted no time in lashing out at the United States. Turkey, the world’s leading jailer of journalists whose leaders routinely spew forth anti-Semitic, racist and misogynistic rhetoric for political gain, maintained the unmitigated gall to question the greatest democracy on the planet and challenge its human right record.
The Russian delegation comically expressed concern that “the human rights situation in the [United States] has seriously deteriorated” and offered the U.S. delegation seven recommendations and ways to improve human rights. Russia is a place where members of the opposition mysteriously disappear or succumb to radioactive poisoning or other horrid deaths. How they manage to offer criticism on such matters as human rights and do so without breaking into uncontrollable laughter is remarkable.
Not to be outdone, Pakistan, one of the world’s foremost leaders in human rights abuses, informed the US delegation that Pakistan “has serious concerns about the human rights situation in the U.S.” To place things in proper perspective, Pakistan is a nation that maintains the death penalty for “crimes” such as “blasphemy.” Under Pakistani law, those who committed the Charlie Hebdo attack and those who attempted to commit a similar massacre at an art and free speech exhibit in Garland, Texas were doing the right thing and merely carrying out proper punishment consistent with Pakistan’s penal code. If you insult “The Prophet” or Islam, you’re dead. It’s as simple as that. Other Muslim countries have similar “blasphemy” laws.
Women in Pakistan are routinely subjected to sexual assault, honor killings and particularly gruesome acid attacks that leave victims horribly disfigured. Law enforcement’s approach to these outrages can at best be described as lackadaisical. That’s because many of these attacks are motivated by Islamic law and women are generally regarded as second class citizens without rights or protection.
Given its less than stellar makeup, the notion that the UNHRC is capable of acting judiciously and impartially is patently absurd. Even more absurd is the fact that the Obama administration would allow the United States to be subjected to such ludicrous humiliation at the hands of the world’s most tyrannical and oppressive regimes.
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About Ari Lieberman
Ari Lieberman is an attorney and former prosecutor who has authored numerous articles and publications on matters concerning the Middle East and is considered an authority on geo-political and military developments affecting the region.
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