The UN Human Rights Council, ECOSOC, and NGOs
Introduction
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, whose activities were widely acknowledged to be extremely biased, particularly against Israel, was replaced in 2005 by a Human Rights Council. However, as predicted by the US and Israel, which voted against the new framework and sought fundamental changes that would prevent political abuse and exploitation of human rights, the UNHRC has turnout to be no better than the old model.
The new framework also continues to give selected NGOs that enjoy consultative privileges at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) a major influence in promoting anti-Israel agendas. Accreditation to ECOSOC is based in large part on political affiliation, rather than commitment to human rights. For example, China blocked the application of the NGO “Human Rights in China”, and the Arab bloc was able to overcome the specific objections to the application from BADIL (a Palestinian political NGO promoting “right of return” claims). After condemning American and Israeli objections to the proposed structure of the UNHRC, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have become strident critics of its biases and failures. However, these NGOs have refused to acknowledged their failed judgment in promoting the new framework, and through their own biased reports and campaigns, have contributed to the failure of the UNHRC.
NGO Monitor and UN Watch Presentation in Geneva: UNHRC Inquiry into 2014 Gaza Conflict
NGO Monitor Submissions to UN Committees
Written statement by the Amuta for NGO Responsibility to UNHRC: European Complicity in the Promotion of Global Antisemitism, August 31, 2015
Written statement by the Amuta for NGO Responsibility to UNHRC: European Funding for NGOs that Falsify History of the 2014 Gaza War, August 31, 2015
NGO Monitor and UN Watch Presentation in Geneva: UNHRC Inquiry into 2014 Gaza Conflict, June 2015
Letter to UN Sec-Gen Regarding 2015 Report on Children and Armed Conflict, June 8, 2015
NGO Monitor Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967, June 15, 2015
NGO Monitor Submission to the UN Secretary General for the Report on the Elimination of Racism, April 20, 2015
Written statement submitted by the Amuta for NGO Responsibility to UNHRC: Lack of Military Expertise Seriously Impairs UNHRC Fact-Finding, February 20, 2015
Written statement submitted by the Amuta for NGO Responsibility to UNHRC: European Funding for Illegal Building on West Bank in Violation of International Law, February 20, 2015
Regarding the Legal Opinion Requested by Bureau of the Human Rights Council on William Schabas, February 23, 2015
NGO Monitor Submission to the UN Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict, January 30, 2015
Written statement submitted by the Amuta for NGO Responsibility to UN Human Rights Council: Palestinian Exploitation of Children as Weapons of War, August 28, 2014
NGO Monitor’s submission to the UN General Assembly Human Rights Council on Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa Region, March 4, 2014
NGO Monitor’s Submission to the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review – Israel – February 2013, July 15, 2012
NGO Monitor Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women Review of Israel, January 20, 2011
NGO Monitor Submission to Goldstone Follow-Up Committee, March 17, 2011
NGO Monitor Submission to the UN Human Rights Council Committee of Independent Experts Pursuant to HRC Resolution 13/9 (Goldstone Follow-up Committee), March 17, 2011
NGO Monitor’s Submission to the Human Rights Council Review Open-Ended Working Group, April 13, 2011
NGO Monitor Submission to the International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor Regarding the “Situation in Palestine”, October 20, 2010
NGO Monitor’s Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review– Israel – December 2008, July 21, 2008
NGO Monitor’s Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council, December 2008
NGO Monitor’s Submission to the 2009 Durban Conference Preparatory Meeting, August 16, 2007
UN “Human Rights”
Ben Cohen, The Deep UN: Inside the Secret Infrastructure of Hate, The Tower, May 2014
NGO Bias at the UN Committee Against Torture Review of Israel, May 5, 2009
Ronan Farrow, The U.N.’s Human-Rights Sham, Wall Street Journal, January 29, 2008
Malvina Halberstam, Bracing for Dugard, New York Sun, June 8, 2008
Warren Hoge, Dismay Over New U.N. Human Rights Council, The New York Times, March 11, 2007
Cotler addresses UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, June 13, 2007
Jackson Diehl, A Shadow on the Human Rights Movement, The Washington Post, Jun 25, 2007
The U.S. Role in UN Human Rights Reform: Correspondence between Peggy Hicks and Anne Bayefsky, Council of Foreign Relations, July 31, 2006
Durban
European Parliament Hosts UN NGO Anti-Israel Propaganda Conference- August 30-31, 2007, August 29, 2007
Goldstone
The Goldstone Report “Reconsidered”- A Critical Analysis, 2011
The Goldstone “Fact Finding” Mission and the Role of Political NGOs, September 7, 2009
Further Reading
My Schabas Dinner, James Kirchick, Tablet Magazine, May 9, 2015
Why the Schabas Report Will be Every Bit as Biased as the Goldstone Report, Hillel Neuer, The Tower, March 2015
NGO Statements to the UNHRC Following Israeli Teenagers’ Kidnapping, NGO Monitor report, July 15, 2014
NGO Monitor Urges UNHRC to Comply with Fact-Finding Standards, NGO Monitor Press Releases, November 1, 2012
HRW publishes criticism of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iran; but vague on UNHRC abuses, April 14, 2008
NGOS urge European leaders in Geneva to protect Iranian abuses, UN Watch Press Release, March 12, 2007