Hypocrisy
on UN Human
Rights Council
Has HRW
Praising Sri
Lanka Work,
Delay by HRC
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
14 -- As the
UN Human
Rights
Council's 28th
session churns
on, Myanmar,
Syria and
others are on
the agenda in
the coming
week -- but
not Sri Lanka.
Despite lip
service to
"justice
delayed is
justice
denied," the
six month
deferral
granted to Sri
Lanka for the
killing of
40,000
civilians in
2009 is
ignored,
dismissed or
spun,
including by
some human
rights groups.
On March 14 Al
Jazeera,
promoting the
March 17
session on
Syria in which
a list of
names may be
released, had
the UN
representative
of Human
Rights Watch
standing at
the General
Assembly
entrance in
New York
praising the
Human Rights
Council's work
on Sri Lanka.
Really? Praise
for the six
month deferral
on Sri Lanka?
How is this
different from
the
much-criticized
delay of the
South Sudan
report by the
African Union,
except for who
is doing the
delaying?
This
same HRW
partners with
the UN
Censorship
Alliance, offering
in their
clubhouse,
instead of the
UN's open
Press Briefing
Room,
ideologically
limited
critique of
cover-up rapes
in Sudan without
mentioning the
role of Herve
Ladsous' UN
Peacekeeping,
as on the
Minova rapes
in DRC. Human
rights,
indeed.
The 28th
session's
first day on
March 2 ended
with replies
by Syria and
Saudi Arabia,
North Korea
and Japan --
and Ethiopia
to Norway.
The first two
standoffs were
routine, about
Saudi Arabians
funding
terrorism and
the death toll
in Syria,
Japan's “past
crimes” and
the recent
North Korea or
DPRK report.
Ethiopia
defended its
law on
non-governmental
organizations;
its reply did
not mention
the Zone
9 Bloggers
being jailed.
Mexico praised
the US FCC's
Net Neutrality
decision; HRC
chair Joachim
Rucker played
time keeper at
the end,
telling DPRK
to wrap it up,
and saying
only two
minutes on
second
replies.
Saudi Arabia's
statements did
not mention jailed and
flogged
blogger Raif
Badawi.
Nor did Prince
Zeid's opening
remarks
explain how
his criticism
of countries
claiming
exceptions to
human rights
law was
consistent
with his
obtaining a
six month
deferral of
the HRC report
on Sri Lanka.
The UK's Joyce
Anelay said
the report
should be
published no
later than
September; as
she spoke in
Geneva, the UK
delegation in
New York went
into the UN
Security
Council to
meet with
incoming
Council
president
France. Why
was the
slaughter in
Sri Lanka
never put on
the Security
Council's
agenda? We'll
have more on
all this.
, 
