As Rick Moran noted last week when learning that Iran was elected to the UN's Commission on the Status of Women, it is time to agitate for the US Out of the UN as his files "Idiotic Things Done by the UN" and "Reasons the UN Should Never, Ever, Be Taken Seriously" are too mild.
Anne Bayefsky of Eye on the UN has further proof that leaving the UN is now the only serious option for those who take human rights and/or any form of decent intraplanetary government co-operation seriously.
Iran's election to the UN Commission on the Status of Women on April 28, 2010 wasn't the only UN shocker that day. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe are among the dictatorships and human rights basket-cases elected to UN leadership roles and positions that entail responsibilities diametrically opposed to their qualifications. * UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations: Sudan, Cuba, China, Pakistan
* UN Commission on Social Development: Cuba, Egypt, Zimbabwe
* UN Commission on the Status of Women: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran
* UN Commission on Sustainable Development: Angola, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia
* UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), Governing Council: Iran
For example, let's look at the UN's Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO).
In plain language, this Committee gets to decide what NGOs are permitted to get UN passes, passes which will allow them into the UN, to lobby governments and to participate and speak at UN meetings.Who gets to choose the right and wrong NGOs? On April 28 the UN re-elected Sudan, Cuba, China and Pakistan.
Their qualifications for the job?
SUDAN
(US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2009, Sudan)
"[T]he government expelled 13 humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from the country. The government also shut down three Sudanese NGOs in March...As of year's end whereabouts [of the cofounder of the NGO Darfur Forum for Reconciliation and Peaceful Coexistence] were unknown...Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained...NGO members...(snip)
CUBA
(US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2009, Cuba)
"[T]he government did not recognize any domestic human rights groups or permit them to function legally...There are no officially recognized, independent NGOs that monitor human rights...(snip)
CHINA
(US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2009, China)
"Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), both local and international, continued to face intense scrutiny and restrictions...[T]he government maintained a task force aimed at blocking political change advocated by NGOs involved in social, political, and charitable activities, and also by groups dedicated to combating discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, and minorities...
The full reports for each commission and its member countries are equally farcical, mocking the purpose of their commissions while prolonging the suffering of the people they are to protect.
Starving foxes guarding henhouses would be more reliable.
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