THE UN and Human Rights

THE UNITED NATIONS & HUMAN RIGHTS

I am not a big fan of the United Nations.

Here is yet another reason why.

“Seven countries accused of human rights violations, including Libya, Angola, and Malaysia won seats on the U.N. Human Rights Council in an uncontested election yesterday.” (Associated Press)

Lets start with the atrocities committed in these countries. I don’t need to list them. Just “Google” the country and look under human rights.

Some of the dankest and darkest places on earth are serving in this august body. Further, these countries were elected by substantial margins.

More disgusting, the election was uncontested which means the United States, Great Britain, France and other supposedly enlightened nations failed to oppose.

There could be only one reason for not opposing something as outrageous as this: because it simply doesn’t matter; because the Council will have no power; because this is just another piece of UN “window dressing.”

This is just one example of an organization that has failed on almost every front to achieve the ambitious and noble goals outlined when it was founded.

The UN sits on an expensive piece of waterfront real estate in New York City (courtesy of the Rockefeller family) and houses a large group of people who have diplomatic immunity and park their cars everywhere Americans may not, demand attention, enjoy the perks of big city life, and produce very little in the way of progress for mankind.

You may have noted how successful the UN has been in resolving the conflict in the Middle East. No matter how many threats they issued against Iraq they were unable to bring Saddam into line. For years they have been threatening to bring lots of trouble to Iran over the development on nuclear capabilities and Iran just continues building.

There is no country in the world, large or small, that has anything to fear from the UN. It has proven itself over and over unable to do more than threaten action.

As a nation, the United States talks a lot about human rights. We should have led the charge against these countries that have just been elected to the Human Rights Council of the UN. We might have failed (because a great many countries that do not see eye-to-eye with us populate the UN), but at least we would have taken a stand.

We did not.

Shame on the UN and shame on us.