It is well past time for the Human Rights Council to be exposed for what it is - a truly ineffective group of talking heads from nations practicing anything but human rights protections.
The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the UN system made up of 47 States responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe. The Council was created by the UN General Assembly on 15 March 2006 with the main purpose of addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them.
This from this article:
The U.S. delegation to the United Nations is looking to win tough language against Libya by the U.N. Human Rights Council, as the body prepares for what may be its most critical test since President Obama reversed U.S. policy in 2009 and joined the controversial panel.The Human Rights Council is notorious for showing an anti-Israel bias and being slow to condemn blatant human rights abuses by countries aligned with certain members of the 47-member council.
As it happens, Libya earned a seat on the Human Rights Council in 2010 -- a point that will likely come up for debate when the council meets for a special session Friday. U.S. diplomats plan to back an effort to kick Libya off the council and name a special investigator to look into atrocities committed on protesters rebelling against Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi.
That's right. This council was created in 2006 and the U.S., led by George W. Bush, did not join. Bush saw it for what it was - a complete exercise in hypocrisy and a vehicle to slam the U.S. and Israel. Barack Obama, however, in full kumbiya mode reversed that decision. Obama continues to believe it is better to stand up for our adversaries than for our allies. Now instead of calling on Gaddafi to leave his position of power, as he did to Mubarak, he punts. France and other western countries have issued statements demanding Gaddafi leave while the Obama administration goes to the U.N. Human Rights Council - of which Libya is a member.
Member countries of the Human Rights Council are currently mulling over a draft resolution circulated on Wednesday that calls for an immediate end to hostilities in Libya and the launch of an investigation that would determine who should be held accountable for the bloodshed in the North African nation.
The latest draft includes a provision recommending the General Assembly consider booting Libya off the Human Rights Council. The meeting Friday marks the first time the Human Rights Council has scrutinized one of its members in a special session. To suspend Libya, which was elected to a three-year term on the council in May 2010, it would take a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly.
The U.S. is pushing for Libya to be removed from the council. Too little, too late. The U.S. should have not signed on to the council in the first place but Obama had to prove he is not George W. Bush. Mission accomplished. He is certainly not George W. Bush. Obama continues to pursue foreign policy with hat in hand to prove he wants to talk to everyone. The problem is, the bad guys in the world view this as a sign of weakness. Obama has yet to learn that lesson.
The provision is not expected to be brought up before next week. In the mean time, Libya is in chaos. Gaddafi continues to kill his own people for protesting. The evacuation of Americans in Libya was woefully behind the curve and then they were stuck due to bad weather. Why wasn't there a carrier in the water there? Why wasn't an evacuation done by carrier before the weather turned and the situation on the ground was obviously going to be bad? The original mode of evacuation was to be a ferry to Malta. A ferry. Are you kidding me? The Brits used an aircraft carrier just Thursday to evacuate their people - thousands, as opposed to the 600 Americans on the ground in Libya. The Chinese evacuated their people - also in the thousands - before that.
The Americans wanting to evacuate have now - finally - arrived in Malta after waiting for days onboard the ferry as the weather and high seas calmed.
No comments:
Post a Comment