Calls for Council to be Reoganized or Supplanted to Protect World’s Oppressed
May 1, 2007
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Whereas our Torah teaches us that all humans were created in the
image of God, and thus have a divine right to live free of abuse and
oppression; and,
Whereas our tradition teaches us that we must strive to imitate God by
being merciful and, generally, performing acts of kindness and
righteousness; and,
Whereas hundreds of millions of people around the world suffer from such
human rights abuses as repression in Burma and North Korea, denial of
political rights in China, restrictions on women’s rights and religious
discrimination in Saudi Arabia, violence against opposition leaders in
Zimbabwe, and a myriad of abusive actions by the Iranian government
against its own citizens; and,
Whereas the UN Human Rights Council (the “Council”) recently concluded
its fourth session without addressing the vast majority of human rights
abuses occurring around the world; and,
Whereas in its nine months of existence, the Council, ostensibly acting
as the defender of hundreds of millions of abused and oppressed people
around the world, has condemned only one country in the entire world for
human rights violations, namely Israel; and,
Whereas at its most recent session in March, 2007, the Council passed
yet another resolution – its ninth – against the Jewish state; and,
Whereas Israel, surrounded by enemies intent on destroying her, remains a
vibrant democracy, where, ironically, its Arab citizens enjoy more
rights than in any Arab country; and,
Whereas when a representative of UN Watch highlighted the sheer
hypocrisy and Orwellian methods of this discredited body, he was rebuked
by the Council President and told that such speech was “inadmissible”,
an action not previously taken, even in the face of Council statements
defending Holocaust denial, glorifying terrorism and downplaying clear
evidence of violence against women, among others
Now, therefore it is
Resolved that we call upon all democracies around the world to either
take all possible action to reconstitute the Council in order that it
reflects its actual mission, or, in the alternative, to create a new
body that will protect the weak and oppressed around the world, and
ostracize governments that perpetrate such abuse against their citizens.