Rights Group Applauds UN Chief's Reelection

Rights Group Applauds UN Chief's Reelection, Urges Action on China and Russia in 2nd Term

Geneva, June 21, 2011 - "UN Watch applauds the reelection of Ban Ki-moon, a principled leader who has advanced the cause of human rights in some of the world’s most troubled areas," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based watchdog organization, in a statement issued today in advance of the UN General Assembly decision expected for this afternoon.

"He appointed the expert panel that exposed Sri Lanka’s 2009 mass killings of Tamils, in the face of vehement opposition from that country and its allies," said Neuer. "He stood behind protesters in Egypt and Tunisia, condemned Syria’s President Assad for violent repression and torture of children, and denounced U.N. expert Richard Falk for suggesting the U.S. government orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks."

"Mr. Ban has proven that the U.N. Secretary General can make a difference in raising awareness of human rights abuses and focusing the world’s attention on action needed in promoting universal human rights consistent with the U.N.’s charter and founding purpose. In his second term we call upon the Secretary General to confront powerful U.N. players like China and Russia for continuing gross human rights abuses and to demand the release of political prisoners like China’s Liu Xiaobo.”

UN Watch is a Swiss non-profit organization founded in Geneva in 1993. The independent human rights group is governed by an international board chaired by Ambassador Alfred H. Moses, a prominent attorney who formerly served as U.S. Special Presidential Emissary for the Cyprus Conflict and as Ambassador to Romania.

www.unwatch.org

UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI)

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