UNHRC: Sudan's Al-Bashir, Indicted for Genocide, Nominated
PRESS RELEASE
Outrage: Sudan's Al-Bashir,
Indicted for Genocide, is Nominated for Seat on UN Human
Rights Council
Rights group UN Watch
urges Ban Ki-moon and rights chief Pillay to speak
out
GENEVA, July 12 - The
Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch urged United
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and High Commissioner
for Human Rights Navi Pillay to urgently speak out against
the African-backed bid by Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir,
indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court,
for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Last week,
the U.S. failed to get the council to pass a condemnation of
what it said was a Syrian candidacy for
2014.
The NGO UN Watch also called on US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and the EU's Catherine Ashton to
denounce and fight against Sudan's
candidacy.
"Electing Sudan to the U.N. body
mandated to promote and protect human rights worldwide is
like putting Jack the Ripper in charge of a women's
shelter," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN
Watch.
UN Watch already heads an international
campaign of MPs and human rights groups opposing the
candidacies of Venezuela and Pakistan.
The U.N.'s African
group of states agreed behind closed doors to endorse the
candidacies of Ethiopia, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone
and Sudan. Because Africa has arranged for five countries to
run for the same amount of allotted seats, Sudan's election
is virtually assured.
"Technically," said Neuer, "Sudan must still receive an absolute majority of 97 affirmative country votes in the U.N. General Assembly's November election for new human rights council members. However, in the history of these ballots, names presented on a closed slate have never been rejected. It's just the way U.N. ambassadors work. And the fact is that Sudan has been chosen to head various U.N. groupings, so its election to the UNHRC, however outrageous, is a real possibility."
Neuer said that UN rights chief Navi Pillay, who hails from South Africa, could make a big difference by speaking out. "We need her to be the moral voice here, to urge other African countries to put their names forward, and to call for unequivocal opposition to Sudan's scandalous bid. Her role is crucial."
"Just a year after the
human rights council sought to exorcise the ghosts of its
past by suspending Col. Muammar Qaddafi's Libya -- which
infamously chaired the body in 2003, and was reelected a
member in 2010 -- it is now set to replace him with a tyrant
wanted for genocide by the International Criminal Court. For
how long must we have the inmates running the
asylum?"
"The U.N. and the cause of human rights
will be severely damaged if Al-Bashir's Sudanese regime wins
a seat," said Neuer.
UN Watch also called on the U.S. and the EU to lead a vigorous campaign to defeat Sudan's candidacy, and to ensure there will be competition on the African slate of candidates.
"Last year, the democracies
fought a successful campaign to defeat Syria, by persuading
other countries to compete. Yet they said and did absolutely
nothing in 2010 on Libya -- perhaps due to lucrative oil and
business deals -- and Qaddafi won by a landslide. It's vital
this year that the US and the EU announce early that they
are opposed to having the oppressive Sudanese regime of
Al-Bashir Assad judging the world on human rights," said
Neuer.
Neuer said that Sudan clearly failed to meet the
criteria of UNGA Resolution 60/251, which established the UN
Human Rights Council in 2006. General Assembly members are
obliged to elect states to the Council by "tak[ing] into
account the candidates’ contribution to the promotion and
protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and
commitments made thereto." The resolution also provides that
consideration ought to be given to whether the candidate can
meet the obligations of Council membership, which include
(a) to "uphold the highest standards in the promotion and
protection of human rights" and (b) to "fully cooperate with
the Council."
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).
ENDS