Thursday, May 15, 2008

Desmond Tutu: Sri Lanka Should Not Get Seat An UN Human Rights Council



(image via thecommonwealth)

One of the few positive achievements of the neoconservatives is the attention they drew to the United Nations Human Rights Council. The New York Sun, one of the money-losing vehicles the neocons use to spread their dark gospel, pays an almost pathological amount of attention to the minutiae of the UN, and, lately, the Human Rights Council. Although the motives of the Sun's fixation with the UN are malevolent (they would rather have a looser-knit "coalition of democracies"), their opposition to business-as-usual at Turtle Bay has put tyrannies on the defensive. And Desmond Tutu, a staunch human rights advocate, is pressing the advantage. From Desmond Tutu, writing for The Guardian:

"It would seem self-evident that a country which tortures and kidnaps its own people has no place on the world's leading human rights body. Apparently not: Sri Lanka, despite repeated criticism for its human rights record, is running for re-election to the UN human rights council, with a vote to be held in New York on May 21.

"Governments owe it to Sri Lankan human rights victims - and to victims of human rights abuses around the world - to ensure that the Sri Lankan bid fails. This will be an important test of the 47-member council, to show that the UN's standards for it will be honoured."


More here.

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