Tag Archive for UNHRC

Richard Falk to be replaced by Chinkin from UNHRC ‘s Goldstone Report

The Arab League wants a proven, pro-Palestinian legal campaigner who’ll more effectively promote a BDS agenda than a Muslim diplomat.

 

 

At the Arab League’s request the United Nations Human Rights Council later today plans to replace its special investigator Richard Falk with British legal expert Christine Chinkin who helped author the controversial 2009 Goldstone Report on Gaza.

OVERVIEW OF the Human Rights Council at the UNHRC Photo: Reuters

Late Thursday night UN Watch’s executive director Hillel Neuer leaked the document UNHRC President Baudelaire Ndong Ella intends to present to the council as it end its 25th session in Geneva by appointing 19 investigators late this afternoon. Continue Reading »

U.S. envoy to UN anti-Semite Falk: ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the way out’

U.S. Amb. Power was clear about Richard Falk’s term: “His publication of bizarre & insulting material has tarnished the UN’s reputation & undermined the effectiveness of the Human Rights Council.”

 

WASHINGTON – Richard Falk’s term as a U.N. human rights investigator “tarnished” the body’s reputation and the United States is looking forward to his imminent departure, U.S. envoy Samantha Power said.

Samantha Power testifies on Capitol Hill, July 17, 2013

Samantha Power testifies on Capitol Hill, July 17, 2013 – Photo: Reuters

Power said it was  Falk’s incessant focus on Israel and the Palestinians that caused the blot on the U.N.’s record.

“His publication of bizarre and insulting material has tarnished the U.N.’s

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WATCH LIVE as UN Human Rights Council condemns Israel on 5 resolutions

One resolution calls for boycott of Jewish West Bank communities and Jews in east Jerusalem.

Due to Foreign Ministry strike, Israel is not represented.

 

The United Nations Human Rights Council debated five anti-Israel resolutions — including one that calls for a business boycott of West Bank settlements and Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem — during its Monday meeting in Geneva.

 

OVERVIEW OF the Human Rights Council at the UNHRC – UN Photo/Pierre Albouy

During the UNHRC’s entire 25th session this month, it is voting on only one resolution on Syria even though over 120,000 people have been killed in its ongoing civil war. Continue Reading »

US int’l law professor top candidate replacement as new UNHRC special rapporteur

 

Prof. Christina Cerna is seen as likely replacement for Richard Falk, the UN  rapporteur on human rights council for the Palestinian territories.

 

 

The leading candidate to replace UN investigator on human rights in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk, is American international law professor Christina Cerna, the Human Rights Council announced on Wednesday.

OVERVIEW OF the Human Rights Council at the UNHRC – UN Photo/Pierre Albouy

It published a short list of three candidates, which it whittled down first from ten and then from five. The other two candidates on the short list are Christine Mary Chinkin of the United Kingdom and John Cerone also from the US. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Foreign Minister Liberman: ‘Israel’s isolation is being greatly exaggerated’

 

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman announced Israel’s new membership in 2 int’l groups, a UN group known as JUSCANZ and also gained observer status in the Pacific Alliance in Latin America.

 

 

Reports of Israel’s international “isolation” have been greatly exaggerated, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Tuesday, announcing Israel’s new membership in two international groupings.

OVERVIEW OF the Human Rights Council at the UNHRC – UN Photo/Pierre Albouy

“Next time you hear reports of diplomatic isolation or a wave of boycotts threatening Israel, know that the reality is very different,” he wrote on his Facebook page, announcing Israel’s membership in a UN grouping known as JUSCANZ and the observer status it gained in the Pacific Alliance in Latin America. Continue Reading »

Canada asks UNHRC to Fire Richard Falk after accusing Israel of having ‘genocidal’ intentions

 

United Nation’s Rapporteur, wrote an article that said Israel was “slouching toward nothing less than a Palestinian holocaust.”

 

 

Canada called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to dismiss its special investigator Richard Falk after he accused Israel of “genocidal” intentions against the Palestinians in a brief English language interview on Russian television.

UN investigator Richard Falk.

UN investigator Richard Falk.- Photo: Reuters

“Canada has previously called for Falk to be fired for his numerous outrageous and anti-Semitic statements and these comments underscore once more the complete and total absurdity of his service as a UN Special Rapporteur,” Canada’s Foreign Minister John Baird said in a statement he issued on Monday.

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U.S. Ambassador Power Welcomes Israel to UN Human Rights Council’s WEOG

The United States’ Ambassador at the UN tells the UNHRC. “For far too long Israel has been unfairly excluded.”

By Elad Benari

 

Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has welcomed Israel’s admittance into the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Western European and Others Group (WEOG).

 

OVERVIEW OF the Human Rights Council at the UNHRC – UN Photo/Pierre Albouy

In a statement she issued on Monday, Power said, “For far too long Israel has been unfairly excluded from regional bodies at the United Nations. I applaud the decision to admit Israel into the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) at the UN in Geneva beginning January 1, 2014, providing Israel membership into one of the regional bodies that shape policy and determine leadership posts in UN fora.” Continue Reading »

Israel finally invited to join UN’s Western nations WEOG group in Geneva

 

Officials in Jerusalem sees move as beginning of “normalization” of relations between Israel and the numerous UN bodies in Geneva.

 


The United Nations is expected to formally invite Israel to join its group of Western nations in Geneva on Monday, a move that is critical for Israel’s continued involvement in the United Nations Human Rights Council.

 

OVERVIEW OF the Human Rights Council at the UNHRC – UN Photo/Pierre Albouy

Israel is part of the Western European and Others Group at the UN’s headquarters in New York. But until Friday, that group’s counterpart (also called WEOG) in the United Nations Office at Geneva had refused to allow Israel to be a member.

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Israel to sit on UN’s Human Rights Council

In a complete turn-around, the UNHRC accepts Israel as a member.

Analysts: Israel threatened to leave UN, whereas the UN feared Syria & North Korea to follow, making the UNHRC irrelevant.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Israel has been accepted to join the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Maariv reported Thursday. The international body infamous for condemning the Jewish state will now add it to the list of 9 Western states.

The move is a complete about-face for the UNHRC, which in its 5-year history has condemned Israel over 46 times – more than any other nation in the world. Continue Reading »

Israel tells UNHRC: “Israel’s Unfair Treatment Must Come to an End”

After repeated discrimination by the council against the Jewish State, Israel ended its 18-month boycott and attended the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Israel defended itself against constant discrimination by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva today (Tuesday), demanding that Israel’s “unfair treatment” over the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria “must come to an end”.

UN Human Rights Council – AFP photo

Israeli ambassador to the UN Eviator Manor admitted to the council that Israel does not have “a perfect record”, stressing that the situation in Israel has been complicated due to “our difficult and complex security situation” with the Palestinian Arabs since its foundation in 1948. Continue Reading »

Israel to return to the UN Human Rights Council

 

Israel will appear at its Universal Periodic Review to present its human rights record, breaking its 18-month boycott of int’l body.

 

 

The Beduin in the Negev and Women of the Wall in Jerusalem are among the many issues Israel is prepared to address, when it breaks its boycott of the UN Human Rights Council and appears before it in Geneva on Tuesday for the first time in a year-and- a-half.

Beduin structures being evacuated, Ramat Hasharon, June 10, 2013 – Photo Courtesy, Ramat Hasharon Municipality

Eviatar Manor, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, phoned UNHRC president Remigiusz Henczel of Poland on Sunday to inform him of Israel’s decision to meet its final deadline to participate in the Universal Periodic Review process that all 193 UN member nations must undergo.

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Germany Threatens Israel to Attend UN Human Rights Council

Germany & Others Countries are Pressuring Israel to Attend the Openly anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council Review or Face a Possible Diplomatic Disaster.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Germany’s foreign minister Guido Westerwelle has warned Israel to face a periodic United Nations Human Rights Council (U.N.H.R.C.) Periodic Review — or face severe diplomatic consequences, according to a Haaretz report (Sunday).

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks during a session of the UNHRC
– AFP/File

Israel severed ties with the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council in March 2012, after it announced it would investigate how the Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria would affect the rights of local Arabs. Continue Reading »

AGAIN: Discussions on ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’ at UN

 

With all the world’s conflicts, the only permanent agenda point on the Geneva-based UNHRC roster for discussion is, the “Human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.

By MAYA SHWAYDER

 

 

 

NEW YORK – The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva met on Monday to discuss item seven on its agenda – the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem.
Palestinians hold a flag in the West Bank

Palestinians hold a flag in the West Bank – Photo: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman

Item seven is the only permanent agenda item on the UNHRC’s roster. Israel’s representative in Geneva was reportedly not present for the discussion.

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UN rights chief seeks legality of US & Israel drone use

 

UN wishes to examine the legal terms of US and Israeli drone use, which asks to clarify basis of counter-terrorism or military strikes in areas of armed conflict.

Associated Press

 

The UN human rights chief is urging the United States and Israel to clarify the legal basis for the use of armed drones in Pakistan, Yemen and Gaza.

Israel Air Force Drone – Photo courtesy IDF Spokesperson’s Office

Navi Pillay told a UN Security Council meeting Monday on protection of civilians that “the current lack of transparency surrounding their use creates an accountability vacuum and affects the ability of victims to seek redress.” Continue Reading »

Hezbollah condemned by UN Human Rights Council

Resolution brought by Western powers & Arab block, urges all parties to refrain from contributing to a further escalation of the Syrian conflict.

By Reuters

 

 

The UN Human Rights Council on Friday condemned the use of all foreign fighters in Syria‘s civil war, including Lebanese Hezbollah militants backing the government, but stopped short of calling for a halt to the flow of arms.

An image of Syria's President Bashar Assad is seen on a car's windscreen.

An image of Syria’s President Bashar Assad is seen on a car’s windscreen as Hezbollah supporters celebrate, after the Syrian army took control of Qusair from rebel fighters. – Photo: Reuters

The Geneva forum adopted a resolution brought by Arab and Western powers, urging all parties to refrain from contributing to a further escalation of a conflict in which at least 93,000 people had been killed by the end of April. Continue Reading »