November 30, 2006

U.N. Human Rights Council is Called on To Protect Human Rights in Darfur

The U.N. Human Rights Council is the replacement for the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which was disbanded for including many of the world's most brutal and oppressive regimes in its voting membership.

The UN Human rights council continues to be tested to see if it is any improvement over its predecessor. Yesterday Mr. David Littman, Representative of the Association for World Education, addressed the UN Human Rights Council. Here is the text of his remarks, provided to this site by Mr. Littman.  (All boldfacing is in the original.)

ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION
WORLD UNION FOR PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM

3^nd session (20 November - 8 December 2006). President: Amb. Luis Alfonso de Alba (Mexico)

[All NGO statements had to be cut from 3 to 2 minutes; reduced passages in brackets not spoken.]

Sir, two weeks ago we again briefly referred to that great tragedy in Darfur about which the High Commissioner had then issued a warning ["Action must be taken now] to stop the killings and displacements" - a warning that she has now vividly described, insisting that "the ongoing atrocities must stop." We shall reiterate the words of 43 NGOs in our May appeal [to the High Commissioner]: "We believe that the role of the new Human Rights Council will be, in part, tested by the way the Darfur conflict is faced."(1) This is still true today!

In his message to the Council this morning, the Secretary-General spoke of the glaring case of Darfur, "which would merit scrutiny at a special session."

Mr. President, we are all experiencing a historic moment in world history with the pope's official visit to Turkey, and this climacteric should inspire us to reflect. Pope Benedict was right to declare two months ago: "Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul." We heard similar words in his appeal yesterday - almost identical to those we have used here for the past three and a half years, in requesting the Commission, and then the Council: "to condemn all who kill, call upon others to kill, terrorise, or use violence in the name of God or religion - of any religion!" - and we have urged the inclusion of such a firm condemnation by the Council in any future resolution on: Combating Defamation of Religions.

[Here, at the opening meeting of the Council, Pakistan's Ambassador Masood Khann - speaking for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) - affirmed that: "Islam abjures, renounces and condemns violence. Islam calls for peace, not war; love not hatred; tolerance, not bigotry."]

We ask again whether there is not a grave risk that lack of a clear condemnation on this major issue might be construed by many as acquiescence in this ugly 'defamation' and might provoke more manifestations of 'Islamophobia'?

[Sir, we would remind the Council that in 1999 a Geneva Spiritual Appeal was promulgated, being signed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Gro Harlem Bruntland (General Director of the WHO), Mary Robinson (HCHR), Cornelio Sommaruga (President ICRC), and Sadako Ogata (HCR). It calls on all "Not to refer to any religious or spiritual imperative to justify any form of violence." This 'Appeal' brought Christians, Jews, and Muslims to declare in Geneva's St Peter's Cathedral in March 2003: "Together, we denounce all reference to God to justify and foster hatred."]

Mr President: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time of war, and a time of peace." [Ecclesiastes, 3: 1, 7]

Today, violence and killing in the name of a faith or God is being carried out daily on a vast scale in the Middle East. It is time to speak out here to condemn any use of violence in the name of God or religion.

May it soon be a "time of peace" and of dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis - and throughout the Middle East - and for all calls to kill in the name of religion, faith, or sectarian belief to be placed beyond the pale of civilization. Amen

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1. E/CN.4/2006/NGO/3: Urgent Appeal to stop crimes in Darfur by invoking the Genocide Convention