(Yediot Ahronot-Ynet) Daniel S. Mariaschin - Year after year, representatives of B'nai B'rith and other Jewish organizations go to Geneva to witness one of the UN's most offensive and discouraging exercises: the meetings of the Human Rights Commission, which opens its deliberations this week. In the past, this body has been chaired by serial violators of human rights like Libya, and staffed by others like Sudan and Cuba. Invariably, Israel is placed in the dock, tried, and impugned by those eager to divert attention from real human rights abuses by scapegoating a free democracy, the world's only Jewish state. So why do we bother going? We go because often no one else will stand up and say that the commission, as currently constituted, is in desperate need of reform. We go in the hope of fostering a more fair and productive UN, one where the language of human rights is not invoked only to mask violations of these rights. The writer is Executive Vice President of B'nai B'rith International.
2005-03-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive