Table of Contents

Institute for NGO Research: Item 7

Thank you, Mr. President. We have heard today a lot of crocodile tears from UN Member states and entities, and from NGOs regarding the US pull-out from the Council.  Those who are upset about the US actions, have only themselves to blame.

As everyone in this room is well-aware, this discriminatory Item 7 was a leading driver of the US withdrawal. Everyone in this room is also well-aware that a similar item on the agenda of the Commission for Human Rights brought that institution down and led to the creation of this Council.  Item 7 should have never been included on the Council’s agenda.

Since the Council’s founding in 2006, the US, Israel, and too few other countries, urged reform of the Council agenda in support of the values of universality, objectivity,  impartiality, and non-selectivity, values upon which the UN Charter and this Council were founded. But rule of the mob prevailed; responsible countries did nothing, and the international NGOs that supposedly champion universal human rights, sided with the regressive forces that dominate this Council.

Mr. President, the members of this Council and OHCHR have a choice. They can continue down their current path of double standards, discrimination, and bias, and face the irrelevance, funding cuts, strikes, and boycotts that occur as a result.  Or they can choose to implement the Council’s founding values – universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity – in order to create an institution in which all countries are proud to serve.

Which path will they choose?

 

Institute for NGO Research: Item 8

https://www.facebook.com/NgoMonitor/videos/1852632488091510/

 

Thank you, Mr. President.

The Vienna Declaration affords special protections to the human rights of children. Why are so many member States and NGOs, who have spoken here today, completely indifferent to the exploitation and abuse of Palestinian children by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, and the Palestinian Authority? Hamas sends 100s of children to the border with Israel placing them in grave danger. The ploy is to use these children as cynical cover so that Palestinian terrorists can storm the Israeli border and cause murder and mayhem at one of the many civilian communities nearby.  The Palestinian Authority gives its full blessing to the deployment of its children as cannon fodder.

What is even more disturbing about this scheme, however, is how the international community, including UN Member states, UN agencies, particularly UNICEF and UNRWA, and NGOs, like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and FIDH say and do absolutely nothing.  They would rather score cheap political points against Israel than keep Palestinian children from harm’s way. They would rather promote radical political agendas that inflame conflict rather than educate Palestinian children to embrace peace and co-existence.

Mr. President, if the most influential members and observers of this Council and powerful UN agencies and NGOs are unwilling to stand-up for the rights of Palestinian children against Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, what is the point of the Vienna Declaration?

Thank you.

 

Institute for NGO Research: Item 9

https://www.facebook.com/NgoMonitor/videos/1854014501286642/

 

Thank you, Mr. President.

The 2001 Durban Conference was tarred by rank antisemitism. And while the Durban Declaration and Program of Action is supposed to serve as a model to prevent racism, member states and UN agencies, like UNRWA and the Division of Palestinian Rights, continue to promote antisemitism on a daily basis.

The Palestinian Authority is one of the worst offenders.  Official Palestinian media routinely spews virulently antisemitic and violent content – portraying Jews as apes, dogs, and pigs; calling Jews a cancer; denial of the Holocaust; and claiming Palestinian quote “victory” will be achieved through the murder of Jews.

The Palestinian Authority inculcates this bigotry and racism in children beginning from birth. Babies and toddlers are dressed as suicide bombers. Children’s TV programs brainwash kids to hate and kill Jews. Kindergarten plays show children kidnapping and murdering Chassidic Jews.  Older students are rewarded for imagery that promotes violence and the elimination of Israel.

The Palestinian Authority also promotes anti-Jewish hatred through cultural programs, theater groups, sports and community centers. One egregious example involved a puppet show instructing children to replace cigarettes with machine guns” and included the warning, “Jerusalem, we are coming, Jerusalem, the time of death has arrived.” Disturbingly, many of these activities receive European governmental funding.

Mr. President, the Palestinian Authority must be held to account for its promotion of antisemitism and bigotry and flouting the norms expressed in the Durban Declaration. Thank you.