NGOs capitalize on ideological and political antagonism within the UN to bring their anti-Israel campaigns to the international stage. The devastating impact of NGOs is compounded by the institutional bias of UN bodies, such as the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on Palestinian issues, and biased “fact-finding” missions.
The 38th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (June 18 – July 6, 2018) continued the bias and hypocrisy that has come to define the UN in general and the UNHRC in particular. NGO Monitor staff was present, speaking before the Council and documenting the numerous false accusations from member states and NGOs.
On June 27, 2018, the United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) published his 2017 report on Children and Armed Conflict. Intensive lobbying by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), led by Human Rights Watch, to include the IDF on the list of “grave violators” of child’s rights (included as an Annex) failed.
On May 18, 2018, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) held a “special session of the Human Rights Council on the deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.” Many of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that participated in the session condemned Israel for allegedly committing “war crimes” and denied the legitimacy of Israel’s right to self-defense.
In advance of the 37th Council session (February 26 - March 23, 2018), the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has released a report on the “BDS blacklist” of companies that do business with Israelis over the 1949 Armistice Line. The report, submitted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, provides important details on the flawed process and the difficulties inherent in creating a list of companies to be targeted by this form of BDS.
UNICEF spearheads a campaign to have Israel included on a UN blacklist of “grave” vio-lators of children’s rights. This political agenda is a primary facet of UNICEF’s activities relating to Israel, completely inconsistent with its mandate of “child protection” and from its guidelines for neutrality and impartiality.
On June 29-30, 2017, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) held a forum to “mark fifty years of Israeli occupation.” As anticipated, the event “Ending the Occupation: Creating the Space for Human Rights, Development and a Just Peace,” featured antisemitic rhetoric, calls for BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions), and demonization campaigns against Israel’s existence.
The speakers and their organizations that are scheduled to speak at a UN CEIRPP conference on June 30 have long-standing pro-BDS, lawfare, and ‘48 agendas.
A report published by UN Women is yet another example in a recurring pattern of UN blunders caused by unchecked reliance on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that promote antisemitism, BDS, and reject a negotiated two state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The authors of a UN report that accuses Israel of apartheid have long histories of anti-Israel activity, and rely heavily on sources that cite highly politicized NGOs.
UN-OCHA oversees and facilitates government funding to some of highly biased and politicized NGOs, including a number that are very active in promoting BDS and “lawfare” campaigns that single out Israel.
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