UN Watch in the News

Yet Olivier de Schutter of Belgium, the “Special Rapporteur on the right to food,” is not going to Syria. Instead, the UN’s food monitor is coming to investigate Canada. That’s right. Despite dire food emergencies around the globe, De Schutter will be devoting the scarce time and resources of the international community on an 11-day tour of Canada—a country that ranks at the bottom of global hunger concerns. — The National Post, UN Watch op-ed., March 22, 2012.

 
According to Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, "Venezuela's bid to join the world's top human rights body appears especially absurd in the wake of the recent admission by Eladio Aponte, the former chief justice of the country's highest criminal court, that verdicts in politically-sensitive cases are entirely orchestrated by government officials. The Human Rights Council was created in 2006 precisely "to prevent the influence of such corrupted regimes." — Venezuela's El Universal, May 4, 2012.

El director ejecutivo de UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, calificó de “absurdo” que Venezuela pretenda ser miembro del máximo órgano de derechos humanos de la ONU . Si el gobierno de Chávez es elegido, “la ONU otorgaría legitimidad a un régimen dirigido por un autócrata enfermo que sistemáticamente hostiga a periodistas, jueces, activistas de derechos humanos y líderes estudiantiles, además de ser gran un partidario de los carniceros de Siria e Irán", señaló. — Notimex, May 3, 2012.

Forty members of members of parliament from four different countries are joining with human rights activists in an effort to block Venezuela's uncontested bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, according to UN Watch, a human rights watchdog group. — Fox News, May 2, 2012.

 
L’On. Fiamma Nirenstein, Vice Presidente della Commissione Esteri della Camera dei Deputati ha firmato la petizione internazionale dell’UN Watch che chiede di cancellare la candidatura di Hugo Chavez per il Consiglio dei Diritti Umani delle Nazioni Unite. – Agenzia Parlamentare, May 2, 2012.

If Chávez is chosen, by a General Assembly vote expected in autumn, the U.N. will grant legitimacy to an ailing autocrat who systematically harasses journalists, judges, human rights activists and student leaders, a man who supports the butchers of Syria and Iran, just as he backed “brother” Gadhafi to the bitter end. — The Miami Herald, UN Watch op-ed., May 1, 2012.

LOS ANGELES TIMES | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

In criticizing the United States for excluding Cuba from the Summit of the Americas, you argued that "engagement, not isolation, is the best way to encourage change." Cuba's record in other international forums demonstrates the opposite. — L.A. Times, April 22, 2012.

 
Russia's alarming restrictions on internet freedom, including the imprisonment of pro-democracy bloggers, are inconsistent with its membership of the UN Human Rights Council. – The Guardian, Apr. 17, 2012.

 

El director de la UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, organización supervisora de las actividades de las Naciones Unidas, afirmó que los cargos de derechos humanos en Cuba deben ser ocupados por los activistas y no por el gobierno de la isla. “Desgraciadamente Cuba no se merece estar en el CDDHH; el gobierno cubano amerita estar en el banquillo de los acusados”, declaró el alto funcionario de la Organización Internacional. — Univision, Apr. 6, 2012.

Por las graves violaciones que comete el régimen de La Habana, los que integran el gobierno debieran comparecer ante un tribunal — Marti Noticias, Apr. 5, 2012.

Tiens donc, la vérité sort enfin du puits! Grâce à une émission de la Télévision suisse et à la lettre de lecteur de M. Hillel Neuer, directeur exécutif UN Watch Genève (voir «Tribune» du 30 mars). — La Tribune de Genève, April 3, 2012.

  

      Jean Ziegler is a human rights impostor; he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He was the UN Human Rights Council’s expert on the right to food, however he happens to be a propagandist for some of the world’s most tyrannical regimes. — UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, interviewed on Canada's Sun TV, March 31, 2012.

Contrairement à ce qu'on a pu lire dans l'article Ziegler renonce (voir «Tribune» du 26 mars), Jean Ziegler n'a pas «renoncé» à un poste de rapporteur à l'ONU; il a été recalé et essaie maintenant de limiter les dégâts subis par son image. — La Tribune de Genève, March 30, 2012.

Hillel Neuer, directeur d'UN Watch a salué l'adoption du texte, bien que tardif, en regrettant que son contenu ait été atténué pour qu'il puisse obtenir une majorité. L'ONG relève que le Sri Lanka conserve le dernier mot sur la possibilité d'une supervision par l'ONU des procédures d'enquête et de poursuites judiciaires. — SDA/ ATS, March 22, 2012.

The new fact-finding mission will, like the Goldstone report, be “another giant international imbroglio,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. In a statement he added, “The council’s new fact-finding mission on settlements — whose co-sponsors include Syria and Iran — is a fraud, with the guilty verdict determined in advance. The egregiously one-sided resolution omits any mention of officially-sanctioned Palestinian terrorism, rocket fire targeting civilians and incitement to hatred, anti-Semitism and genocide. — The National Post, March 22, 2012.

 

UN Watch executive-director Hillel Neuer said this was the first time the council had looked to create a fact-finding mission on the settlements.
“The Palestinians at the UNHRC are frustrated that there’s actually been some attention recently to other things — such as the massacres this year in Syria and Libya — and so the latest fact-finding mission is a desperate attempt to keep the focus on Israel’s purported sins,” he said. — Jerusalem Post, March 19, 2012.

Just down the road from the UN, another human-rights summit took place the following day — one where actual human rights heroes were present. That summit was organized by UN Watch, and a coalition of 20 other human-rights groups, from Tibet to Uganda. — The National Post, March 16, 2012.

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer declared today that “the Council's review of the Qaddafi regime was a fraud, and should be declared a mistrial.” He added that the reputation of the UN was at stake as the report's effect “was to falsely praise Qaddafi's oppressive regime and insult his victims.” — The Global Journal, March 14, 2012.

U.N. Watch Director Hillel Neuer blasted the council for the move, saying the panel should have called a new session entirely to review Qaddafi's "heinous crimes." "The council should have set an example of accountability by acknowledging that its original review was deeply flawed," he said in a statement, claiming the report served to "falsely praise Qaddafi's oppressive regime, insult his victims and harm the reputation of the U.N." 
— Fox News, March 14, 2012.