Today is International Human Rights Day, but it feels like there is little to celebrate. The will of the world's most authoritarian and fascist regimes is prevailing at the UN in one incident after another in a process that is decimating the original spirit of the UN's establishment, which was to protect and further human rights, not to cripple and erode them.
Last week the UN General Assembly approved a revised resolution on extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions with the removal of a specific reference to sexual orientation as an unacceptable reason for executions, after several Arab and African countries banded together in a bid to have the reference removed. Consequently, the United Nations, the world body mandated to uphold the universalism of human rights, opted not to defend the rights of human beings not to be murdered by their governments on account of their sexual orientation.
And now, the UN "Human Rights" Council (the saddest joke of the decade) is considering a draft resolution on “combating defamation of religions” sponsored by a derisive Morocco on behalf...More >>
The United Nations, the body founded in the wake of the Holocaust and the horrific consequences of unchecked fascism, has once again signalled just how far off its foundation it's slid over the last 60 years. In a resolution on extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions, a specific reference to sexual orientation has been dropped from the list of unjustified reasons for executions, after several Arab and African countries banded together in a bid to have the reference removed.
In effect, the United Nations, the world body mandated to uphold the universalism of human rights, will not be defending the rights of human beings not to be murdered by their governments on account of their sexual preferences-- not even on paper this time.
The amendment to remove "sexual orientation" was put forward by Mali and Morocco and hailed by African and Islamic member states, changing the wording of the 2008 resolution which explicitly mentioned sexual orientation. Thus, in 2010, we have a resolution that is weaker than its predecessor: it's regress instead of progress in the develoment of international...More >>
The United Nations, the body founded in the wake of the Holocaust and the horrific consequences of unchecked fascism, has once again signalled just how far off its foundation it's slid over the last 60 years. In a resolution on extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions, a specific reference to sexual orientation has been dropped from the list of unjustified reasons for executions, after several Arab and African countries banded together in a bid to have the reference removed.
