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Week Ending September 28, 2007

H.RES.557 Strongly condemning the United Nations Human Rights Council for ignoring severe human rights abuses in various countries, while choosing to unfairly target Israel by including it as the only country permanently placed on the Council's agenda.

{Note: Resolutions do not become law and so can contain  inaccuracies and correlations leading to conclusions that, under scrutiny, may not be substantively supported by fact. Because of that, TheWeekInCongress.com, in the process of just reporting what is in a resolution, inadvertently perpetuates politicizing an issue or spreading incomplete information. From time to time we will make note that the information or conclusions in a resolution preamble should be considered as not the complete or most accurate depiction of events or facts. This is one of those times.}

What the preamble could have said is that the UN Human Rights Commission has been headed by countries that have some serious human rights violations of their own. The contradiction in the preamble is centered on complaining about Israel being a frequent topic at the UNHRC due to alleged human rights violations in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon and then referring to the US state department’s assessment of other countries having far more serious human rights violations than Israel. The irony is that the US State Department has designated Israel as a Tier II country in that regard:

This from CIA / State Department documents:

Current situation: Israel is a destination country for low-skilled workers from Eastern Europe and Asia who migrate voluntarily for contract labor in the construction, agriculture, and health care industries, some of whom are subsequently subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude; many labor recruitment agencies in source countries and in Israel require workers to pay large up-front fees that often lead to debt bondage and vulnerability to forced labor; Israel is also a destination country for women trafficked from Eastern Europe for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Israel is placed on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to address trafficking, namely the conditions of involuntary servitude allegedly facing thousands of foreign migrant workers.

However, the resolution is correct that many countries are engaged in activities that surpass Israel’s violations.

More resolution below…

Sponsor:  Rep. John Campbell (CA-48^th)

Vote: Passed House September 25, 2007 416 to 2 RC 901

Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost

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MORE INFORMATION

Whereas Article II of Chapter I of the United Nations Charter states that `[t]he Organization is based on the principles of sovereign equality of all its members';

Whereas the former United Nations Human Rights Commission was widely discredited for its incessant attacks against Israel and for granting membership to Cuba, Zimbabwe, China, Saudi Arabia, and other countries that were notorious human rights violators;

Whereas the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution establishing the Human Rights Council, stating that `members elected to the Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights';

Whereas the resolution also stated that `the Council shall be responsible for promoting universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner';

Whereas China, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia are members of the Human Rights Council;

Whereas in the past year that the United Nations Human Rights Council has been in existence, the Council has held four special sessions to address pressing human rights situations;

Whereas of those four sessions, three were condemning Israel for their possible human right abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in Lebanon, and the fourth special session was a non-condemnatory expression of `concern' regarding the situation in Darfur, Sudan;

Whereas the Human Rights Council has failed to adequately address a number of other pressing human rights concerns throughout the world;

Whereas the 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices of the Department of State notes that, with respect to Iran, `the government's poor human rights record worsened . . . and it continued to commit numerous, serious abuses';

Whereas, between June 10 and 15, 2007, Hamas-armed gunman violently took over the Gaza Strip, executing men, women, and children;

Whereas, on June 19, 2007, a Department of State spokesperson specifically identified Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe, and Belarus as countries that merit consideration by the United Nations Human Rights Council due to their `serious human rights violations';

Whereas during its fifth session, the Human Rights Council voted to make Israel the only country permanently included on its agenda; and

Whereas United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said he was `disappointed at the Council's decision to single out only one specific regional item, given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world': Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) strongly condemns the United Nations Human Rights Council for ignoring severe human rights abuses in other countries, while choosing to unfairly target Israel;

(2) strongly urges the Council to remove Israel from its permanent agenda;

(3) strongly urges the Council to hold special sessions to address other countries where human rights abuses are being committed, adopt real reform as was intended for the Council when it replaced the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, and reaffirm the principle of human dignity consistent with the original intent envisioned at the Council's establishment;

(4) strongly urges the United States to make every effort in the General Assembly to ensure that the Council lives up to its mission to protect human rights around the world, in accordance with United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/251 establishing the Council; and

(5) strongly urges the United States to work with the United Nations General Assembly to ensure that only countries who have a well-established commitment to protecting human rights are chosen to serve on the Council.

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