Amnesty International criticizes UN Human Rights Council’s ’selectivity,’ ‘double standards’ towards Israel
In a July 2007 article, The Human Rights Council: A New Era in UN Human Rights Work?, Yvonne Terlingen, the director of Amnesty International’s offices at the UN, directed pointed criticism at the activity of the allegedly ‘reformed’ UN Human Rights Council. Discussing the Councils actions during three special sessions which discussed issues in the “Occupied Palestinian Territories”, convened in June, August and November of 2006, Terlingen offered the following observations concerning the failings of the Council to uphold its mandate:
”On their merits, all three situations were urgent and grave and deserved the special attention of the council. But their outcome was in some respects unworthy of a council expected to act in a “fair and equal manner,” as Resolution 60/251 requires. Particularly regrettable was the one-sided resolution that the council adopted-by a vote of twenty-seven for, eleven against, and four abstentions-on Lebanon (A/HRC/S-2/1). The highly politicized resolution strongly condemned “grave Israeli violations of Human Rights and breaches of International Humanitarian Law in Lebanon,” but entirely ignored the massive human rights abuses committed by Hezbollah in using indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. This was a clear example of the “selectivity” and “double standards and politicization” that Resolution 60/251 seeks to eliminate. Moreover, the nearly exclusive focus of these special sessions on Israel, at the cost of disregarding equally if not more egregious human rights situations elsewhere in the world, started to raise serious questions regarding the council’s credibility.”
As NGO Monitor has documented, Amnesty International has in the past focused disproportionately on condemnations of Israel in its reporting and publications, far beyond any reasonable distribution of resources in a region marked by fundamental human rights abuses. It is to be hoped, therefore, that in the future Amnesty International will hold itself to same standards as it has the UN Human Rights Council, and avoid double-standards and politicization in its reporting on the Israeli Arab conflict.
