Thursday 5 November 2009

US Congress rejects Goldstone report - Jewish group lobbying European governments

"The fact that the person who is pushing the Goldstone Report onto the General Assembly agenda is the Libyan President of the General Assembly, Ali Abdesselam Treki, speaks volumes about the so-called concern for human rights. Nations like Libya, Iran and Pakistan, who are ranked among the worst offenders of human rights and racism, fight for power and control in the United Nations system not to serve humanity, but to deflect any criticism aimed at their authoritarian leadership." (Moshe Kantor)

Hopefully the lobbying is successful and Europe follows the U.S. in its rejection of the Goldstone report.

1. US Congress condemns UN Goldstone Report, 344 to 36; full text & voting breakdown
(UN Watch)
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2.
Jewish group lobbies European governments to vote against Goldstone report at UN

PARIS (EJP, article by Maud Swinnen)---The European Jewish Congress (EJC) is actively lobbying European governments to vote against the Goldstone Report on the Gaza war when it is discussed on Wednesday in the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The EJC, which is a body representing Jewish communities across Europe, called on European and other democratic nations to challenge the ‘automatic tyrannical majority’ in the UN.

Thus far no European nation has voted for the Goldstone Commission Report, either during the resolution for its mandate nor when voting for its ensuing resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council.

"I hope that this trend will continue and that Europe can enlist like-minded nations to ensure that no democratic nation votes for a resolution on the Goldstone Report," EJC President Moshe Kantor said. "We need a coalition of decent democratic nations to combat the automatic tyrannical majority that can impose its views at will by sheer weight of numbers and nothing else," he added.

The EJC said it is "deeply concerned" that the United Nations structure is being hijacked by nations who want to use their voice to suppress true human rights.

"The fact that the person who is pushing the Goldstone Report onto the General Assembly agenda is the Libyan President of the General Assembly, Ali Abdesselam Treki, speaks volumes about the so-called concern for human rights," Kantor said. "Nations like Libya, Iran and Pakistan, who are ranked among the worst offenders of human rights and racism, fight for power and control in the United Nations system not to serve humanity, but to deflect any criticism aimed at their authoritarian leadership."

The EJC feels that many of the United Nations institutions like the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly and the Durban process do not serve the purpose they were built for. "Unfortunately, the original and moral mandate of the UN is being hijacked for political agendas at the cost of millions of people who desperately seek its help."

2 comments:

Stewart Mills said...

Hi,

My two cents worth: Richard Goldstone is a great man a proud Zionist, a lover of humanity. His daughter lives in Israel. He has a rich experience in some of the world's trouble spots including: South Africa, Rwanada, Sudan, the former Yugoslavia and now Gaza. If you read Richard's own account he initially rejected the mandate proposed to him by the Nigerian president of the Human Rights Council, but later agreed when he could conduct the mandate on the terms he insited on. Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal voted in favour of the Goldstone Report at the UN.Sadly most people don't read the Goldstone report. If people took the time they would see that the document is conservative and simply calls for both sides to account. Goldstone agrees that Israel has a right to self-defence. His concern is on situations when the violence used was disproprtionate to the outcome sought. He cited cases for this for both sides. As a lover of the rich tradition of Judaism, we owe a duty to the responsible use of power and the protection of human dignity for all.

http://thegoldstonereport.blogspot.com/

Stewart Mills
Sydney, Australia

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