Bad Start for the New UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Hypocrisy appears to be the leading trait we can expect from high-ranking UN officials such as the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Sadly, Ms. Bachelet is no exception
Bad Start for the New UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
The new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has unfortunately continued the one-sided anti-Israel narrative that her anti-Semitic predecessor, Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein, propagated whenever he got a chance. In her first speech to the UN Human Rights Council on September 10, 2018, Ms. Bachelet blamed Israel’s so-called “blockade” and its alleged “excessive use of force” for all the problems suffered by the Palestinians in Hamas-run Gaza. “Prospects for peace and respect for human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” she declared, “are undermined by the continued occupation.” She attacked Israel’s settlements policy, as well as “the recent adoption of the Nation State Basic Law in Israel,” which, she claimed, “enshrines discrimination against Israel’s non-Jewish population.”
Ms. Bachelet also repeated her predecessor’s anti-U.S. rhetoric on migration
Israel has the sovereign right to protect its own civilians from relentless terrorist attacks committed by Hamas and other Palestinian militant organizations. Israel does not “occupy” Gaza. If it did, there would be no armed Hamas using Gaza as a base from which to launch thousands of rockets into Israel. Security measures at the crossings between Israel and Gaza as well as restrictions on maritime shipments are necessary to stop the flow of weapons to the terrorists who refuse to disarm. Humanitarian supplies and building materials have continued to flow into Gaza. The Palestinian leadership, including Palestinian Authority President Abbas, are the main obstacles to peace because of their intransigent positions on such issues as the so-called “right of return.” As for Israel’s Nation State Basic Law, it does no more than enshrine Israel’s commitment as a sovereign nation to protect the right of self-determination of the Jewish people to live securely in their historic homeland. Non-Jews have far more rights living in Israel than Jews have living in any Arab or Muslim majority country. In fact, non-Jews living in Israel have far more rights than they would have if they lived in Arab or Muslim-majority countries.
Ms. Bachelet also repeated her predecessor’s anti-U.S. rhetoric on migration. She expressed concern for the past separation of immigrant children from their families, the lack of redress for the families she said were “victimized,” and the recent announcement, in her words, that “the government would no longer abide by a court settlement limiting detention of children to 20 days.” Ms. Bachelet also criticized the United States for not joining the Global Compact for Migration, which purports to set so-called international “objectives” that include “providing basic services for migrants” and using “detention only as a measure of last resort.” Adhering to these “objectives” would mean that illegal immigrants are to be released into communities for the most part rather than kept in temporary detention and are to be granted taxpayer-subsidized health care benefits and education. Such policies will only encourage the flow of more illegal immigrants, which is the overall goal of open borders advocates who say that no immigrant should be considered “illegal.”
U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, correctly called Ms. Bachelet out for her Israel-bashing. “By not even mentioning Hamas – the source of violence and unrest in Gaza – her comments hurt chances for peace, rather than help them,” Ambassador Haley said. Ambassador Haley also criticized Ms. Bachelet for attacking the United States on migration issues. She said, “the High Commissioner fails to recognize that it is the human rights problems in parts of Latin America that drive many migrants toward the freedoms that are found in the United States.”
Just as the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein conveniently overlooked the human rights abuses within his own home country of Jordan, while using his global platform to condemn Israel and the United States, so too has Ms. Bachelet whitewashed the current human rights abuses in her home country of Chile. Indeed, in her speech, Ms. Bachelet praised Chile for being “able to surmount divisions and meet vast challenges – shaping institutions which enable greater participation, and greater freedom, justice and dignity, for our people.” Not so fast, Commissioner Bachelet. Just because Chile has moved well beyond its history of dictatorship and oppression does not justify Ms. Bachelet’s lack of self-examination of Chile’s current record of human rights abuses. Ms. Bachelet does not need to look any further in this regard than the UN Committee against Torture’s deliberations earlier this year on Chile’s efforts to implement the provisions of the Convention against Torture.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, formerly the president of Chile, did not see fit to address even a single one of these concerns about human rights conditions in her own country during the course of her inaugural speech to the UN Human Rights Council. Instead, she lavished praise on the country she ruled for two terms – most recently, between 2014 and 2018. Hypocrisy appears to be the leading trait we can expect from high-ra
nking UN officials such as the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Sadly, Ms. Bachelet is no exception.
This post was originally published at Canada Free Press and is reposted here under a CreativeCommons, Non-Commericial 3.0 license.
Utah Standard News depends on the support of readers like you.
Good Journalism requires time, expertise, passion and money. We know you appreciate the coverage here. Please help us to continue as an alternative news website by becoming a subscriber or making a donation. To learn more about our subscription options or make a donation, click here.
To Advertise on UtahStandardNews.com, please contact us at: ed@utahstandardnews.com.
Comments - No Responses to “Bad Start for the New UN High Commissioner for Human Rights”
Sure is empty down here...