General Assembly
Statement by Ambassador Gabriela Shalev
Permanent Representative
30 October 2009
Mr. Chairman,
Last year, the world celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
That noble document reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, and in the equal rights of men and women. Its principles and standards were meant to guide the work of the United Nations and lead us to a better future. Eleanor Roosevelt, Rene Casssin, John Humphrey, P.C. Chang, Charles Malik, among other authors of the Universal Declaration believed that a better world was both necessary and possible.
In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, “We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind.”
Yet as we consider today the report of the Human Rights Council, it is regrettable that the work of the Council has strayed far from the principles it was mandated to uphold.
The Human Rights Council, according to its own founding documents, must base its work on “the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity, and non-selectivity…without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner.”
Instead of upholding those values, however, in the three and a half years of its work, the Council has demonstrated an obsessive preoccupation with Israel.
Israel is the only country in the world that is singled out in a discriminatory manner by the Council’s agenda.
Half of the Council’s special sessions have been held to condemn Israel.
The Council has adopted more resolutions and decisions against Israel than on all other U.N. member states put together.
While the Council has reviewed and revised the mandate of nearly every special procedure, it refuses to review its grossly one-sided mandate concerning our region.
And the Council continues to dispatch so-called fact finding missions that are mandated to denounce every Israeli action irrespective of the facts on the ground and the ongoing terrorism facing Israel on a daily basis
Is this the work of a Human Rights Council that is impartial? Is this the work of a Council that is objective?
Unlike some members of the Human Rights Council, Israel is a democracy that respects fundamental freedoms, protects a vibrant press, and possesses an independent judiciary.
Nevertheless, it is repeatedly condemned by the Council. These repeated unjustified condemnations do not help to protect human rights.
Around the world true victims of the most severe violations of their most basic rights cry out for their plight to be heard, for their suffering to be redressed by the international community.
But the Council is silent. As innocent Israeli men, women, and children suffered relentless suicide terrorism and terrorist attacks, the Council chooses to say nothing.
Is this the work of a Human Rights Council that reflects universality?
The work of the Council is neither constructive, nor fair nor impartial.
Today’s report reminds us all that the Human Rights Council is increasingly manipulated and exploited by some of its members and their obsession to demonize Israel and demean its democratic nature.
In 2005, Kofi Annan acknowledged that a “credibility deficit” existed within UN human rights institutions. Yet today this deficit is not a relic of the past –– it is a fixture of the present.
The longer it takes to rectify this injustice, the greater the damage will be to the integrity and legitimacy of the Council –– and the wider UN system.
Thank you, Mr. President.
