While some students may view the United Nations as a defender of human rights, U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer suggests that the “U.N. Human Rights Council has been hijacked by governments whose only expertise in human rights is violating it.”
Sunday evening, The International Affairs Association and Penn Friends of Israel hosted about 150 students, faculty and community members in Bodek Lounge in Houston Hall to hear Neuer highlight what he sees as problems with the U.N.
Neuer questioned the democratic nature of the U.N., saying there are “193 members, with one country, one vote. But in reality in many places it is one dictator, one vote. With unelected tyrants, it’s not so democratic.”
PFI Co-President and event organizer Noah Feit, a College sophomore, echoed the sentiment: “What does international consensus really mean when it’s not democratic and we have despots who run the U.N.?”
By using the Human Rights Council’s special interest with Israel as a platform, Neuer also explored the incentives for states to sit on the Human Rights Council. “[The Council] has got the power to single out and condemn countries. No country wants to be called out as a human rights violator.”
Neuer believes that these interests are reflected in the make-up of the Human Rights Council, which recently deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s delegation had led for years.
Neuer argues that the council’s selective targeting of Israel “ends any concept of standards. If we apply standards so selectively, they’re no longer standards.”
“The cause of human rights cannot be ignored,” Neuer concluded. “It’s very much an uphill battle, but we cannot give up.”
Many attendees were impressed with the presentation. “The guest speaker blew my mind. I had no idea about any of that … I had no idea how corrupt the U.N. Human Rights Council is,” College freshman Alex Friedman said.
Other students felt differently. “The speaker has a clear bias, so everything has to be taken with a grain of salt,” College sophomore Ashley Welch said. “Still, he was not inflammatory about anything but dictators, and substantiated what he said,”
IAA President and College senior Zach Stone said that he thought the event “a terrific success” because it “provided different a perspective about the U.N. It’s surprising about some of the human rights leaders the U.N. has appointed. The U.N. isn’t perfect, and we can make it better in the future,” he said.
IAA Director of Academic Affairs and College senior Sarah Ahmed also applauded the different perspective. “It was thought-provoking and brought things in a different light. Human rights is an issue which one must remove from one’s ideology and religion, and focus on who we are as individuals.”
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