B’nai Brith Canada repeated its call for the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) election process to be reformed and urged UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to ensure a more effective candidate for the body’s high commissioner.
The advocacy organization said it hoped the UN would bar nations rated “Not Free” from running in UNHRC elections.
B’nai Brith said the end of the mandate of current UNHRC High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet on August 31 creates “an invaluable opportunity for improving its effectiveness.”
“B’nai Brith believes that a key solution to redeeming the organization’s credibility is for Guterres to nominate a High Commissioner candidate who reflects the values of the western democratic nations,” B’nai Brith said in a statement.
“Bachelet has been an enormous disappointment and public trust in the UNHRC has completely eroded,” said Marvin Rotrand, B’nai Brith’s National Director of its League for Human Rights. “Bachelet has kowtowed to China, whitewashed its treatment of the Uyghurs, and allowed the appointment of antisemites to investigate Israel. No wonder the UNHRC does just about nothing else other than critique Israel.”
B’nai Brith noted that the UNHRC is “dominated by a rogue’s gallery of… nations that are among the worst human rights abusers in the world,” including China, Libya, Eritrea, Somalia, Pakistan, Cuba and Qatar.
It blasted the body for ignoring the dire situation of the Uyghurs in China while repeatedly singling out Israel, pointing out it had condemned Israel a shocking 99 times since its founding in 2006 – equal to the combined condemnations the body has made against all other countries during its existence.
It added that the Taliban has also never been rebuked by the council while Russia was only recently expelled for its invasion of Ukraine yet has only merited a single resolution against it.
“States like Iran and Syria, who violently repress their own people while at the same time exporting terrorism, have hardly been mentioned. China has never been called out for its ongoing human rights abuses,” B’nai Brith pointed out.
It blasted Bachelet for a failure of leadership and for ignoring ongoing human rights abuses worldwide while allowing undemocratic members of the council to obsess over Israel.
“Bachelet has been a failure, never standing up to the antisemites and the nations that flagrantly commit human rights violations. In fact, the UNHRC provides political cover for dictatorships and its unhealthy obsession with Israel promotes global antisemitism,” B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn said.
“Guterres’ choice for the next high commissioner will determine if the West should continue to take part in the UNHRC,” he added.
B’nai Brith again urged Canada’s UN delegation to vote against any candidate for high commissioner – the position is nominated by the UN Secretary General every four years and approved by the General Assembly – who won’t publicly commit to calling out the UNHRC’s anti-Israel bias and promise to do more to expose the world’s true human rights violators.