UNHRCƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Conduct Violates UN Principles

Chapter 1 purposes and principles Article 1 states the purposes of the United Nations are:

1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;

2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;

3.To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and

4. To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter1.shtml

Unfortunately the UNHRC is in direct violation of these purposes, particularly purposes 2, 3 and 4 above. By its conduct, the UNHRC has created mistrust, aggression, ill will, confrontation and conflict between nations. Today the UNHRC has divided nations and turned friendly nations into unfriendly ones. Certain nations are selectively targeted while others are given a licence to engage in any human rights violation.

However, UNHRCƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s violation of UN principles is most apparent in its violation of Article 2.

UNHRC Consistently Violates UN Principles

Article 2 states: The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.

1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.

2. All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.

3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.

4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

5. All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.

6. The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.

7. Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application

Sovereign equality awarded to each member state has been grossly violated by the UNHRC by selectively targeting certain small nations and totally disrespecting their sovereignty. Instigated by the UNHRC, some member states have used threats in their international relations against the territorial integrity or political independence of Sri Lanka, a UN member for over 50 years.

Principle number 7 allows the UN Security Council, not the UNHRC, take certain measures with respect to threats to the peace, breaches of the peace and acts of aggression. UNHRC has unlawfully stepped into the shoes of the UN Security Council which is another grave violation of the UN Charter.

Fatal Flaws of the UNCHR and UNHRC

The UNCHR was heavily criticized for failing to apply the UN Charter’s standards to all member states equally. This was the last nail on the coffin of the UNCHR. Today it is more applicable to the UNHCR than to its predecessor.

UNCHR was also criticised by a group of nations for repeatedly and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”maliciouslyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ targeting Israel. Over 30% of all UNCHR resolutions targeted Israel. This is the same path the UNHRC is taking.

It makes sense to most UNHRC members to keep targeting Israel at every session so that the resulting impasse will collapse the UNHJRC as well. Israel has already stated it is boycotting the UNHRC. What can the UNHRC do? Nothing! So it is happening all over again.

This same fatal paralysis has affected the UNHRC again. To relieve its suffering, it must be put to rest.

Another criticism of the old UNCHR was that it did not engage in constructive discussion of human rights issues, but was a forum for politically selective finger-pointing and criticism. This is exactly true about the UNHCR too. Apart from politically selective finger-pointing, the UNCHR does nothing. Today the conduct of the UNHRC is a reflection of apartheid.

In 2003 Syria put forward a proposal to discuss US war crimes in Iraq. It led to a worsening of US relations with the UNCHR. A year ago the United States was kicked out the Commission by the other member states. The US has changed the composition of the UNHRC to avoid its repetition.

On 15 March 2006, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to replace UNCHR with the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

IsraelƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s boycott of the UNHRC sets precedence for other discriminated UN members to follow. Interestingly, there is no avenue to use compulsion or other use of force against a UN member state that opts to boycott UNHRC proceedings. If one or more members boycott the UNHRC, it automatically loses its relevance.

UNHRCƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s selective discriminatory attacks will be aimed at other nations after it has done with Israel, Sri Lanka and others.

Sri Lanka must bring a resolution at the UN General Assembly to prevent UNHRC and its powerful financiers from interfering in domestic affairs of UN member states and also banning R2P interference tool. It is as per the UN Charter. Such a resolution will be passed with an overwhelming majority. It will further clip the wings of the UNHRC making it totally worthless.