The United States has just been kicked off the United Nations Human Rights Commission. This was a hostile move that bodes ill for the world, for Israel and for Jews everywhere.
The membership of the commission is determined by the 53 nations on its umbrella agency, the Economic and Social Council. In the last couple of years, that council has picked Libya, Syria and Sudan for seats on the commission, which is supposed to oversee human rights — yes, human rights! — around the globe. And the United States, which helped establish the commission in 1947 and has served on it since, has been ousted.
The banishment of the United States reflects some disturbing trends within that council, and within the United Nations Assembly in general. Joanna Wechsler, the U.N. representative of the Human Rights Watch, said that the commission is turning into an “abuser solidarity” group, which is electing an increasing number of countries remarkable for their abuse of human rights. This “solidarity” group then votes as a political bloc.
The group’s bloc voting consistently singles out Israel as the villain of the Middle East. Indeed, the United States has been singled out for eviction largely because of its support of Israel.
It is not just a matter of Israel. Some nations, for example, are unhappy because the United States is reluctant to accept a proposed International Criminal Court. That reluctance is understandable, given the systems of justice in some of these bloc nations that would set up and supervise the proposed court.
Look at the new nations that have just been elected to the Human Rights Commission. More than a thousand unarmed prisoners have been massacred in Syria’s infamous Tadmor prison, which is off-limits to any objective observers. And that’s not the half of it. If there are any countries that have a worse record, in terms of justice in particular and human rights in general, they would have to be those other new members, Libya and Sudan.
To be sure, the ejection of the United States from this commission will not in itself seriously disable this country or Israel, which has long lived with the commission’s anti-Israel bias. But there is a symbolic significance to all this, which should not be ignored.
The disrespect deliberately shown to the United States by this action is ominous enough, demonstrating the erosion of American influence in the world. On one level, that erosion is bad news for Israel. As evidence, France, Austria and Sweden were chosen for the three available seats on the commission for Western counties, and, to say the least, none of them will champion Israel as the United States has.
Many of us remember that the same cabal of nations that engineered this ouster of the United States once caused the U.N. General Assembly to officially proclaim that “Zionism is racism.” A big protest against that action was held in San Francisco’s Union Square and in cities across the country, and it was the influence of the American government that finally turned that tide.
But beyond those issues, the loss of American influence is bad news for global human rights in general. This country is still a worldwide symbol for individual liberty. It was our example that sparked the will and imagination of Eastern European countries as they freed themselves from Soviet tyranny. And we still have the memory of Tiananmen Square, where dissident Chinese erected images of the Statue of Liberty to symbolize their desire for freedom.
That memory reminds us that the United States’ own fortitude as the world’s human rights leader needs constant nourishing. We will not enhance that leadership role by overlooking the massive violations of human rights by the Chinese regime as we pursue our commercial gains in that country.
But as long as we maintain and continue to polish our standards and as long as our influence holds, the United States is the best hope for the human rights future of the world — and of the Jews everywhere. On all counts, the ouster of the United States from the Human Rights Commission is a dangerous omen and an outrage that requires an appropriate reaction from the American government. (It is ironic that Russia, which has held a seat on this commission from the outset, still does so).
The organized Jewish community will undoubtedly be in touch with the White House and Congress to urge such a reaction, and it would be appropriate for individual citizens to do the same. The stakes, however symbolic, are high.