WASHINGTON – In the past year, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution praising Sri Lanka, took no action on Iran and passed 18 resolutions counterproductive to human rights, a report by the watchdog group UN Watch has charged.
Envisioning a more robust role for the United States, which joined the council last year, the Geneva-based NGO analyzed 30 key resolutions and found that only 13 of 47 council members voted “positively,” that is for resolutions advancing human rights. At the same time, the report alleged, the council ignored 18 of the worst violators, including China, Cuba, Libya and North Korea, and it slammed Israel with 27 out of 33 of its country-specific resolutions.
The report also found that more than half of current members – 24 out of 47 – fail to meet basic standards of democracy, according to the Freedom House annual survey.
“The UN’s main human rights body has turned into the world’s leading sponsor of impunity for gross abuses worldwide,” said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch’s executive director, visiting Washington to present the group’s 2010 scorecard and report. On Wednesday, he joined New York Congressman Eliot Engel and Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen at a Capitol Hill briefing in which he urged the US to hold the Human Rights Council more accountable.
The UN Watch document mentioned the Goldstone Report, since the Gaza fact-finding mission was mandated by the council, but did not focus on it.
“It very much fits into a pattern and practice,” Neuer said. He said members of the fact-finding mission – including Christine Chikin and Desmond Chambers – made public statements about Israel’s culpability before their investigation began. “The council knew what it was getting” and was committed to a “preconceived outcome,” Neuer said.
With the council set to open its 13th session on March 1, Neuer envisioned a role for the US in which it would “speak out” against impunity. For example, Iran is vying for a seat on the council. “There is great concern that in the upcoming elections in May, Iran is a candidate,” Neuer said.
The UN Watch report also describes the council’s inaction regarding 12 examples of gross human rights violations. They include a lack of council action on media censorship in Belarus, extrajudicial killings and forced labor in Myanmar and longstanding censorship in China. The council took no action when it came to Iran, where the June 2009 election prompted widespread protests and arrests, including reports of point-blank shootings, prison abuse and rape.
“Unfortunately, what we’ve seen in the last decade and longer is the politicization of the Commission on Human Rights and now [its replacement], the Human Rights Council,” UN Watch chairman Alfred Moses, a former ambassador to Romania in the Clinton administration, told reporters on Tuesday.
Based on 30 council votes in the past year, UN Watch scored each member state’s position, awarding one point for voting positively and subtracting a point for a “negative” vote, or a vote counterproductive to human rights.
Thirteen of the 47 countries scored positively, which Neuer called “the reality of the council today.”
Canada came out on top, with 23 points, followed by Germany, Italy and the Netherlands with 18.
On the negative side, 34 countries cast ballots in support of repressive regimes. Egypt and China scored the worst, at -20, edging out other offenders – Cuba, Djibouti, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar and South Africa – which earned -19 points. Saudi Arabia and Russia each scored -18, while Jordan came out with -16. The United States was not ranked because it only joined the council last June.
South Africa scored poorly because it votes with old regional blocs, Neuer said.
The UN Watch report outlined concrete steps for the US to take to hold the worst violators accountable, including taking the council floor more often with resolutions and denunciations. The US should demand accountability, introduce country-specific resolutions, convene special sessions to address gross human rights violations, and oppose impractical sessions, the report recommends.
Regarding Israel, the US should work to strike down the council’s Agenda Item No. 7, adopted in 2007 over the objections of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the EU and Canada, which permanently singles out Israel at every council session.
As for 27 of the 33 country-specific resolutions singling out Israel, “This is unacceptable,” Neuer said, adding that both Israel and the Palestinians should be held accountable for their human rights records in a “fair and balanced” manner.
But in devoting 80 percent of country-specific resolutions to criticize Israel, the council has ignored “real human rights abuses” committed by Cuba, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, said Ros-Lehtinen. “The UN’s so-called ‘Human Rights Council’ has descended into a swamp of anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-freedom bias.”
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NGOs with more than 20 employees to provide benefit of PF: HC
New Delhi: The Delhi high court today ruled that an NGO imparting knowledge and training with an employee strength of more than 20 would have to extend benefit of provident fund to its staff.
The court passed the judgement on a plea by an NGO which approached the high court challenging the order of Employees
Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal (EPFAT) rejecting its contention that provisions of Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act were not applicable to it.
"The Act is a beneficial piece of social welfare legislation aimed at promoting and securing the well-being of the employees and the court will not adopt a narrow interpretation which will have the effect of defeating the very object and purpose of the Act," Justice Rajiv Sahay Endlaw said.
Earlier, the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (RPFC) had sought to apply provisions of the Act on the ground that the NGO was having more than 20 employees and was involved in "systematic activity" which was disputed by the NGO.
Aggrieved by the order of RPFC, the NGO had appealed before the EPFAT which rejected its plea.
The NGO contended before the high court that its activity of imparting training was sporadic in nature and situation specific and it was exactly the opposite of being systematic which was requisite for an establishment for the purpose of the Act.
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Armless boy prepares for SSC feat
MUMBAI: Rajesh Lakshman, a teenager who was rescued from Mumbai’s mean streets, lost both his arms when he was a child. But this won’t deter him from writing his Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations next week, which he will do by using his feet.
Flipping through Rajesh’s notebooks at school, it comes as a shock that the neat geometric diagrams and flawless handwriting have been produced by the use of his toes and not fingers. His teachers vouch for his brilliance. Rajesh himself hopes to make it as a psychologist someday, as he wants to understand what goes on in other people’s minds.
TOI caught up with Rajesh in a bright, sunlit room in Vakola, where he has lived for the past decade along with several children who have been given shelter by Support, an NGO that works towards rehabilitating street children.
Rajesh expertly picks up his school bag from the floor with his feet, carries it from one room to the next with his mouth and takes out a notebook. He then picks up a pen with his toes and begins writing with an alacrity that leaves one spellbound.
He has little recollection of his earlier life on the streets and does not know who his parents are or what his actual age is. Rajesh barely remembers how he lost his arms. He has told Support that it possibly happened after he was accidentally electrocuted while holding onto an electric pole.
“Our first encounter with Rajesh was 10 years ago, as a street child who smoked cigarettes. He was about seven at the time. I reasoned with him that if he could hold a cigarette with his toes, he could just as well hold a pencil too,’’ says Sujata Ganega, director of Support, who is fondly called Mummy by the street children she has rescued.
Rajesh has been with the NGO ever since. The staff trained him to write with his feet, which he has now mastered. Before he was picked up by the group, Rajesh never dreamed he would amount to much in life. “I thought that my life would be spent living on the roads,’’ he adds.
The NGO enrolled him first at the Vakola municipal school, and later at Chhatrapati Shivaji school, a private institution in the area. “At first I was a little nervous about joining school, as I didn’t know how I would fit in with the other children. But I ended up making a lot of friends,’’ says Rajesh with an impish smile.
Like most kids, he has a naughty streak and loves playing pranks on his friends. He has even been nicknamed Thakur, after the immortal character in the Bollywood blockbuster Sholay, who also lost both arms.
Rajesh even plays cricket with his feet. He bowls with his legs and uses one leg as a bat. “I have advised him to take a break from cricket before the board exams. If he injures his feet, he won’t be able to write the paper,’’ said Hoshang Irani, a trustee of Support.
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Demand for probe in Naroda riots case gets louder
AHMEDABAD: The demand for further probe in the Naroda-Patia communal rioting incident of 2002 just got louder. A day ahead of hearing on a plea filed by an NGO Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), another NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) filed similar petition before the special court on Thursday, demanding further probe in the matter.
Last week, a witness Salim Shaikh filed an application under Section 173 (8) of CrPC for further investigation, which is to be heard on Friday by the designated judge. The JSM has been providing legal support to Shaikh. He has sought court's direction to SIT for thorough analysis of telephonic data and act properly on the statement given by the witnesses.
Another witness supported by CJP, Dildar Saiyed has sought similar directions to SIT on almost similar grounds. In this application, Saiyed has urged the court to ask SIT to record statements of 129 witnesses, who are allegedly ignored by the investigating agency.
Saiyed has accused SIT of not taking action against the then police inspector KK Maysorewala and SRP officer KP Parekh, against whom witnesses have repeatedly levelled charges. This application also seeks to arraign Maysorewala on basis of telephone records, as urged by earlier applicant, Shaikh.
Saiyed has also blamed SIT for not doing enough to get accused persons' bail cancelled despite the fact that they have been facing serious charges. The designated judge has kept hearing on Saiyed's application on March 18.
source from: http://news.google.com
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