Syria: Human Rights Defender?
Folks, you just can't make this stuff up.
The United Nations has just given Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a huge victory: the U.N. Special Committee on Decolonization has re-elected Syria as committee Rapporteur. The committee's vote was unanimous!
The decolonization committee is charged with upholding fundamental human rights in opposing the "subjugation, domination and exploitation" of peoples.
Hillel Neuer, director of the Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch calls the decision "indefensible" and "immoral" because the Assad regime is believed responsible for the deaths of at least 70,000 Syrians.
Neuer calls on Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, and EU representatives to condemn the decision. No response yet.
Syria currently holds seats on two UNESCO human rights committees.
How absurd is that? And your tax dollars--to the tune of $7.7-billion to the U.N. in FY 2010--are subsidizing this craziness.
More absurdities are expected from the U.N. when it opens its annual human rights conference in Geneva next month.
Stay tuned.