Austria, US, UK and 19 Countries against Human Rights Council’s Commission accusing Israel of human rights violations
Austria, the US, the United Kingdom, and another 19 countries from around the world have published a strong statement against the Commission of Inquiry (COI) established by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) following Operation Guardian of the Walls.
The statement, initiated by the US, strongly attacks the authority given to the COI and defines the Commission’s establishment as an additional example of the Council’s “disproportionate focus on Israel,” which it said must cease.
In May 2021, the UNHRC approved an open-ended investigation of Israel’s alleged “war crimes, treatment of Palestinians, and human rights violations,” the only country-specific agenda item on the Council’s agenda. The COI on Israel solely focuses on the actions Israel takes against the terrorist group Hamas.
This unprecedented committee is now a permanent UN fixture with a budget of US $4,151,800 for the year 2022 alone, that reports to the UN twice every year on Israel’s alleged human rights violations.
The COI, in its first report published last Tuesday, placed the onus on Israel when it claimed that “the continued occupation by Israel of Palestinian territory and discrimination against Palestinians are the key root causes of the recurrent tensions, instability, and protraction of conflict in the region.”
On Monday, the U. Permanent Representative to the UNHRC Michèle Taylor delivered the joint statement expressing “deep concern” about the COI.
The 22countries “believe the nature of the COI established last May is a further demonstration of long-standing, disproportionate attention given to Israel in the Council and must stop. We continue to believe that this long-standing disproportionate scrutiny should end and that the Council should address all human rights concerns, regardless of country, in an even-handed manner. Regrettably, we are concerned that the Commission of Inquiry will further contribute to the polarization of a situation about which so many of us are concerned,” she stated.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid stated in response that “today is a day of change at the Human Rights Council. A day on which morality is overcoming hypocrisy. Enough with the bias. Enough with the obsession with Israel.”
“I hope the Hunan Rights Council will understand the clear message delivered by this statement and cancel the COI which was born in sin and will start dealing with human rights as it was supposed to from the day of its establishment,” he added.
The 22 countries included Austria, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, Cameroon, Colombia, Croatia, Eswatini, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Israel, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, North Macedonia, Holland, Palau, Togo, the UK, and the US.
The UNHRC members include Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Somalia, Nigeria, Qatar, Egypt, Cuba, China, Venezuela, Mauritania, Sudan and Libya.
The UNHRC is infamously biased against Israel, with nearly half of its resolutions focused solely on Israel while it ignores war, strife and atrocities committed around the globe. It passed roughly an equal number of resolutions from 2006-2019 condemning Israel and the rest of the world combined.
Notably, Australia refused to join other countries in being part of this statement. Didn’t take long for the new Labor government to show their true colours