Israel can almost be counted on to flout UN resolutions, ignore warnings of this or the other (usually infractions of Arab or Palestinian rights) breaching international law (think the expansion of settlements into the West Bank and making Gaza a virtual open prison as but 2 examples) or failing to work with other nations in the international sphere.
The Director-General of Amnesty International, writing in Haaretz brings to one's attention another failure on the part of Israel. This time, it's attendance at an important UN forum.
"At the end of the month, in a United Nations building in Geneva, the representatives of 192 UN member states will await the arrival of the representative of a 193rd country. A lot is hanging in the balance. The last time they waited for this country, in January of this year, it refrained from sending a representative to appear. If Israel fails to appear this time either, one of the world's most important international mechanisms for the protection of human rights will be at risk.
The so-called Universal Periodic Review mechanism, the UPR, involves a worldwide process in which each of the United Nations' 193 member countries, on a rotating basis, delivers a report to all of the other members on the status of human rights within its borders. Israel's turn to report came in January, but the Israeli representatives failed to show up at the session. Israel therefore became the first country in the world that did not appear at a review session when it was on the agenda. Those in the corridors of the UN have been left guessing whether Israel will show up on the revised date, October 29.
In recent years, Israel has refused to cooperate with the international review process investigating allegations of human rights violations by Israel and breaches of international humanitarian law. Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman led this rejectionist approach, arguing that the mechanism and agencies such as the UN Human Rights Council have a particular bias against Israel. Paradoxically, however, by refusing to cooperate with the review procedure, Israel has actually chosen to do harm to the only process that is equally binding on all UN member states and that subject them to international scrutiny on the issue of human rights."
The Director-General of Amnesty International, writing in Haaretz brings to one's attention another failure on the part of Israel. This time, it's attendance at an important UN forum.
"At the end of the month, in a United Nations building in Geneva, the representatives of 192 UN member states will await the arrival of the representative of a 193rd country. A lot is hanging in the balance. The last time they waited for this country, in January of this year, it refrained from sending a representative to appear. If Israel fails to appear this time either, one of the world's most important international mechanisms for the protection of human rights will be at risk.
The so-called Universal Periodic Review mechanism, the UPR, involves a worldwide process in which each of the United Nations' 193 member countries, on a rotating basis, delivers a report to all of the other members on the status of human rights within its borders. Israel's turn to report came in January, but the Israeli representatives failed to show up at the session. Israel therefore became the first country in the world that did not appear at a review session when it was on the agenda. Those in the corridors of the UN have been left guessing whether Israel will show up on the revised date, October 29.
In recent years, Israel has refused to cooperate with the international review process investigating allegations of human rights violations by Israel and breaches of international humanitarian law. Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman led this rejectionist approach, arguing that the mechanism and agencies such as the UN Human Rights Council have a particular bias against Israel. Paradoxically, however, by refusing to cooperate with the review procedure, Israel has actually chosen to do harm to the only process that is equally binding on all UN member states and that subject them to international scrutiny on the issue of human rights."
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