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UN Watch is a Geneva-based NGO whose stated mission is "to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter". It is an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council and an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information. It is affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, a NGO established in 1906, which was a pioneer advocate of the UN Charter's inclusion of international human rights guarantees as well as the creation of the post of a High Commissioner for Human Rights.

UN Watch has been active in combating perceived human rights abuses in Congo and Darfur, perceived anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment in the UN, and denouncing sexual exploitation and monitoring the qualifications of candidate countries to UN Human Rights Council elections. It has been a strong critic of the United Nations Human Rights Council, asserting that many of its members have poor human rights records themselves. UN Watch has decribed the council as equally bad as or worse than its forerunner, the defunct United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

The group has been praised by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Director General of the UN Office in Geneva Sergei Ordzhonikidze has acknowledged "the valuable work of UN Watch in support of the just application of values and principles of the United Nations Charter and support for human rights for all."

Founding

UN Watch was founded in 1993 under the chairmanship of Morris B. Abram. Abram served as the Chairman of the United Negro College Fund and President of Brandeis University. Abram was active in community affairs as President of the American Jewish Committee (1963–1968); Chairman of the National Conference of Soviet Jewry (1983–1988); and Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (1986–1989).

Abram supported the UN as an institution. In 1999, Abram delivered a speech to the U.S. Congress on the subject of the Treatment of Israel by the United Nations in which he said "UN Watch categorically supports the UN as an indispensable institution. The US should pay its past dues to the UN as a matter of national honor and in recognition of the UN's importance. In spite of the UN's flaws, it is inconceivable that the US withhold support from the only truly global organization in such an interdependent world."

Structure and status

UN Watch participates at the UN as an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI). It is affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, a NGO established in 1906, which was a pioneer advocate of the UN Charter's inclusion of international human rights guarantees, and the creation of the post of a High Commissioner of Human Rights.

UN Watch has participated in the following UN activities: the Commission on Human Rights, a Panel Discussion on the United Nations and the Middle East, a Panel Discussion on Proposals to Reform the Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Working Group on Minorities. A UN Watch seminar in Geneva featured a tour of the Palais des Nations, a visit to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, and attendance at a meeting of the Committee Against Torture (CAT) with briefings from the Committee's Vice Chair.

In October 2008, UNHCR listed the organization as having a staff of six. UN Watch had 110 members in 2007, geographically distributed as follows: 56% from Europe, 38% from North America, and 4% from Oceania. UN Watch’s newsletter on UN issues now reaches nearly 5,000 subscribers around the world.

Commentary from the group has appeared in BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters,, Washington Post,, Agence France-Presse, Voice of America,, The Jerusalem Post, Fox News, JTA, and others.

Board and funding

Current board members include:

• Alfred H. Moses, Attorney, former United States Ambassador to Romania and Presidential Emissary for the Cyprus Conflict, Special Counsel to President Jimmy Carter. Former American Jewish Committee president.
• Per Ahlmark, former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden
• Irwin Cotler, international human rights advocate, Canadian Member of Parliament since 1993, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, known as "Counsel for the Oppressed"
• David A. Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee
• Max Jakobson, former Finnish Ambassador to the United Nations
• Ruth Wedgwood, Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, Johns Hopkins University

UN Watch is funded by private individual donations and charitable foundations.

Positions and activities

Regions

Congo

In 2008, the post of United Nations special rapporteur for the Congo was eliminated by the United Nations Human Rights Council. The elimination was done with the support of Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Russia and other countries, following a request by the Congolese administration of President Joseph Kabila. According to a subsequent report prepared by the office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, both government and rebel forces proceeded to carry out mass killings, rape and torture. In November of that year, UN Watch called on the UNHRC to apologize for abolishing the post, and stated that the UNHRC should be held to account for the move, given the atrocities people there were enduring. UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said in a statement, "Morally, those countries (on the Council) who were behind the elimination of the monitoring mandate in March ought now to apologise to the victims of Congo... We will never know how many lives could have been saved if the Council, deferring to Congo's government, had not caused this unconscionable protection gap which slashed an early-warning mechanism just when the victims needed it most." Other rights groups called for the re-establishment of the post.

On 1 December 2009, following atrocities in the eastern Congolese province of North Kivu, the UNHRC condemned abuses against civilians in Congo. UN Watch said it was hoping to see a reassignment of a UN rights expert to the region, and said abuses "making eastern Congo a living hell" needed to be properly investigated.

Darfur

UN Watch chaired the NGO Activist Summit For Darfur in 2007, and says it challenged Sudan in 2007 for its rejection of human rights experts in Darfur.

On 27 April 2008, UN Watch joined human rights organizations around the world in launching a "Justice for Darfur" campaign. The organizations behind the campaign included Amnesty International, Human Rights First and Human Rights Watch. The campaign called on the United Nations Security Council, regional organizations and national governments to pressure Sudan to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, and to arrest suspected war criminals Ali Kushayb and Ahmad Harun. The Sudanese government had refused to surrender either suspect to the Court, and had in fact promoted Harun to the position of State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs.

UNHRC Elections

Along with Freedom House, UN Watch has opposed the candidacies of states with poor human rights records for the United Nations Human Rights Council. The 2006 UN resolution establishing the council requires that, in electing states to the panel, UN member states "shall take into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights."

2007

In May 2007, UN Watch and Freedom House submitted a joint report on an election to the United Nations Human Rights Council, stating that candidates Angola, Belarus, Egypt and Qatar were unfit to sit on the human rights body, because they themselves violated rights. The report said that the four countries "are authoritarian regimes with negative UN voting records (on rights issues) and are not qualified to be Council members". The report further described candidates Slovenia, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands as "well qualified" for the Council, and called candidates Bolivia, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, the Philippines and South Africa as "questionable".

2008

In May 2008, UN Watch and Freedom House called on the UN General Assembly to vote against candidates Bahrain, Gabon, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zambia for poor human rights records. According to Human Rights Watch, Sri Lanka's candidacy was also opposed by a coalition of more than 20 nongovernmental organizations around the world, as well as three Nobel Peace Prize laureates, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu of South Africa, and Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina.

2009

In May 2009, UN Watch and Freedom House again submitted a joint report on a UNHRC election. The report described candidates China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia as "the worst of the worst" in terms of human rights. The report also described candidates Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Djibouti and Russia as "not qualified", and Bangladesh, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and Senegal as "questionable". UN Watch and Freedom House described the council's record for its first three years as poor. They stated that Islamic countries with Cuban support rewrote rules for a freedom of expression monitor in a manner that limits expression, and that an "alliance of regressive regimes" succeeded in having the Council cancel human rights investigators for trouble spots such as Belarus, Cuba, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur. In contrast, they said, the alliance led to the council appointing an investigator who was involved in founding a controversial human rights prize in honor of Moammar Qaddafi and another who believes that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job. Hillel Neuer said, "The vision had been that the council would be a voice for victims, but it is now in a state of crisis."

Other UN activities

Durban Review Conference

On 19 April 2009, the day before the UN Durban Review Conference, UN Watch and other non-governmental organizations hosted the "Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy," in order to raise public awareness to the issues of discrimination and racially-motivated torture. Invited speakers included survivors of the genocide in Rwanda and former dissidents from Iran, Cuba and Myanmar. UN Watch also hosted a "Conference Against Racism, Discrimination, and Persecution" in Geneva. Speakers at the latter conference included former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy and former Miss Canada and President of Stop Child Executions Nazanin Afshin Jam.

UNHRC Gaza Conflict Report

UN Watch submitted a 29-page legal brief to the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict requesting the recusal of member Christine Chinkin because she was one of 31 academics and lawyers who had co-signed a letter published in the Sunday Times before being selected for the mission that accused Israel of not complying with international humanitarian and human rights law. The letter described Israel's military offensive in Gaza as "an act of aggression", stating that "invasion and bombardment of Gaza amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5m inhabitants contrary to international humanitarian and human rights law", and adding that "the blockade of humanitarian relief, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and preventing access to basic necessities such as food and fuel, are prima facie war crimes". UN Watch stated that, since Chinkin had already formed and expressed a judgment on the very issues the Mission was meant to investigate, she could not fulfill the impartiality requirement for fact-finding missions. The UN Watch request was covered by the Deutsche Presse Agentur and the Khaleej Times and Agence France Presse. Thirty Canadian lawyers endorsed the challenge to Chinkin's impartiality. UN Watch further noted that in a May 2009 meeting with Geneva NGOs, Chinkin denied that her impartiality was compromised, saying that her statement only addressed jus ad bellum, and not jus in bello; however, according to UN Watch, the statement not only determined that "Israel’s actions amount to aggression, not self-defence," but additionally charged that they were "contrary to international humanitarian and human rights law," and constituted "prima facie war crimes."

The inquiry members rejected the petition and said that the mission investigated whether Israel, Hamas or the Palestinian Authority had unnecessarily caused death or injury to innocent civilians by specific acts of armed conflict that violated international humanitarian law and international human rights law stating "On those issues the letter co-signed by Professor Chinkin expressed no view at all." The members further wrote in their reply that the fact-finding mission cannot be considered a judicial or even a quasi-judicial proceeding. Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch, said that the arguments raised by the mission ignored the well-established set of standards to international fact-finding missions. Goldstone said that the letter signed by Chinkin could have been the grounds for disqualification, had the mission been a judicial inquiry.

The mission report stated that in July 2009 it received, through UN Watch, an official preliminary report of the Israeli Government entitled "The operation in Gaza: Factual and Legal Aspects", which outlined the government of Israel’s position on many issues. Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of the UN Watch, charged that the report misrepresented his correspondence with mission chief Richard Goldstone and that he merely sent Goldstone a link to the report published online. Neuer posted a correspondence with the UN and Goldstone on the UN Watch blog to confirm his words. The group further commented that "Israeli public figures who say their country would have benefited by cooperating with the UN Human Rights Council’s 'fact-finding' mission on the Gaza conflict are mistaken", because "Israel’s detailed facts and legal arguments were either ignored, or summarily dismissed".

Perceived UN anti-Israel bias and antisemitism

UN Watch is active at the UN in combating perceived anti-Israel and anti-Semitism, and what it calls the selective and politicized treatment of Israel by many UN bodies. The group supported former Secretary General Kofi Annan's declared goal of ending the UN's perceived imbalanced treatment of Israel and has been highly critical of the United Nations Human Rights Council, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has described U.N. Watch as a pro-Israel organization.

March 2007 UNHRC speech

On 23 March 2007, UN Watch's Hillel Neuer delivered a harshly critical speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), stating that the Council had betrayed the dreams of its founders and become "a nightmare". Neuer charged that the Council ignores human rights abuses worldwide, opting instead to enact "one resolution after another condemning one single state: Israel". He further argued that the Council's stated concern for Palestinian human rights is deceptive, and provided examples where it ignored atrocities against Palestinians "because Israel could not be blamed... The despots who run this Council couldn’t care less about Palestinians, or about any human rights. They seek to demonize Israeli democracy, to delegitimize the Jewish state, to scapegoat the Jewish people."

The UNHRC President, Luis Alfonso De Alba of Mexico, responded by threatening to "remove from the record" the testimony, and said he "would not "express thanks for that statement... I will not tolerate any similar statements in the Council. The way in which members of this Council were referred to, and indeed the way in which the council itself was referred to, all of this is inadmissible." The Human Rights Council later stated that the remarks were never actually stricken from the record.

Neuer's speech was praised by The Wall Street Journal, and became "a major hit on YouTube". The New York Sun called it a rare "diplomatic moment to remember", and published the full text of his remarks.

Other

Sexual exploitation

UN Watch, the World YWCA, and the World Alliance of YMCAs published a statement against sexual exploitation and child pornography. "Today far too many children are sexually exploited and abused causing life-long damage. More than two million children are exploited in the multibillion-dollar sex industry each year and 1.2 million children are trafficked annually", the statement said.

Robinson Medal of Freedom

In July 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama awarded Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, a Medal of Freedom. The conferral of the award was opposed by members of Congress from both major parties, including a group of 45 Republican lawmakers, American Jewish groups, and UN Watch. The opponents criticized Robinson's role in the Durban Conference, known for its anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric. The conferral was supported by Nancy Pelosi. Robinson then asserted that "certain elements" of the Jewish community had put forward "totally without foundation" allegations in opposition to her receiving the award. In an open letter response to Robinson's comments, Hillel Neuer of UN Watch rejected her claims and criticized her role in the Durban Conference, stating: "Leadership means taking responsibility. You may not have been the chief culprit of the Durban debacle, but you will always be its preeminent symbol."

Reception history

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said “I deeply appreciate the valuable work performed by UN Watch. I believe that informed and independent evaluation of the United Nations’ activities will prove a vital source as we seek to adapt the Organization to the needs of a changing world.” At the 2006 Centennial Anniversary of the American Jewish Committee, the Director-General of the UN Office in Geneva, Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, praised the work of UN Watch by saying "allow me to also pay tribute to the valuable work of UN Watch in support of the just application of values and principles of the United Nations Charter and support for human rights for all."

The New Republic, in a 2007 blog piece, described the organization as "a truth-telling organization.” Claudia Rosett, a journalist-in-residence with the conservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies, praised “the stalwart and invaluable UN Watch.” Agence France-Presse has described UN Watch both as "a lobby group with strong ties to Israel" and as and as a group which "champion human rights worldwide".. Journalist and former anti-apartheid activist Ian Williams, writing in an opinion piece in The Guardian in 2007, wrote that the main objective of UN Watch "is to attack the United Nations in general, and its human rights council in particular, for alleged bias against Israel". Williams supported UN Watch's condemnation of the UN Human Rights Council as a hypocritical organization, but also condemned UN Watch itself of hypocrisy for failing to denounce what he called manifest Israeli transgressions against the human rights of Palestinians.

See also

• African-Americans
• Alfred H. Moses
• American Jewish Committee
• Civil Rights
• Human Rights
• Non-governmental organizations
• Morris Berthold Abram
• United Nations
• United Nations Human Rights Council

References

1. ^ UN Watch: Mission and History
2. UN Watch: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
3. UN Watch: Executive Director Hillel Neuer
4. UN Watch: Letter to His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, The Secretary-General ofThe United Nations. November 2, 2007.
5. Mission & History, UN Watch
6. ^
7. Speaking to Power: Nathan Abrams assesses the changing fortunes of Commentary magazine, Jewish Quarterly.
8. Jewish Times: Pro-Israel Activists Set To Do Battle At Durban II
9. Jewish Telegraphic Agency: U.N. rights chief praises Durban II
10. UN creates new human rights body, BBC 15-03-2006
11. ^ Groups call 4 countries unfit for UN rights body, Reuters 07-05-2007
12. ^ Charity Wire: UN Watch, AJC Seal Partnership
13. ^ Central Tibetan Administration: UN Watch urges UN to discuss human rights violations in Tibet
14. ^ The United Nations Office at Geneva: The Centennial Anniversary of the American Jewish Committee
15. UN Watch: Founder: Morris B. Abram
16. United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. 1999. The treatment of Israel by the United Nations  : hearing before the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, July 14, 1999 U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, Washington : 1999
17. THE TREATMENT OF ISRAEL BY THE UNITED NATIONS. PREPARED TESTIMONY OF AMBASSADOR MORRIS B. ABRAM BEFORE THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS JULY 14, 1999, UN Watch, 1999-07-14
18. ^ UN: Quadrennial reports 2002-2005 submitted through the Secretary-General pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31
19. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Non-governmental Organization Directory (2008-10-01). "UNHCR - UN Watch / United Nations Watch". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Retrieved 2009-12-03. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help) (A permanent archive of the material may be found here.)
20. BBC World Radio Service: Human Rights and Wrongs at the UN
21. Al Jazeera: Debate rages over UN rights council
22. Reuters: UN urges China to protect human rights as state denies charges
23. Washington Post: Guest Voices: Speaking Truth to the UN Human Rights Council
24. AFP: UN rights council divided over Sri Lanka
25. Voice of America: UN Human Rights Council Candidates Raise Concerns
26. Jerusalem Post: Gold vs Goldstone
27. Fox News: U.S. Taxpayers Pay Millions to Keep Despots Safe at U.N.
28. JTA: U.N. watchdog slams religious defamation resolution
29. UN Watch: Missing and History
31. http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=872349&ct=872849
32. Rights group calls for U.N. apology over Congo post, Reuters 26-11-2008
33. U.N. Human Rights Council condemns abuses in Congo, Reuters 01-12-2009
34. . UN Watch.
35. , UN Watch
36. "Justice for Darfur" Campaign Launched, Amnesty International 25-04-2008
37. ^ States vie for seats on disputed UN rights body, Reuters 21-05-2008
38. Oppressors running for UN rights council: Groups, Montreal Gazette 05-05-2009
39. Yitzhak Benhorin, Sharansky, Wiesel to help counter 'Durban II' conference, Ynet 13-04-2009
40. Alternate Durban conference held in Geneva, JTA 19-04-2009
41. Tovah Lazaroff, 'I'm a Zionist': Activists protest in Geneva, Jerusalem Post 23-04-2009
42. Michael J. Jordan, Why the US will boycott global racism conference, Christian Science Monitor 19-04-2009
43. Adena Philips, The other conference on racism - the one the UN should have held, National Post 24-04-2009
44. ^ REQUEST TO DISQUALIFY PROF. CHRISTINE CHINKIN FROM UN FACT FINDING MISSION ON THE GAZA CONFLICT
45. Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is not self-defence – it’s a war crime, The Sunday Times, 11 January 2009.
47. ^ Agence France Presse: UN Gaza probe chief underlines balanced approach
48. "30 Canadian lawyers challenge biased UN Goldstone report," Canada Free Press, Sept. 16, 2009
49. NGO: Academic should quit Cast Lead inquiry, JPost, 23 August 2009.
50. LSE Law Professor Urged to Step Down from U.N Gaza Inquiry over Bias, UN Watch, 20 August 2009.
51. Dispute over 'biased' Gaza inquiry professor, TheJC.com, 27 August 2009.
52. ^ U.N. Goldstone inquiry rejects ’so-called petition of UN Watch’; denies mission is quasi-judicial, UN Watch, 30 August 2009
53. Gold vs Goldstone, JPost, 11 November 2009
54. Goldstone walks a fine line in an ancient war zone, BusinessDay, 4 August 2009.
55. UNHCR: Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories, page 45, para. 173
56. ^ How my email to Goldstone was twisted by his report, UN Watch blog, January 19, 2010
57. http://www.yale.edu/yiisa/videos.htm
58. UN Watch: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
60. Jewish Times: Pro-Israel Activists Set To Do Battle At Durban II
61. Jewish Telegraphic Agency: U.N. rights chief praises Durban II
62. National Public Radio: Zionism Debate Clouds U.N. Racism Forum
63. JTA: U.N. rights chief praises Durban II
64. ^ ‘I Will Not Express Thanks' - March 30, 2007 - The New York Sun
65. UN Council Chief Doesn't Like Message, Threatens Messenger
66. Testimony at the UN, UN Watch
67. United Nations: Highlight of the Noon Briefing
68. Your U.N. at Work], Wall Street Journal 3003-2007
69. Degeneration in all but reputation, National Post 23-05-2009
70. YMCA: Joint NGO Statement on Sexual Exploitation and Child Pornography
71. White House: REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE MEDAL OF FREEDOM CEREMONY
72. ^ Jerusalem Post: Despite critics, White House honors Robinson
73. United States Speaker of the House: Pelosi Statement on Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
74. The New Republic Online, June 18, 2007
75. United Press International: Analysts: Iran deserves targeted sanctions
76. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Witnesses criticize military commissions at congressional panel
77. National Review Online, June 20, 2007
78. May 6, 2008, NGOs say five nations unfit to serve on UN rights body, AFP 06-05-2008
79. Casting the first stone (The Guardian, April 4, 2007)
    Ian Williams Profile

Further reading

• Hillel Neuer of UN Watch interviewed on Shire Network News
• The Struggle against Anti-Israel Bias at the UN Commission on Human Rights - Hillel C. Neuer

External links

• UN Watch (official website)

• Civic and political organizations
• Foreign relations of Israel
• Human rights organizations
• Organizations established in 1993
• Non-governmental organizations based in Switzerland
• Non-governmental organizations involved in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• Non-governmental organizations of Europe
• United Nations relations