wfn.org | B?NAI B?RITH TO U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY: VOTE ?NO? ON LIBYA

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

B?NAI B?RITH TO U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY: VOTE ?NO? ON LIBYA

> Contact:  Sharon Bender
> 202-857-6699 or sbender@bnaibrith.org

B?NAI B?RITH TO U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY: VOTE ?NO? ON LIBYA
U.N. General Assembly Should Not Allow Least Qualified States to Serve on Human 
Rights Council

(Washington, D.C., May 11, 2010)­B?nai B?rith International is urging United 
Nations General Assembly members to prevent Libya?s efforts to sit on the U.N. Human 
Rights Council (UNHRC) when voting takes place May 13 to fill the council?s 14 
vacancies. Libya is running unopposed for a seat on the world?s human rights 
watchdog panel, but a majority of General Assembly members can still vote against 
Libya and deny it a seat.

Only those with an exemplary human rights record at home should be considered 
fit to serve on the UNHRC. It is imperative that candidates for council seats 
hold values that demonstrate respect for universal human  rights.

?The election process, whereby human rights violators slide onto the Human 
Rights Council, makes a further mockery of that very body,? B?nai B?rith 
International President Dennis W. Glick said. ?With each passing action, and 
each passing year, the Human Rights Council more and more mimics its 
discredited predecessor, the Human Rights Commission. The evidence continues to 
mount that the council is committed not to protecting human rights, but to 
protecting various human rights abusers.?

In the last four years, B?nai B?rith has spoken out repeatedly against the 
trajectory of the UNHRC and its numerous member nations that clearly do not 
value global human rights.

With the Organization of the Islamic Conference leading the way, the UNHRC 
ignores pervasive human rights abusers to focus singular scrutiny on Israel, 
which is in fact the sole democracy in the Middle East.

?Rejecting Libya could pave the way for qualified candidates to run,? B?nai 
B?rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. ?It is 
a sad fact that the Human Rights Council has become perhaps the biggest 
impediment to ensuring even the most basic human rights for far too many people 
in the world.?

B?nai B?rith is hopeful that the General Assembly will strongly consider the stated 
mission of the UNHRC to do good­and vote against Libya.

B?nai B?rith International, the Global Voice of the Jewish Community, is the 
oldest and most widely known Jewish humanitarian, human rights, and advocacy 
organization.  For 166 years, BBI has worked for Jewish unity, security, 
continuity, and tolerance.  Visit www.bnaibrith.org.
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