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The Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow Push Coalition, wants the United Nations’ human rights watchdog brought into the debate over the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Various parts of the U.N. human rights system have in the past weighed in on the Feb. 2012 shooting of the 17-year-old, criticizing Florida’s “stand your ground” law and, in one case, calling for “reparation for the victims.”

Rights chief calls situation "intolerable" but Syrian ambassador to UN says country is victim of "huge conspiracy". More than 5,000 people are now believed to have been killed in the Syrian government's crackdown on protests, the United Nations human rights chief has told the UN Security Council. The UN's Navi Pillay said on Monday there were reports of increased attacks by opposition groups on President Bashar al-Assad's security forces but highlighted "alarming" events in the besieged protest city of Homs, according to diplomats in the closed meeting. More than 14,000 people are estimated to have been detained and at least...

The UN Human Rights Council might well be the most vile of all the world body's panels. So why does the Obama administration want in? UN Ambassador Susan Rice announced this week that the United States will seek a seat on the 47-member body -- which is dominated by such human-rights exemplars as China, Cuba, Egypt, Russia and Saudi Arabia -- when elections are held next month. "We do not see any inherent benefit, as demonstrated by recent history, in being outside the tent and simply being critical without having significant influence," Rice said. Well, sure: The Bush administration's disapproval...

The United Nations' Human Rights Council has elected onto a panel of special advisors a left-wing Swiss sociologist with a record of sympathizing with the Castro and Mugabe regimes and criticizing the United States and Israel. And in another move that drew fire, the U.N.'s top rights body also appointed an American academic strongly critical of Israel to a post dealing with Israel's conduct in the territories claimed by the Palestinians. During its less than two years in existence, the Human Rights Council has itself been criticized -- by Western governments and two U.N. secretary-generals among others -- for focusing...

At its recent June 2007 session, the UN Human Rights Council concluded its lengthy reform process by voting, first, to drop Belarus and Cuba from its blacklist. New restrictions were imposed on the independent experts who report on country violations. The ability to introduce resolutions that name abusers was curbed. And Israel was singled out for permanent indictment—the sole country targeted by a special agenda item, and the sole country subjected to an investigation that examines only one side, is immune from review, and presumes guilt in advance. The five-minute video below offers a glimpse into how the UN's highest...

Geneva, August 11, 2006--For the second time in a month, the UN Human Rights Council is today holding an emergency Special Session to denounce Israel, this time for alleged "gross human rights violations" in Lebanon. UN Watch condemned the exercise as one-sided and urged all members to oppose the draft resolution. The text, submitted by the Council's Arab and Islamic members who initiated the meeting, "strongly condemns the grave Israeli violations of human rights" and contemplates the urgent dispatch of a "high-level commission of inquiry" to investigate. Today's debate featured harsh speeches from Muslim states and their allies, with Cuba...

The two-day forum, co-sponsored with Human Rights First, sought to amplify the voices of those on the frontlines of the struggle for human rights and democracy, and initiate action on pressing human rights issues to the international community. According to the Carter Center’s Human Rights Defenders Policy Forum, human rights and the people trying to protect them are being threatened in more countries around the world than at any other time in recent history. “I don't know how to make a quantitative judgment, but I have a feeling that in the past few years – if you could measure the...

The United States has lost its moral compass and fallen out of step with the rest of the world in the wake of September 11, the former United Nations human rights commissioner warned tonight. Mary Robinson expressed sadness and regret at America’s erosion of human rights as part of its "War on Terror". In a speech in central London, Mrs Robinson praised the British courts for taking a global lead on interpreting international human rights laws. Highlighting the US’s opposition last week to the creation of a new UN Human Rights Council, Mrs Robinson said: "It illustrates the seismic shift...

President Carter personally called Secretary of State Rice to try to convince her to reverse her U.N. ambassador's position on changes to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, the former president recalled yesterday in a talk in which he also criticized President Bush's Christian bona fides and misstated past American policies on Israel. Mr. Carter said he made a personal promise to ambassadors from Egypt, Pakistan, and Cuba on the U.N. change issue that was undermined by America's ambassador, John Bolton. "My hope is that when the vote is taken," he told the Council on Foreign Relations, "the other members will...

We've been following the proposed United Nations Human Rights Council to take the place of the disgraced and disgraceful United Nations Human Rights Commission. Last week Ambassador Bolton took a leaf from the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" and pronounced the proposed new Council the same as the same as the bad old Commission. This week Secretary Rice confirmed that the United States opposed the new Council. Just one problem. The New York Sun reports that Jimmy Carter had personaly promised the ambassadors from Egypt, Pakistan, and Cuba that the Council was a done deal: The story, as Mr. Carter...

President Carter personally called Secretary of State Rice to try to convince her to reverse her U.N. ambassador's position on changes to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, the former president recalled yesterday in a talk in which he also criticized President Bush's Christian bona fides and misstated past American policies on Israel. Mr. Carter said he made a personal promise to ambassadors from Egypt, Pakistan, and Cuba on the U.N. change issue that was undermined by America's ambassador, John Bolton. "My hope is that when the vote is taken," he told the Council on Foreign Relations, "the other members will...

We've been following the proposed United Nations Human Rights Council to take the place of the disgraced and disgraceful United Nations Human Rights Commission. Last week Ambassador Bolton took a leaf from the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" and pronounced the proposed new Council the same as the same as the bad old Commission. This week Secretary Rice confirmed that the United States opposed the new Council. Just one problem. The New York Sun reports that Jimmy Carter had personaly promised the ambassadors from Egypt, Pakistan, and Cuba that the Council was a done deal: The story, as Mr. Carter...

An FBI sweep launched in Puerto Rico to prevent a "domestic terrorist attack" is eliciting widespread outrage on the island - and as far away as New York City - with critics accusing the agency of trying to use terrorism as a guise to turn public opinion against Puerto Rico's independence movement. The Friday morning raid on the U.S. commonwealth, which targeted five private homes and one business, was launched to prevent attacks from the Boricua Popular Army, the FBI said. The special agent in charge of the San Juan Division of the FBI, Luis Fraticelli, said the searches were...

In the week after the Maoists refused to extend their ceasefire, the rebels have stepped up their bombing campaign targeting government buildings. The rebels said they would take the war from the villages to the cities and that is what they are doing. But all they are destroying are district education offices. The army’s offensive into Rukum two weeks ago now appears to have been a deliberate attempt to provoke the rebels not to extend the ceasefire. Indeed, as soon as the announcement on the ceasfire was made on 2 January the rangers returned to base. Meanwhile, King Gyanendra is...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Harvard Professor John Ruggie on Thursday as his special representative to deal with human rights issues involving multinational corporations and other business enterprises. The U.N. Commission for Human Rights called for the new post in a resolution earlier this year and it was approved on Monday by the U.N. Economic and Social Council. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Ruggie will identify and clarify standards of corporate responsibility and accountability related to human rights. He is scheduled to present an interim report to the commission in 2006 and a final report in 2007....

Many commentators on President Bush's second-term appointments have linked the nominations of Secretary Rice to her position at State, Paul Wolfowitz to the World Bank, and John Bolton to the United Nations as a troika making a particular statement. The Guardian, for example, published a column by Martin Jacques to this effect under the portentous heading "The neoconservative revolution." Certain of the mainstream media have suggested that by appointing officials who support his administration's policies, President Bush has demonstrated a troubling audacity. The Los Angeles Times thought it appropriate in this context to ask, in mulling over Wolfowitz's nomination, whether...

UN to monitor defamation of Islam Ehtasham Khan in Geneva | April 13, 2005 00:05 IST The United Nations' Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday adopted a resolution to monitor defamation of religions, particularly Islam. The votingªon the resolution took place at the ongoing 61st session of the UNCHR in Geneva, Switzerland. Thirty-oneªcountries voted in favour of the resolution, 16 voted against and five abstained from voting. United States, United Kingdom and Israel voted in the negative. Russia and China voted in favour of the resolution. India was among those who abstained. The resolution was pushed forward by Pakistan on...

Goli Ameri has been appointed by President George W. Bush as one of three public delegates to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The 2005 meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights will take place March 14 through April 22 in Geneva, Switzerland. The US delegation is headed by former Senator Rudy Boschwitz who has been nominated by the White House for the position of Ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). Senator Boschwitz served in the US Senate from 1978-1991. Former Ambassadors to the UNCHR include Ambassador Jean Kirkpatrick who served in the Geneva post...

Annan says rights body harming UN UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has accused the UN Human Rights Commission of failing to uphold human rights and said a new, permanent body is needed. Speaking in Geneva, Mr Annan said the commission was undermining the credibility of the entire UN. Human rights groups say the body's member nations are too concerned with protecting their national interests. Current members include Sudan, Zimbabwe, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia - all accused of rights abuses. Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations...

It is time once again to mock the victims of human rights abuse. Yes, it is time for the yearly session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the group that describes itself as the ''world's foremost human rights forum" and, with no trace of irony, dares to declare that it ''continues to set the standards that govern the conduct of states." In reality, the commission has become the clearest symbol of the UN's need to change. Today, it represents little more than a gruesome caricature of what started in the earliest days of the United Nations as an...