The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was formed to ensure that countries and entities are complying with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In recent years, the panel has targeted countries that are embroiled in ethnic and religious conflicts and serious human rights issues. Here is just a brief list of some of the warnings the committee has issued in recent years, via The Washington Post.
Last year, it slapped Burundi with a formal warning for “reports of killings, summary executions, disappearances and torture, many of which appear to have an ethnic character.” In 2014, it targeted the Islamic State for “crimes against humanity in Iraq.” In 2010, it fingered Kyrgyzstan, voicing deep concern about massacres and plunders of ethnic Uzbeks.
Last week, the panel added the United States to its rebuke list, concerned over the violence that has erupted after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA. A young counter protester was killed during the rally.
In a direct rebuke of the white supremacist march in Charlottesville this month, the committee issued an “early warning” on the United States. In a statement, it described the march of neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members as “horrific,” writing that it was “alarmed by the racist demonstrations, with overtly racist slogans, chants and salutes,” especially the “death of Ms. Heather Heyer” and “the injuries inflicted on many other protesters, as well as the terrible beating of Mr. Deandre Harris by white supremacists.”
The panel may think it is doing a great service by calling out the U.S. for what transpired at Charlottesville, but the truth is the individuals who showed up to the rally were not representative of the country as a whole. Not even close. The organizers issued a nationwide announcement about the rally, yet only a couple hundred people showed up. Conservatives everywhere have condemned the racism that was on full display in Charlottesville that fatal weekend.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, has had no problem speaking out against the UN. I wonder if she'll do so again to respond to the UN's "warning." She called the president herself after Charlottesville and had a personal conversation with him about the tragedy.
"I will tell you that there is no hate in this country," she said on CNN.
Final note: The WaPo would be wise to stop citing the Southern Poverty Law Center's updated list of "hate groups" in the U.S. Their map has been proven to be nothing but a biased list that includes churches who oppose gay marriage and law firms that stand up for religious freedom.
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