The United Nations Human Rights Council has always been a joke. Oftentimes the very countries sitting on the council are guilty of carrying out systematic abuses of human rights. Take, for example, these member states currently sitting on the council: Afghanistan, the DRC, Somalia, Sudan, and Venezuela, to name just a few.
But the council did something its never done before, according to UN Watch's Hillel Neuer: an "urgent debate" has been called regarding the United States' alleged human rights violations in the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody.
"It was decided that an urgent debate on the current racially inspired #HumanRights violations, systematic #racism, #PoliceBrutality & violence against peaceful protests to take place Wednesday, 17 June at 3 p.m.,
the UN announced.
#HRC43 has opened & starts w/ GD on item 5. It was decided that an urgent debate on the current racially inspired #HumanRights violations, systematic #racism, #PoliceBrutality & violence against peaceful protests to take place Wednesday, 17 June at 3 p.m. https://t.co/wUEEG9n2Bg pic.twitter.com/8SYNTgRThD
— HRC SECRETARIAT (@UN_HRC) June 15, 2020
Now let's take a look at some of the member states that will be judging this:
More UNHRC members who will judge violence against peaceful protests:
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) June 15, 2020
???? Venezuela: Killed 47 demonstrators in 5 days last year, arbitrarily detained 900 people.
???? Eritrea: Imprisons 11 journalists now.
???? Cameroon: Tortured journalist Samuel Abuwe, who just died in custody.
Police racism MUST be investigated. But I disagree with the @ACLU asking THESE to be the judges:
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) June 15, 2020
???? Pakistan—death penalty for 'blasphemers'
???? Somalia—death penalty for gays
???? Mauritania—has 500,000 slaves
???? Venezuela—Maduro tyranny
???? Qatar—enslaves migrants
???? Libya—same?? https://t.co/30pdvFTciO
“For centuries, Arabic-speaking Moors raided African villages, resulting in a caste system that still exists to this day, with darker-skinned inhabitants beholden to lighter-skinned 'masters'. Slave status is passed down from mother to child. Anti-slavery activists are tortured.”
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) June 15, 2020
In announcing the U.S.'s withdrawal from the council in 2018, then-U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley called the HRC a "hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights." She was absolutely right.
