The following submissions by United Nations Watch have been made to the Human Rights Council and are pending publication as official documents of the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council.
A/HRC/53/NGO/94: Russian Federation Must Release Vladimir Kara-Murza
Excerpt: Below are the recent remarks of Kara-Murza’s wife Evgenia Kara-Murza at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy:
I am deeply honored and deeply humbled to be standing on this stage today where my husband Vladimir Kara-Murza stood in 2018 when he received his Geneva Summit Courage Award. Just like Vladimir five years ago, I get to share this stage with the most awe-inspiring, fearless, indomitable human rights fighters of the world.
But every single one of them, no matter how brave, strong and principled, is also a human being, and there is nothing more precious than a human life. “The cost of freedom is high” used to say Boris Nemtsov, the leader of the Russian opposition, my husband’s mentor and friend, who was assassinated under the Kremlin walls in 2015.
A/HRC/53/NGO/95: Report on Palestinian Authority and Hamas Violations Against the LGBT Community
Excerpt: United Nations Watch submits the following report for the Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. This report documents egregious violations by the Palestinian Authority (“PA”) in the West Bank, and by Hamas in Gaza against the LGBT community, in grave breach of international law including the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”) and the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We call on the Human Rights Council and all United Nations stakeholders to stop ignoring these Palestinian victims of Palestinian violations, and to take immediate action to protect them.
A/HRC/53/NGO/98: Breach of UN Rules by the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967
Excerpt: United Nations Watch is concerned by statements that incite violence and terrorism made by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories. This is contrary to the spirit of her duties as a UN human rights expert to uphold the core UN values of universality and impartiality, and violates the Charter of the United Nations and other UN Rules requiring staff to uphold the highest standards of competence and integrity.
Article 101 of the UN Charter requires “the paramount consideration in the employment of staff” to be “securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.” The Code of Conduct for Special Procedures in Article 3 likewise requires special procedures to “uphold the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, meaning, in particular, though not exclusively, probity, impartiality, equity, honesty and good faith.”
A/HRC/53/NGO/99: Combatting Antisemitism
Excerpt: We commend the United Nations and the international community for recently joining together to condemn antisemitic statements made by a UN human rights official last summer, and we urge them to do the same concerning even more voluminous antisemitic statements made by yet another UN human rights official, which have recently come to light…
On 14 December 2022, it was revealed that UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese had made antisemitic comments on her social media accounts, including the statement that America was “subjugated by the Jewish lobby.” We commend the following officials who immediately spoke out…
A/HRC/53/NGO/268: Deteriorating Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Especially With Respect to Women and Children
Excerpt: In light of the significant actions and statements by United Nations bodies and officials as outlined above, and in light of the recent decision by ECOSOC to remove the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women, human rights defenders were alarmed to learn, on 10 May 2023, that a representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran was appointed to chair a forum of the Human Rights Council. At the time of this submission, more than 70,000 people have signed a petition opposing this appointment.
In this regard, United Nations Watch calls on Member States of the Human Rights Council to introduce and adopt the following resolution at its 53rd Session…
