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UN Watch

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UN Watch, a Geneva-based group, monitors the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter and promote human rights for all. It is an accredited non-governmental organization with the UN ECOSOC and has affiliate status with the UN DPI. UN Watch led the largest NGO coalition at the UN Human Rights Council special session on Darfur in December 2006. [1] It has often appealed to the UN to take stronger action on Darfur. [2]


Contents

Activities

  • Monitor UN activities, resolutions, or official statements.
  • Promote human rights.
  • Forming coalitions with non-governmental organizations to enforce human rights protection and combat anti-Semitism.

History

UN Watch was established in 1993 under the chairmanship of Morris Abram, a pioneer leader in the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King, Jr., president of the United Negro College Fund, and Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. Its board includes leading human rights scholars and statesmen.

UN Watch is an accredited non-governmental organization that monitors the performance of the United Nations according to the yardstick of its own Charter. Areas of concern include strengthening the role of democracies within the UN and ensuring the equal treatment by the UN of its member states. At the United Nations, UN Watch has been at the forefront in the fight against anti-Semitism and against the UN’s discriminatory treatment of Israel.[1]


UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and UN Watch

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the following about UN Watch:

"I deeply appreciate the valuable work performed by UN Watch. I believe that informed and independent evaluation of the United Nations' activities will prove a vital source as we seek to adapt the Organization to the needs of a changing world. I can promise you that I will pay close attention to your observations and view in the years ahead."

 
Neuer and Kofi Annan

UN Watch campaigns

UN Watch cooperates with non-governmental organizations around the world in order to protect and promote the principles of the UN Charter. In 2004 UN Watch intervened on behalf of victims of torture and censorship in Cote d'Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan. [2] UN Watch also spoke out for the Lebanese victims of Syrian political assassinations. [3]

Darfur

UN Watch is among the leading advocates at the United Nations for human rights victims in Darfur. [4][5] UN Watch chaired the NGO Activist Summit For Darfur in 2007. [6] UN Watch challenged Sudan in 2007 for its rejection of human rights experts in Darfur. [7] UN Watch justice for child victims in Darfur in 2005. [8]

In August 2007, UN Watch director Hillel Neuer was the keynote speaker at the Save Darfur Canada rally in Montreal. [9] Neuer spoke together with Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, former commander of UN peacekeepers in the Balkans; Prof. Payam Akhavan, international law professor at McGill, and former senior advisor to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court; Simon Deng, a black Christian from the south of Sudan who was sold into slavery into the Muslim north; Miss World Canada Nazanin Afshin-Jam; and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel.

Israel's Magen David Adom service

AJC and UN Watch (operating in common) were among the hundreds and thousands of individuals, organizations, legislators, Red Cross federations, and others who contributed to the effort that led the International Red Cross to finally recognize the membership of Magen David Adom, the Israeli emergency service, as well as the Palestinian service. The head of the Red Cross, Swiss Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey met and magician Uri Geller all supported the cause.[10]

Human rights testimony

UN Watch has represented human rights victims in regular testimony before the UN Human Rights Council.

Its outspoken advocacy for student Jenya Taranenko preceded her release from a Russian prison. [11]

UN Watch's Neuer debated Zimbabwe's UN ambassador on CNN over the Mugabe regime's dismal human rights record. [12]

In 2007 UN Watch spoke out for the Arab, Kurdish, and Bahai victims of violations in Iran. [13]

Monitoring UN Officials

UN Watch monitors the actions of UN officials to hold them accountable to the principle of the UN Charter. Its work has praised positive actions and criticized negative ones.

Praise

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon UN Watch has praised Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for speaking out for the victims of Darfur, confronting Sri Lanka over the killings of aid workers and acting to establish the international tribunal on the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon. [25] "Quietly but firmly, Ban is helping to confirm the UN's indispensable role in the world." [26]

UN Watch also praised Secretary-General Ban for following in the steps of his predecessor, Kofi Annan, in denouncing Holocaust denial and confronting the global scourge of anti-Semitism. [27]

Secretary General Kofi Annan UN Watch has often praised the actions of Mr. Kofi Annan. "On Darfur, Mr. Annan is certainly one of the most outspoken leaders on the international scene." [28] In "Time to Rally for Annan's Human Rights Reform," UN Watch praised Mr. Annan's reform efforts. [29]

UN Experts Asma Jahangir and Hina Jilani UN Watch has several times spoken out for the rights of the "hero" Asma Janhangir, and her sister Hina Jilani, both of whom are UN human rights officials who have been subjected to arrest and detention by Pakistan. [30] During a peaceful protest in support of women’s rights held in Lahore on May 14, 2005, Ms. Jahangir and Ms. Jilani were among several women who were publicly humiliated, beaten and arrested by Pakistani police. UN Watch confronted Pakistan over its actions at the June 2005 annual session of UN human rights experts in Geneva, causing Pakistan to issue its first apology for the “extremely unfortunate” incident. [31]


Criticism

Jean Ziegler

Jean Ziegler is "co-founder and vice-chairman of the foundation that administers the Moammar Khaddafi Prize for Human Rights, and arranged for Fidel Castro to win the US$250,000 award in 1998." [14] UN Watch has also described Jean Ziegler as "among the most vicious" of persecutors of Israel at the United Nations and a man who is obsessed with "bashing Israel." [15] In July 2006 UN Watch ran a campaign to 'Stop Jean Ziegler's nomination to the UN Human Rights Council' complete with proposed text of email to be sent to the Swiss Ambassador to the UN.[16]

UN Watch noted:

Ziegler is popular among Europe's trendy radicals for his anti-American writings and impassioned media appearances. He is also a hero for his frequent attacks on the Jewish state, all issued with his UN imprimatur...
In the summer of 2004, after it emerged that Ziegler was using UN staff and resources to run an anti-Israel boycott campaign, UN Watch petitioned for his removal with a legal brief to the UN Commission on Human Rights...It also documented a series of actions by Ziegler that showed a pattern of selective treatment of Israel, the only country he singled out for condemnation as a Nazi-like state that commits "state terror" and "war crimes."...The charges against Ziegler received wide media coverage, particularly in Switzerland but also in Europe, the United States, and Israel...UN Watch noted that under the European Union's definition of anti-Semitism, comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis is a classic manifestation of this form of hatred...Finally, UN Watch alerted the media to the need for the UN to condemn Ziegler's demonization of Israelis...The impact was immediate. On the same day, 7 July, the UN Watch press release was cited by a reporter at the daily press conference of Annan's spokesman in New York. Consequently, the spokesman soon issued a statement denouncing Ziegler for his remarks. The next day the spokesman for Arbour did the same, followed later by an even stronger statement by Arbour herself in a letter to UN Watch. Canada then sent Ziegler a formal complaint letter. Finally, some seventy members of the U.S. Congress wrote to Annan and the Commission Chair seeking Ziegler's resignation.
The story of this unprecedented condemnation was reported worldwide by Reuters, the Associated Press, the Washington Times, China's Xinhua, and the Jerusalem Post. Headlines reading "Ziegler Criticized by UN" appeared in a dozen different newspapers in Switzerland, including Le Temps, Basler Zeitung, and Tages-Anzeiger. For the first time, the UN community had condemned one of the Commission's human rights experts for anti-Semitism. Later stories about Ziegler, such as by the Associated Press, have cited this condemnation, for the first time providing readers with the necessary context. [17]

On October 27, 2005, UN Watch published a study which recommended that Kofi Annan and other UN high officials condemn Jean Ziegler for bias and that the Chairman of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, "should remove Jean Ziegler from the position of Special Rapporteur on the right to food" and "if the Chairman does not do so, the 53 State Members of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights should convene to adopt a resolution terminating Jean Ziegler’s term". Failing this, it recommended that "Ziegler should resign".[18]


History

UN Watch is a non-governmental organization based in Geneva whose mandate is to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter. UN Watch was established in 1993 under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Morris B. Abram, the former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. UN Watch participates actively at the UN as an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI). Affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, the organization stands at the forefront at the United Nations in combating anti-Semitism and what former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described as the obsessive and one-sided condemnations of Israel that preoccupy several key UN bodies.

UN Watch supports the United Nations' mission on behalf of the international community to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" and provide for a more just world. The Geneva-based NGO believes that even with its shortcomings, the UN remains an indispensable tool in bringing together diverse nations and cultures. UN Watch is keenly aware that member states often ask the UN to fulfill mandates and tasks that are neither feasible nor within the means provided. While it would be unrealistic to ignore the UN’s weaknesses, it advocates finding ways to build on its strengths and use its limited resources effectively.

UN Watch is foremost concerned with the just application of UN Charter principles. Areas of interest include: UN management reform, the UN and civil society, equality within the UN, and the equal treatment of member states. UN Watch notes that the disproportionate attention and unfair treatment applied by the UN toward Israel over the years offers an object lesson (though not the only one) in how due process, equal treatment, and other fundamental principles of the UN Charter are often ignored or selectively upheld.

Members

Chaired by Ambassador Alfred H. Moses (Chair), former US Ambassador to Romania and Presidential Emissary for the Cyprus Conflict, UN Watch is governed by an international board whose members include: Per Ahlmark (European Co-Chair), former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden; Professor Irwin Cotler, international human rights advocate and former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Canada; David A. Harris (Co-Chair), AJC Executive Director; Ambassador Max Jakobson, former Permanent Representative of Finland to the UN in New York; and Ruth Wedgwood, professor of international law and diplomacy at Johns Hopkins University. UN Watch, Geneva, Switzerland

Staff

 

Executive Director: Hillel C. Neuer

Hillel C. Neuer is executive director of UN Watch, a human rights NGO in Geneva, Switzerland. Originally from Montreal, Neuer has written on law, politics and international affairs for publications such as the International Herald Tribune, Juriste International, Commentary, The New Republic Online and the Christian Science Monitor. He appears regularly before the UN Human Rights Council, intervening for a range of causes including the rape victims of Darfur, political prisoners in Cuba, and Middle East peace. He recently testified as an expert witness before a hearing of the U.S. Congress on UN reform, and is regularly quoted by major media organizations including the New York Times, Die Welt, Le Figaro and Reuters. In the past year Neuer has debated UN human rights issues on CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Prior to joining UN Watch, Neuer practiced commercial and civil rights litigation at the international law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison LLP. Active as a human rights defender, Neuer was cited by the Federal Court of New York for the high quality of his pro bono advocacy on a precedent-setting First Amendment case for prisoners’ rights and freedom of religion, as reported in AIDS Litigation Digest and the New York Law Journal. Neuer served as a law clerk to the Supreme Court of Israel. He holds a BA in intellectual history and political science from Concordia University, a BCL and LLB from the McGill University Faculty of Law, and a LLM in comparative constitutional law from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Neuer is a member of the New York bar and co-author of the Annotated Copyright Act of Canada and Directors and Officers—A Canadian Legal Manual.

McGill University Law School, Human Rights Center

Principals

Staff

Affiliations

Similar organizations

Contact information

PO Box 191
1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
Phone: +41 22 734 14 72
Fax: +41 22 734 16 13
Email: unwatch At unwatch.org
Web: http://www.unwatch.org


Notes

  1. ^  Hillel C. Neuer, The Struggle against Anti-Israel Bias at the UN Commission on Human Rights, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, January 11, 2006
  2. ^  Wednesday Watch, UN Watch, January 19, 2005
  3. ^  Jean Ziegler's Campaign Against America A Study by UN Watch, October 27, 2005
  4. ^  Lynne Cohen, Canada condemns anti-Israel remarks of UN official it helped to elect, Jewish Tribune, August 4, 2005
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