Iceland seeks reform of rights body
Reykjavik pledges to oppose perceived anti-Israel bias of UN Human Rights Council
UNITED NATIONS— Iceland has pledged to seek reform of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council which monitors human rights worldwide.
The UN General Assembly is set to elect Iceland on Friday to the HumanRightsCouncil seat the United States vacated in protest of the body’s anti-Israel bias.
The 47-nation Geneva-based body will hold a by-election with Iceland as the only candidate put forward by the regional grouping of countries to complete the US term until Dec. 31, 2019.
Critical juncture
“The Human Rights Council stands at a critical juncture,” Iceland’s Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson wrote in an editorial released last week, adding that for many countries “it is time to address its shortcomings.”
US Ambassador Nikki Haley announced Washington’s withdrawal from the rights council last month, denouncing the body as a “protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias.”
Cesspool of political bias
In particular, Haley had slammed the council for adopting resolutions condemning Israel, which has come under scrutiny by the council for its treatment of Palestinians.
According to the Genevabased United Nations Watch, the council has criticized Israel on 27 separate occasions since it was established in 2006 but has not condemned groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and their state sponsors.
Israel is also the only country listed on the council’s permanent agenda and the only country subjected to an investigation that only covers one side, UN Watch said in its website.
In 2017, two reports commissioned by the council blamed Is- rael for Palestinian men beating their wives, UNWatch said.
During its main 2018 session in March, UN Watch said the council passed five resolutions against Israel but none against China, Cuba, Egypt, Qatar, Pakistan, Venezuela, Iraq, Saudi Ara- bia, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Algeria, Vietnam or Zimbabwe, among others.
Iceland said it would strive to change widespread perceptions that the council is being used by member nations that are also serious human rights violators.
Overdue reform
“Perhaps more importantly, it is vital to overcome its perceived imbalance in its membership and focus, something that can only be addressed through reform,” he added.
To win the seat, Iceland must pick up an absolute majority of 97 votes in the 193-member assembly, and diplomats expect that the small northern country will be able to pick up enough support.
“Sometimes it can be an asset to be small and nonthreatening,” Iceland’s UN Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson told a meeting at UN headquarters on Thursday to discuss its candidacy.
Against activists
Also at the council, China, Russia and Pakistan earlier this month lost their bid to weaken a UN resolution upholding the crucial rule of activists in shedding an international spotlight on human rights violations.
At the end of a three-week session, Chile presented the resolution calling on all states to protect civil society groups.
China, Pakistan and Russia insisted that such groups must respect “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states” and that their funding must be “legal and transparent”—were soundly defeated.