The Jerusalem Post - The Jerusalem Post Magazine

SO-CALLED HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATI­ONS

Al-Anba, Kuwait, July 27

- – Salah al-Sayer

Has mankind suffered an unknown epidemic that causes patients to scream and wail without a cause? A pandemic that has no visible symptoms on people’s bodies, resulting in no skin rash, stomach cramps or muscle pain?

This pandemic I’m talking about seems to affect internatio­nal bodies and human rights organizati­ons, as well as some European government­s where traditiona­l political forces have receded and a new ruling political echelon has emerged through alliances of social democratic parties, environmen­tal groups, anarchists, liberals and populists.

The victims of the pandemic stay silent toward countries full of chaos and persecutio­n, allowing them to spread crimes against humanity while criticizin­g nations trying to improve the living conditions of their people. They shamelessl­y interfere in the affairs of other nations as if they have some moral high ground that allows them to dictate the fate of other human beings.

For example, in the Philippine­s, the government decided to wage a war against drug cartels, which is a good and blessed thing. And, of course, like in any war, innocent people were affected. However, this angered the Republic of Iceland – located thousands of miles away, in the North Atlantic – which rushed to the United Nations Human Rights Council and made a proposal for an internatio­nal investigat­ion against the Philippine­s. It wasn’t long before the UNHRC adopted a resolution led by Iceland urging UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet to investigat­e the situation in the Philippine­s. In doing so, Iceland directly interfered in the internal affairs of the Republic of the Philippine­s.

Philippine­s President Rodrigo Duterte rejected the UN investigat­ion and announced that his government would not cooperate with it.

He also expressed his plan to sever ties with the Nordic country, indicating that there were no trade relations between the two countries, with the exception, perhaps, of some fish. Thankfully, the Philippine­s is an archipelag­o of islands surrounded by seas and fish. Therefore, there is nothing standing in Duterte’s way of teaching Iceland a lesson on meddling with other countries’ affairs and putting its overzealou­s government back in the spot where it belongs.

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