Among the United Nations’ many committees is the Human Rights Council. The stated purpose of this commission is “preventing human rights violations, securing respect for all human rights, promoting international cooperation to protect human rights, coordinating related activities throughout the United Nations, and strengthening and streamlining the United Nations system in the field of human rights.” However, despite all of the ongoing atrocities throughout the world, this committee has only found fault in Israel, the solitary democracy in the Middle East that has been struggling since its inception to survive.

Since its establishment this council has held three emergency meetings all condemning Israel. In each of these sessions resolutions have been passed denouncing the country and its human rights violations. Israel was also the only nation which a resolution was drafted against during a regular session until Nov. 28, 2006, when the committee finally decided that the genocide in Darfur warranted attention. However, it rejected a resolution proposed by Canada and the European Union which would hold the Sudanese government responsible for the many murders, rapes, and other inhumane acts against its own civilians committed by, according to the United Nations own investigators, the government funded and supported militia, the janjaweed. Instead their resolution declared that all participants “put an immediate end to the ongoing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, with a special focus on vulnerable groups, including women and children, while not hindering the return of all internally displaced persons to their homes.” The continuous murder of civilians in this region has not attracted the attention or horror of this UN committee as Israel has trying to defend itself against constant attacks from its neighbors. During their most recent emergency session on Nov. 15, 2006 the Human Rights Council stated the following in their resolution:

1. Expresses its shock at the horror of Israeli targeting and killing of Palestinian civilians in Beit Hanoun while they were asleep and other civilians fleeing earlier Israeli bombardment.

2. Condemns the Israeli targeting and killing of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, as well as of medics in Beit Hanoun and other Palestinian towns and villages, and calls for bringing the perpetrators thereof to justice.

3. Denounces the Israeli massive destruction of Palestinian homes, property and infrastructure in Beit Hanoun.

4. Expresses its alarm at the gross and systematic violations of human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by the occupying Power, Israel, and calls for urgent international action to put an immediate end to these violations, including those emanating from the series of incessant and repeated Israeli military incursions therein.

5. Calls for immediate protection of the Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in compliance with human rights law and international humanitarian law.

6. Decides to dispatch urgently a high level fact-finding mission to Beit Hanoun.

While the loss of 19. Palestinian civilians, including eight women and seven children, is a horrific tragedy that should be investigated further, it was not, as stated by the council, deliberate. The commission failed to mention that Israel has used its own resources to investigate this issue and according to the findings of Major General Meir Kalifi, the cause of the catastrophe was an equipment malfunction in the artillery battery’s guidance system which has since been replaced.

The Human Rights council has also overlooked the death of over forty five civilians in Sri Lanka by army fire, which included a school where displaced persons were living. According to the Sri Lankan military, “The Tigers had been planning this situation since the beginning of this month by detaining the innocent civilians in those areas by force to be used as a human shield when the time arises.” Interestingly enough, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, made a similar statement regarding the Beit Hanoun accident:

Israel left Gaza in order to give the Palestinians an opportunity to control terrorism and develop their own lives. Unfortunately, this has not happened. Israel is faced with constant attack by the Palestinian terror organizations, in the form of relentless firing of Qassam rockets at Israeli population centers. Israel has no desire to harm innocent people, but only to defend its citizens. Unfortunately, in the course of battle, regrettable incidents such as that which occurred this morning do happen.

Unfortunately, these are only a few examples of the horrors currently occurring throughout the world. It’s amazing how a tiny country smaller than Massachusetts, which is constantly attacked by surrounding nations and desperately trying to defend itself, is more often than not the object of worldwide scrutiny and condemnation. Despite its best efforts to stay on the defensive and only react when provoked, hence the name Israeli Defense Force, Israel is a constant target, and the U. N. in particular has set impossible double standards that seem to apply to it only. Instead of recognizing the tragedy of Beit Hanoun and supporting Israel’s investigation while focusing their efforts on other calamities where governments have not taken responsibility or any form of action, like Darfur, they have chosen to ignore real disasters such as this horrific genocide in favor of once again denouncing Israel. How is this an improvement on the council it was established to replace?

Daphna is a senior in the Olin School of Business. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]

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