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Fury after Saudi Arabia 'chosen to head key UN human rights panel'

57 points by snowy 11y ago

jkot 11y ago
It is just ridiculous. Saudi has capacity to accommodate 2 million people in Mecca, but they would not accept single refugee from Syria. Instead they offered to build hundreds of mosques in Germany and Europe, to export their version of Islam. Edit: Saudi accepted many refugees, so I would like to apologize.
- mahouse 11y ago
  Taking into account how the war in Syria was financed, I think it would be fitting for those refugees to stay in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, ...
- phaemon 11y ago
  Saudi Arabia have claimed this is misleading. They say they have an open border to Syria and have accepted over 2.5 million Syrians since 2011. Is this claim incorrect?
  - jkot 11y ago
    Do you have source for 2.5? I only found 0.5M, but it seems like those are expats who did not moved in recently. > There are 500,000 Syrians in Saudi Arabia, according to Nabil Othman, acting regional representative to the Gulf region at the UNHCR. In official documentation they are referred to as “Arab brothers and sisters in distress,” he said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-04/syria-s-refugees-feel-more-welcome-in-europe-than-in-the-gulf http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-04/syria-s-re...
    - phaemon 11y ago
      They claim 2.5 million here: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/19/saudi-arabia-has-taken-25m-syrians-claims-minister http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/19/saudi-arabia-h...
caseysoftware 11y ago
And at the same time, we have many in the US demanding that we support the UN in all things. It's disappointing that they put so much faith in an obviously broken organization.. that is also completely unaccountable to its member countries and the world as a whole.
themartorana 11y ago
It's like letting oil companies run studies about environmental impact.
grej 11y ago
It almost seems like someone in the UN is just trolling the world with this pick. Saudi Arabia's atrocious record on women's rights, and KSA's institutionalized mistreatment of foreign workers (employers hold the passports of foreign workers and can deny them exit visas in any dispute) are just two of a huge number of other issues too voluminous to enumerate. EDIT: Not to mention that in Saudi Arabia, conversion from Islam to any other religion is officially punishable by death. EDIT2: Just this week, a juvenile human rights protester in KSA had his appeal denied, and will be executed by crucifixion: http://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-juvenile-prisoner-faces-death-by-crucifixion-after-appeal-is-dismissed/209642/ http://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-juvenile-prisoner-... It's difficult to conceive that a worse pick could possibly have been chosen. The inmates running the asylum...
gruez 11y ago
This is the same country that declared atheists as terrorists. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-declares-all-atheists-are-terrorists-in-new-law-to-crack-down-on-political-dissidents-9228389.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-ar...) Also, they tried to get a United Nations-backed ban on "blasphemy". (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/15/us-islam-blasphemy-idUSBRE89E18U20121015 http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/15/us-islam-blasphemy-...)
- Strom 11y ago
  I dislike Saudi Arabia as much as the next sane person, but that "atheists are terrorist" article is april fools. Look at the date.
  - darkr 11y ago
    Though the publication date of that article would suggest that it is an April fools; it actually refers to an amendment made in March to a "royal decree" announced in January[1] 2014 that defines as a terrorist act, punishable by death: “Calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based.” 1: https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/20/saudi-arabia-new-terrorism-regulations-assault-rights https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/20/saudi-arabia-new-terrori...
gabbo 11y ago
This is crazy. It would be like choosing America to head up the UN Social Welfare Commission. (edit: this was meant to be a mildly sarcastic zinger, if it wasn't clear)
nsxwolf 11y ago
The future of the world is Islam. They're emigrating en masse all over the world, and unlike Europeans and Americans, they have no problem having a lot of children. The definition of human rights will eventually be controlled by people like the Saudis. This decision could be seen as very forward thinking for the UN.
- sidcool 11y ago
  I don't think Islamophobia is the way to go. We are all concerned with the migration crisis, but there are moderate voices in Islam.
  - nsxwolf 11y ago
    I'm not being Islamophobic. Just pointing out they're not all about to join the Childfree movement and become good little San Francisco liberals any time soon. The future belongs to those who reproduce. It's just math.
  - A_COMPUTER 11y ago
    The extremists are successfully spreading their ideology worldwide, backed by a trillionaire oil state. The moderates are not. The Saudis are eager to inject their ideology into wherever the migrants go, they see this as a great opportunity. Migrants aren't evil, but they are vulnerable, it would be insane to not recognize this fact.
    - sidcool 11y ago
      I concur, migrants are vulnerable.
TorKlingberg 11y ago
I remember there was a similar row a couple of years ago with an other country with a bad human rights record. An argument then was that the position carries little real power, but is a way for a country to show that they want to improve their human rights, and other countries allow it as a way to put some soft pressure on the selected country.
- lotharbot 11y ago
  Libya in 2003: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=5924 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=5924

57 points by snowy 11y ago

jkot 11y ago

It is just ridiculous. Saudi has capacity to accommodate 2 million people in Mecca, but they would not accept single refugee from Syria. Instead they offered to build hundreds of mosques in Germany and Europe, to export their version of Islam. Edit: Saudi accepted many refugees, so I would like to apologize.

mahouse 11y ago
Taking into account how the war in Syria was financed, I think it would be fitting for those refugees to stay in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, ...
phaemon 11y ago
Saudi Arabia have claimed this is misleading. They say they have an open border to Syria and have accepted over 2.5 million Syrians since 2011. Is this claim incorrect?
- jkot 11y ago
  Do you have source for 2.5? I only found 0.5M, but it seems like those are expats who did not moved in recently. > There are 500,000 Syrians in Saudi Arabia, according to Nabil Othman, acting regional representative to the Gulf region at the UNHCR. In official documentation they are referred to as “Arab brothers and sisters in distress,” he said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-04/syria-s-refugees-feel-more-welcome-in-europe-than-in-the-gulf http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-04/syria-s-re...
  - phaemon 11y ago
    They claim 2.5 million here: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/19/saudi-arabia-has-taken-25m-syrians-claims-minister http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/19/saudi-arabia-h...

caseysoftware 11y ago

And at the same time, we have many in the US demanding that we support the UN in all things. It's disappointing that they put so much faith in an obviously broken organization.. that is also completely unaccountable to its member countries and the world as a whole.

themartorana 11y ago

It's like letting oil companies run studies about environmental impact.

grej 11y ago

It almost seems like someone in the UN is just trolling the world with this pick. Saudi Arabia's atrocious record on women's rights, and KSA's institutionalized mistreatment of foreign workers (employers hold the passports of foreign workers and can deny them exit visas in any dispute) are just two of a huge number of other issues too voluminous to enumerate. EDIT: Not to mention that in Saudi Arabia, conversion from Islam to any other religion is officially punishable by death. EDIT2: Just this week, a juvenile human rights protester in KSA had his appeal denied, and will be executed by crucifixion: http://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-juvenile-prisoner-faces-death-by-crucifixion-after-appeal-is-dismissed/209642/ http://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-juvenile-prisoner-... It's difficult to conceive that a worse pick could possibly have been chosen. The inmates running the asylum...

gruez 11y ago

This is the same country that declared atheists as terrorists. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-declares-all-atheists-are-terrorists-in-new-law-to-crack-down-on-political-dissidents-9228389.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-ar...) Also, they tried to get a United Nations-backed ban on "blasphemy". (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/15/us-islam-blasphemy-idUSBRE89E18U20121015 http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/15/us-islam-blasphemy-...)

Strom 11y ago
I dislike Saudi Arabia as much as the next sane person, but that "atheists are terrorist" article is april fools. Look at the date.
- darkr 11y ago
  Though the publication date of that article would suggest that it is an April fools; it actually refers to an amendment made in March to a "royal decree" announced in January[1] 2014 that defines as a terrorist act, punishable by death: “Calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based.” 1: https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/20/saudi-arabia-new-terrorism-regulations-assault-rights https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/20/saudi-arabia-new-terrori...

gabbo 11y ago

This is crazy. It would be like choosing America to head up the UN Social Welfare Commission. (edit: this was meant to be a mildly sarcastic zinger, if it wasn't clear)

nsxwolf 11y ago

The future of the world is Islam. They're emigrating en masse all over the world, and unlike Europeans and Americans, they have no problem having a lot of children. The definition of human rights will eventually be controlled by people like the Saudis. This decision could be seen as very forward thinking for the UN.

sidcool 11y ago
I don't think Islamophobia is the way to go. We are all concerned with the migration crisis, but there are moderate voices in Islam.
- nsxwolf 11y ago
  I'm not being Islamophobic. Just pointing out they're not all about to join the Childfree movement and become good little San Francisco liberals any time soon. The future belongs to those who reproduce. It's just math.
- A_COMPUTER 11y ago
  The extremists are successfully spreading their ideology worldwide, backed by a trillionaire oil state. The moderates are not. The Saudis are eager to inject their ideology into wherever the migrants go, they see this as a great opportunity. Migrants aren't evil, but they are vulnerable, it would be insane to not recognize this fact.
  - sidcool 11y ago
    I concur, migrants are vulnerable.

TorKlingberg 11y ago

I remember there was a similar row a couple of years ago with an other country with a bad human rights record. An argument then was that the position carries little real power, but is a way for a country to show that they want to improve their human rights, and other countries allow it as a way to put some soft pressure on the selected country.

lotharbot 11y ago
Libya in 2003: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=5924 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=5924