UN nominates Iran, China, others to key human rights bodies, drawing criticism

The UN's Economic and Social Council has nominated Iran, China, Saudi Arabia and Cuba to oversee key bodies shaping global policy on human rights, women’s rights and counterterrorism, a move critics say risks empowering authoritarian regimes within the international system.

The nominations, which are typically approved automatically by the UN General Assembly, drew sharp criticism from UN Watch, a Geneva-based monitoring group, which warned they could undermine protections for civil society worldwide. The slate was backed by several democracies, including Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Australia.

“Appointing China, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia to oversee the work of human rights activists is like putting Al Capone in charge of fighting organized crime,” stated Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s truly indefensible and puts lives at risk."

Neuer strongly criticized Western democracies for supporting the nomination of oppressive regimes that threaten human rights worldwide, which these democratic governments officially claim to support. 

“As an organization accredited with special NGO consultative status at the United Nations, and which regularly gives a platform to dissidents from China, Cuba, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Nicaragua, we are gravely concerned that brutal dictatorships were elected to oversee our work and credentials – and it is scandalous that Western democracies put them there.” He condemned Western nations that he said, “betrayed their principles and undermined the rules-based international order.”

Neuer warned that the elected authoritarian regimes could undermine the accreditation of independent NGO’s that criticize their dismal human rights records. 

“This means dictatorships will have a majority on the committee in order to deny United Nations accreditation to independent organizations that call out their human rights violations, and to accredit more fake front groups created by the regimes,” he said.

UN Watch defines itself as an organization dedicated to “monitoring UN performance by the yardstick of its own Charter.”

In January, the UN Watch blasted the United Nations for its anti-Israel bias and silence amid the Iranian Islamist regime’s massacres of tens of thousands of Iranian civilians calling for freedom and basic human rights. 

“The data prove that many UN experts are not acting out of concern for human rights, but out of a political agenda. When they are silent toward Tehran and shout toward Jerusalem, they lose all legitimacy. Their silence is like a green light for the ayatollahs to continue hanging regime opponents from cranes,” Neuer said at the time. 

There are unconfirmed reports that the ayatollah regime killed some 16,500 protesters during a brief, brutal crackdown in January. Other reports estimate that over 30,000 Iranian civilians could have been killed by the Iranian regime in January. 

The Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on Iranian civilians prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to announce that help was on its way for the Iranian people.

On Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israel launched a coordinated massive military offensive against the Islamist Republic in Tehran, which was called Operation Epic Fury by the U.S. and Operation Roaring Lion by Israel.