Editorial THE JORDAN TIMES

May 27,2012 | 23:08

The tenure of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has been halved under pressure from the US and, no doubt, Israel as well.

The UN General Assembly has recently renewed the mandate of the human rights commissioner by only two years instead of the usual four, because the US wanted her out due to her critical stance on Israel.

Pillay has been an outspoken critic of both Syria, because of its gross, systematic human rights violations while suppressing protesters over the past year-and-a-half, and also of Israel, a grave violator of Palestinians’ human rights.

Pillay has been supportive of the call for closer monitoring of the human rights situation in the two countries. Her stance against human rights violations is impeccable and fair; it is the same for countries in Asia as it is for those in Africa or Latin America.

Pillay’s integrity and her clear opposition to human rights violations no matter where they occur was obviously too much for the US.

This blatant intervention in the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights comes at a time when the UN human rights system is undergoing rapid transformation and its machineries are strengthened.

Pillay has been behind the efforts to revamp and strengthen the UN human rights system, including the UN Human Rights Council and the 10 existing human rights treaty bodies.

Cutting her term by half at this critical stage is clearly not meant to help this endeavour. If anything, it is meant to thwart such efforts, and this does not become the UN body.

She should be at least given time to finish what she set out to do.

As for the true colours of an organisation ostensibly created to protect human rights, well, they are being shown now.