Saturday, May 7, 2011

Syria & Human Rights

It is interesting to note that while Syria is slaughtering hundreds of its citizens in order to suppress popular dissent, it is on track to join the United Nations Human Rights Council. From Fox News:
The brutal crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad may finally be getting the attention of world leaders -- but apparently not enough to stop Syria from becoming the newest member of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

And despite calling for an independent investigation into the crackdown, which has left hundreds dead, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon apparently won’t do much about blocking Syria’s path to the human rights group.

"That's not really for the secretary general to suggest to a member state," said Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the secretary-general, when asked if the U.N. chief would ask Syria to drop out of the running for the post. When asked if Ban had brought up the point during his telephone conversation April 9 with Assad, Nesirsky told Fox News, "that's not really something the secretary general would raise specifically, because it's for other member states to decide on the membership of the Human Rights Council."
CBC news says that the US hasn't withdrawn its ambassador despite all the killings. And, oddly enough, CBC which is a Canadian national news source didn't mention whether Canada is withdrawing its ambassador. So assume the Canadian is also staying in Damascus. So much for hypocrisy.

It looks to me that Bashar al-Assad is busy trying to top his father Hafez al-Assad and his infamous massacre in Hama:
Initial diplomatic reports from western countries stated that only 1000 were killed. Subsequent estimates vary, with the lower estimates claiming that at least 10,000 Syrian citizens were killed, the majority civilians, while others put the number at 20,000 (Robert Fisk), or 40,000 (Syrian Human Rights Committee).
The US and NATO went after Gaddafi because he was a "wild man" who openly supported terrorism until quite recently. The Assad family has quietly supported terrorism and quietly has muzzled and smothered Lebanon, so they get a pass. Isn't "international justice" wonderful?

No comments: