UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay has called for an “immediate investigation” into the death of Trayvon Martin.
Leaving aside the matter of the despicable record of the UN on human rights, what kind of record does Pillay herself have on human rights, and does she have any moral leg to stand on when interfering in the domestic affaris of the United States? According to Freedom House, between September 2008, when she became the Human Rights Chief, and June 2010, Pillay made no comment whatsoever on the victims in 34 countries rated “Not Free.” Some of the countries not criticized were: Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Belarus, Cuba, North Korea, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Vietnam.
When Iranian demonstrators were abused violently by the Iranian government’s forces following the June 2009 presidential elections, Pillay refrained for three months from commenting even though video existed of demonstrators being killed; she only mentioned the matter as part of her traditional opening speech at the UN Human Rights Council session in September 2009. She did not give any statement dealing directly with the matter. And when she did speak, it was only in an “unprecedented effort to engage” with the Muslim world. While she did raise some human rights concerns, she praised Iran’s progress instead of naming violence that had been recorded or current violations.
The pattern of do-nothingness continued. In July 2010, two renowned human rights lawyers, Haytham al-Maleh and Muhanad al-Hasani were jailed for criticizing the Syrian authorities on human rights grounds. In March 2010, the Syrian military detained Kurdish leader Abdel Hafez Abdel and journalists, bloggers and writers for exposing Syria’s corruption. But Pillay did not respond at all. In addition, Pillay was a staunch defender of the falsified Goldstone Report which ripped Israel and also questioned whether the United States had the legal right to kill Osama Bin Laden.
In 2011, the United States, Canada, Israel, the Czech Republic, Italy and the Netherlands announced a boycott of Durban III, the UN meeting to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the first Durban conference, where Israel was targeted for vilification. Pillay tried to block further countries boycotting the event, and claimed that the boycotts were a “political distraction.”
Of the Trayvon Martin case, Pillay said, “I will be awaiting an investigation and prosecution and trial and of course reparations for the victims concerned.”
Perhaps Martin’s family deserves reparations. But it’s none of her damn business either way — at least based on her record.