UN "expert" John Dugard: Terrorist Spokesperson with a UN License, Anne Bayefsky

In preparation for the session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, still scheduled to start March 13, 2006, the UN released the annual report of South African lawyer John Dugard. He is the UN Special Rapporteur or investigator on Israel. His UN mandate was created by the discredited UN Commission on Human Rights so as to specifically exclude any consideration of violations of international law or human rights by Palestinians. This clearly suits Dugard just fine. Speaking in this report he reminds us, without concern: "It does not fall within the mandate of the Special Rapporteur to comment on the state of human rights in Gaza under the administration of the Palestinian Authority." and "The Special Rapporteur's mandate does not extend to human rights violations committed by the Palestinian Authority." So with relish this UN official proceeds to attack Israel with a level of vitriol only explained by his support for a one-state solution, that is, the end of the Jewish state.

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Here are some examples of Dugard's venom, hysterical even by UN standards:

• on Gaza: "it is wrong to suggest that the occupation has ended."
• Israel assassinates civilians: "the targeted assassination of militants (and innocent bystanders)"
• Israel and ethnic-cleansing: the "zone is gradually being "cleansed" of Palestinians, where land will in due course be transferred to land-greedy settlers."
• Israel and apartheid South Africa: "...will effectively divide Palestinian territory into...Bantustans"
• Israel with no independent Israeli judiciary: "settlers are able to terrorize Palestinians...with impunity"
• the racist Jew: "Obscene, racist graffiti (for example, "Gas the Arabs") adorns the walls"
• the Jewish problem: "Words cannot convey the hardships to which Palestinians are subjected in the interests of the Judaization of Jerusalem."
• the one-state solution: "Interlocutors [have] warned the Special Rapporteur that with the two State solution becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, consideration should be given to the establishment of a binational State." - (whereupon Dugard suggests the reader refer to a book entitled "The One State Solution")
• the Israeli checkpoint without a purpose (after 5 wars launched by Israel's neighbours and years of terrorism originating in the territories): "It is difficult to overestimate the harm done to Israeli Palestinian relations by checkpoints. They are arbitrary, humiliating and intimidating. They are the primary cause of poverty and economic depression in the West Bank. And they are installed not for the security of Israel itself but to protect the hated settlers on Palestinian territory."
• the wildly inflammatory claim (without a single example or source): "Palestinian women are...subjected to sexual violence by both soldiers and settlers."
• disregard of the Security Council and the Quartet: "the Security Council and the United Nations as a participant in the Quartet are engaged in a strategy of political appeasement, in which respect for human rights, international humanitarian law and the rule of law have less importance."
• rejection of the Road Map, the agreed-upon path of the actual parties: "The road map...is hopelessly out of date...[T]here is a need for a new road map"

John Dugard – mandate created, and appointed, by the UN Commission on Human Rights – is an outstanding example of why this institution is discredited. He has been given UN diplomatic license to encourage intolerance and violence. To borrow a phrase, it is hard to overestimate the harm such an individual does to the cause of the international protection of human rights.

Posted:  Wednesday, March 08, 2006