Rights group calls for UNHRC to expel Saudi Arabia after today’s 50 lashes to rights activist Raif Badawi
| The U.S., France, Germany and the UK should lead a United Nations effort to finally expel Saudi Arabia from the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council after the fundamentalist regime publicly flogged blogger Raif Badawi today for « insulting Islam, » said Geneva-based rights group UN Watch.
In addition to 10 years in jail, Badawi was sentenced to receive 50 lashes every week for 20 weeks, for a total of 1,000 lashes. His crime was creating a liberal blog. « By keeping Saudi Arabia in this lofty position, where the Saudis can judge others and influence the very definition of basic human rights, the UN shields this tyranny, granting legitimacy to a repressive and brutal monarchy that tramples freedom of speech, religious freedom and the equality of women, » said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. Article 8 of UNGA Resolution 60/251 provides that Council members who commit gross and systematic violations of human rights can be removed. « Saudi Arabia is such a state, and it should be removed immediately, » said Neuer. « We look to the major democracies to show moral leadership and to defend the integrity of the United Nations and the cause of human rights. » |
| www.unwatch.org |
| UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI). |
