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UN Watch is a Geneva-based NGO whose stated mission is to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter. It is an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council and an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information. It is affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, a Jewish advocacy organization founded in 1906 which advocated for the creation of the post of a High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The group has spoken out about perceived anti-Israel bias at the United Nations Human Rights Council, while the U.N. Human Rights Council has urged the organization "to observe some minimum proper conduct and language" in some of its "inadmissible" commentary. The Jerusalem Post reported that UN Watch split with "Israeli human rights groups and others" and joined with other "pro-Israel advocates" in opposing the awarding of a Presidential Medal of Freedom to former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson stating that "she failed to confront purveyors of anti-Israel rhetoric". The group has also issued its opinion against sexual exploitation and child pornography and human rights abuses in Darfur.

AFP has described UN Watch both as "a lobby group with strong ties to Israel" and as and as a group which "champion human rights worldwide". The group has found praise from former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Director General of the UN Office in Geneva Sergei Ordzhonikidze, while Ian Williams has written that the main objective of UN Watch "is to attack the United Nations in general, and its human rights council in particular, for alleged bias against Israel". NPR, the Jerusalem Post, and The Canadian have described U.N. Watch as a pro-Israel organization.

Founding

UN Watch was founded in 1993 under the chairmanship of Morris B. Abram. Abram served as the Chairman of the United Negro College Fund and President of Brandeis University. Abram was active in community affairs as President of the American Jewish Committee (1963–1968); Chairman of the National Conference of Soviet Jewry (1983–1988); and Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (1986–1989). The organization has ties to the American Jewish Committee, one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations in the United States.

Abram supported the UN as an institution. In 1999, Abram delivered a speech to the U.S. Congress on the subject of the Treatment of Israel by the United Nations in which he said "UN Watch categorically supports the UN as an indispensable institution. The US should pay its past dues to the UN as a matter of national honor and in recognition of the UN's importance. In spite of the UN's flaws, it is inconceivable that the US withhold support from the only truly global organization in such an interdependent world."

Structure and activities

UN Watch participates at the UN as an accredited 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). It is affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, a NGO established in 1906, which was a pioneer advocate of the UN Charter's inclusion of international human rights guarantees, and the creation of the post of a High Commissioner of Human Rights.

UN Watch has participated in the following UN activities: the Commission on Human Rights, a Panel Discussion on the United Nations and the Middle East, a Panel Discussion on Proposals to Reform the Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Working Group on Minorities. A UN Watch seminar in Geneva featured a tour of the Palais des Nations, a visit to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, and attendance at a meeting of the Committee Against Torture (CAT) with briefings from the Committee's Vice Chair.

In October 2008, UNHCR listed the organization as having a staff of six. UN Watch had 110 members in 2007, geographically distributed as follows: 56% from Europe, 38% from North America, and 4% from Oceania. UN Watch’s newsletter on UN issues now reaches nearly 5,000 subscribers around the world.

Commentary from the group has appeared in BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters,, Washington Post,, Agence France-Presse, Voice of America,, The Jerusalem Post, Fox News, JTA, and others.

In 2009, the group had more than 3,700 fans on Facebook , almost 1,800 subscribers on YouTube and over 350 followers on Twitter.

Board and funding

Current board members include:

• Alfred H. Moses, Attorney, former United States Ambassador to Romania and Presidential Emissary for the Cyprus Conflict, Special Counsel to President Jimmy Carter. Former American Jewish Committee president.
• Per Ahlmark, former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden
• Irwin Cotler, international human rights advocate, Canadian Member of Parliament since 1993, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, known as "Counsel for the Oppressed"
• David A. Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee
• Max Jakobson, former Finnish Ambassador to the United Nations
• Ruth Wedgwood, Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, Johns Hopkins University

UN Watch is funded by private individual donations and charitable foundations.

Positions and specific events

Perceived UN anti-Israel bias and antisemitism

UN Watch is active at the UN in combating perceived anti-Israel and anti-Semitism, and what it calls the selective and politicized treatment of Israel by many UN bodies. The group supported former Secretary General Kofi Annan's declared goal of ending the UN's perceived imbalanced treatment of Israel and has been highly critical of the United Nations Human Rights Council, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has described U.N. Watch as a pro-Israel organization.

March 2007 UNHRC speech

On 23 March 2007, UN Watch's Hillel Neuer delivered a harshly critical speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), stating that the Council had betrayed the dreams of its founders and become "a nightmare". Neuer charged that the Council ignores human rights abuses worldwide, opting instead to enact "one resolution after another condemning one single state: Israel". He further argued that the Council's stated concern for Palestinian human rights is deceptive, and provided examples where it ignored atrocities against Palestinians "because Israel could not be blamed... The despots who run this Council couldn’t care less about Palestinians, or about any human rights. They seek to demonize Israeli democracy, to delegitimize the Jewish state, to scapegoat the Jewish people."

The UNHRC President, Luis Alfonso De Alba of Mexico, responded by threatening to "remove from the record" the testimony, and said he "would not "express thanks for that statement... I will not tolerate any similar statements in the Council. The way in which members of this Council were referred to, and indeed the way in which the council itself was referred to, all of this is inadmissible."

The New York Sun praised Neuer's speech in an editorial, calling it a rare "diplomatic moment to remember". The Human Rights Council stated that the remarks were never actually stricken from the record.

Durban Review Conference

On 19 April 2009, the day before the UN Durban Review Conference, UN Watch and other non-governmental organizations hosted the "Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy," in order to raise public awareness to the issues of discrimination and racially-motivated torture. The Jewish Exponent reported that Jewish groups sponsored a pro-Israel rally, co-sponsored the human-rights event that will feature Martin Luther King III and others, and helped organize a Holocaust commemoration just outside the gates of the bucolic U.N. compound in Geneva. Invited speakers included survivors of the genocide in Rwanda and former dissidents from Iran, Cuba and Myanmar. UN Watch also hosted a "Conference Against Racism, Discrimination, and Persecution" in Geneva. Speakers at the latter conference included former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy and former Miss Canada and President of Stop Child Executions Nazanin Afshin Jam. The Jerusalem Post reported that U.N. Watch assisted with the efforts, and that other activities at the event included a mass "I'm a Zionist" chant, opening a visitor center, and gathering together victims of racism and genocide from other places around the world.

On November 23, 2009 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution 161-6 which welcomed the outcome document of the 2009 Durban Review Conference and endorsed its provisions. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the document gave “hope to the millions of victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance around the world".

Robinson Medal of Freedom

In July 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama awarded Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, a Medal of Freedom for her work "as as an advocate for the hungry and the hunted, the forgotten and the ignored, Mary Robinson has not only shone a light on human suffering, but illuminated a better future for our world".

The conferral of the award generated supporters and critics. Supporters included some Congressional leadership, Israeli human rights groups, and Nelson Mandela. Critics included some bipartisan lawmakers, some Jewish groups, and UN Watch. Robinson asserted that "certain elements" of the Jewish community had put forward "totally without foundation" allegations in opposition to her receiving the award. In an open letter response to Robinson's comments, Hillel Neuer of UN Watch rejected her claims and criticized her role in the Durban Conference, stating: "Leadership means taking responsibility. You may not have been the chief culprit of the Durban debacle, but you will always be its preeminent symbol."

UNHRC Gaza Conflict Report

UN Watch's submitted a 29-page legal brief to the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict requesting the recusal of member Christine Chinkin because she was one of 31 academics and lawyers who had co-signed a letter published in the Sunday Times before being selected for the mission that accused Israel of not complying with international humanitarian and human rights law. The letter described Israel's military offensive in Gaza as "an act of aggression", stating that "invasion and bombardment of Gaza amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5m inhabitants contrary to international humanitarian and human rights law", and adding that "the blockade of humanitarian relief, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and preventing access to basic necessities such as food and fuel, are prima facie war crimes". The UN Watch request was covered by the Deutsche Presse Agentur and the Khaleej Times and Agence France Presse. Thirty Canadian lawyers endorsed the challenge to Chinkin's impartiality. The petition submitted by UN Watch called for the disqualification of Chinkin for the statements she made that, according to the NGO, brought her impartiality into question. UN Watch further noted that in a May 2009 meeting with Geneva NGOs, Chinkin denied that her impartiality was compromised, saying that her statement only addressed jus ad bellum, and not jus in bello; however, according to UN Watch, the statement not only determined that "Israel’s actions amount to aggression, not self-defence," but additionally charged that they were "contrary to international humanitarian and human rights law," and constituted "prima facie war crimes."

The inquiry members rejected the petition and said that the mission investigated whether Israel, Hamas or the Palestinian Authority had unnecessarily caused death or injury to innocent civilians by specific acts of armed conflict that violated international humanitarian law and international human rights law stating "On those issues the letter co-signed by Professor Chinkin expressed no view at all." The members further wrote in their reply that the fact-finding mission cannot be considered a judicial or even a quasi-judicial proceeding. Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch, said that the arguments raised by the mission ignored the well-established set of standards to international fact-finding missions. Goldstone said that the letter signed by Chinkin could have been the grounds for disqualification, had the mission been a judicial inquiry.

The mission report stated that in July 2009 it received, through UN Watch, an official preliminary report of the Israeli Government entitled "The operation in Gaza: Factual and Legal Aspects", which outlined the government of Israel’s position on many issues. Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of the UN Watch, charged that the report misrepresented his correspondence with mission chief Richard Goldstone and that he merely sent Goldstone a link to the report published online. Neuer posted a correspondence with the UN and Goldstone on the UN Watch blog to confirm his words. The group further commented that "Israeli public figures who say their country would have benefited by cooperating with the UN Human Rights Council’s 'fact-finding' mission on the Gaza conflict are mistaken", because "Israel’s detailed facts and legal arguments were either ignored, or summarily dismissed".

Other issues

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Sexual exploitation

UN Watch has worked with the World YWCA and the World Alliance of YMCAs to publish a statement against sexual exploitation and child pornography. "Today far too many children are sexually exploited and abused causing life-long damage. More than two million children are exploited in the multibillion-dollar sex industry each year and 1.2 million children are trafficked annually", the statement said.

Reception history

Agence France-Presse, one of the oldest news agencies in the world, has described UN Watch both as "a lobby group with strong ties to Israel" and as and as a group which "champion human rights worldwide".

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said “I deeply appreciate the valuable work performed by UN Watch. I believe that informed and independent evaluation of the United Nations’ activities will prove a vital source as we seek to adapt the Organization to the needs of a changing world.” At the 2006 Centennial Anniversary of the American Jewish Committee, the Director-General of the UN Office in Geneva, Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, praised the work of UN Watch by saying "allow me to also pay tribute to the valuable work of UN Watch in support of the just application of values and principles of the United Nations Charter and support for human rights for all."

The New Republic, in a 2007 blog piece, described the organization as "a truth-telling organization.” Claudia Rosett, a journalist-in-residence with the conservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies, praised “the stalwart and invaluable UN Watch.”

Journalist Ian Williams, in an opinion piece in The Guardian in 2007, wrote that the main objective of UN Watch "is to attack the United Nations in general, and its human rights council in particular, for alleged bias against Israel". Williams supported UN Watch's condemnation of the UN Human Rights Council as a hypocritical organization, but also condemned UN Watch itself of hypocrisy for failing to denounce what he called manifest Israeli transgressions against the human rights of Palestinians.

In March 2009, NPR described UN Watch as one pro-Israel movement working to discredit the 2009 United Nations Conference on Racism. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, said "The conference process has been the subject of ferocious and often distorted criticism by certain lobby groups focused on single issues". World Jewish Congress official Peleg Reshef said many Jewish organizations are crying 'wolf' in complaining that "everyone is against us" in international forums, but that whether the groups feel this way or are just trying to raise money, "we need to cooperate so we can affect the agenda."

See also

• Alfred H. Moses
• American Jewish Committee
• Morris Berthold Abram
• United Nations
• United Nations Human Rights Council

References

1. Mission & History, UN Watch
2. ^
3. ^ Speaking to Power: Nathan Abrams assesses the changing fortunes of Commentary magazine, Jewish Quarterly.
4. Jewish Times: Pro-Israel Activists Set To Do Battle At Durban II
5. Jewish Telegraphic Agency: U.N. rights chief praises Durban II
6. ^ National Public Radio: Zionism Debate Clouds U.N. Racism Forum
7. UN Watch director: Rights Commission is tool of despots to demonize Israel
8. ^ Jerusalem Post: Despite critics, White House honors Robinson
9. ^
10. ^ [May 6, 2008, NGOs say five nations unfit to serve on UN rights body, AFP 06-05-2008
11. ^ Charity Wire: UN Watch, AJC Seal Partnership
12. ^ Central Tibetan Administration: UN Watch urges UN to discuss human rights violations in Tibet
13. ^
14. ^ Casting the first stone (The Guardian, April 4, 2007)
    Ian Williams Profile
15. NPR: Zionism Debate Clouds U.N. Racism Forum
16. Jerusalem Post: 'I'm a Zionist': Activists protest in Geneva
17. South Coast Today:
18. UN Watch: Founder: Morris B. Abram
19. Jewish Telegraphic Agency: British Zionists drop Ha’aretz columnist
20. United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. 1999. The treatment of Israel by the United Nations  : hearing before the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, July 14, 1999 U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, Washington : 1999
21. THE TREATMENT OF ISRAEL BY THE UNITED NATIONS. PREPARED TESTIMONY OF AMBASSADOR MORRIS B. ABRAM BEFORE THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS JULY 14, 1999, UN Watch, 1999-07-14
22. ^ UN: Quadrennial reports 2002-2005 submitted through the Secretary-General pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31
23. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Non-governmental Organization Directory (2008-10-01). "UNHCR - UN Watch / United Nations Watch". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Retrieved 2009-12-03. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help) (A permanent archive of the material may be found here.)
24. BBC World Radio Service: Human Rights and Wrongs at the UN
25. [http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/05/2009511225356810328.html Al Jazeera: Debate rages over UN rights council]
26. Reuters: UN urges China to protect human rights as state denies charges
27. Washington Post: Guest Voices: Speaking Truth to the UN Human Rights Council
28. AFP: UN rights council divided over Sri Lanka
29. Voice of America: UN Human Rights Council Candidates Raise Concerns
30. Jerusalem Post: Gold vs Goldstone
31. Fox News: U.S. Taxpayers Pay Millions to Keep Despots Safe at U.N.
32. JTA: U.N. watchdog slams religious defamation resolution
35. Twitter: Hillel Neuer
36. UN Watch: Missing and History
38. http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=872349&ct=872849
39. http://www.yale.edu/yiisa/videos.htm
40. UN Watch: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
42. Jewish Times: Pro-Israel Activists Set To Do Battle At Durban II
43. Jewish Telegraphic Agency: U.N. rights chief praises Durban II
44. JTA: U.N. rights chief praises Durban II
45. ^ ‘I Will Not Express Thanks' - March 30, 2007 - The New York Sun
46. UN Council Chief Doesn't Like Message, Threatens Messenger
47. Testimony at the UN, UN Watch
48. United Nations: Highlight of the Noon Briefing
49. Jewish Exponent: Pro-Israel Activists Get Ready to Do Battle During Durban II
50. Yitzhak Benhorin, Sharansky, Wiesel to help counter 'Durban II' conference, Ynet 13-04-2009
51. Alternate Durban conference held in Geneva, JTA 19-04-2009
52. Tovah Lazaroff, 'I'm a Zionist': Activists protest in Geneva, Jerusalem Post 23-04-2009
53. Michael J. Jordan, Why the US will boycott global racism conference, Christian Science Monitor 19-04-2009
54. Adena Philips, The other conference on racism - the one the UN should have held, National Post 24-04-2009
55. 'UN General Assembly: Third Committee Decision Welcomes Outcome of Durban Review Conference
56. UN: Ban, UN rights chief hail adoption of outcome document at anti-racism conference
57. White House: REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE MEDAL OF FREEDOM CEREMONY
58. United States Speaker of the House: Pelosi Statement on Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
59. Mandela and Graca Machel congratulate Mary Robinson on Medal of Freedom.pdf Realizing Rights: Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel congratulate Mary Robinson on Medal of Freedom
60. REQUEST TO DISQUALIFY PROF. CHRISTINE CHINKIN FROM UN FACT FINDING MISSION ON THE GAZA CONFLICT
61. Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is not self-defence – it’s a war crime, The Sunday Times, 11 January 2009.
62. [http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2009/July/international_July613.xml&section=international&col= ]
63. "30 Canadian lawyers challenge biased UN Goldstone report," Canada Free Press, Sept. 16, 2009
64. NGO: Academic should quit Cast Lead inquiry, JPost, 23 August 2009.
65. LSE Law Professor Urged to Step Down from U.N Gaza Inquiry over Bias, UN Watch, 20 August 2009.
66. Dispute over 'biased' Gaza inquiry professor, TheJC.com, 27 August 2009.
67. ^ U.N. Goldstone inquiry rejects ’so-called petition of UN Watch’; denies mission is quasi-judicial, UN Watch, 30 August 2009
68. Gold vs Goldstone, JPost, 11 November 2009
69. Goldstone walks a fine line in an ancient war zone, BusinessDay, 4 August 2009.
70. UNHCR: Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories, page 45, para. 173
71. ^ How my email to Goldstone was twisted by his report, UN Watch blog, January 19, 2010
72. YMCA: Joint NGO Statement on Sexual Exploitation and Child Pornography
73. The New Republic Online, June 18, 2007
74. United Press International: Analysts: Iran deserves targeted sanctions
75. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Witnesses criticize military commissions at congressional panel
76. National Review Online, June 20, 2007
77. Jewish Standard: The Jewish conspiracy against Durban II (No, seriously)
78. Jerusalem Post: WJC official: Jews must engage Durban II

Further reading

• Hillel Neuer of UN Watch interviewed on Shire Network News
• The Struggle against Anti-Israel Bias at the UN Commission on Human Rights - Hillel C. Neuer

External links

• UN Watch (official website)

• Civic and political organizations
• Foreign relations of Israel
• Human rights organizations
• Organizations established in 1993
• Non-governmental organizations based in Switzerland
• Non-governmental organizations involved in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• Non-governmental organizations of Europe
• United Nations relations