THE PLANK APRIL 19, 2009
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Geneva, Switzerland
Libya was chosen in 2007 to chair the preparatory committee for the UN Durban Review Conference--notwithstanding the irony of an egregious human-rights violator chairing a human rights conference. For the past three days, the committee has been holding sessions to finalize the conference's draft statement, upon which many countries will base their decision whether to attend the conference this week. On Friday, the last day, NGOs were given 30 minutes to weigh in. 
Amidst the anti-Israel rants from all the usual NGOs, Libyan ambassador Najjat Al-Hajjaji (who was chairing the meeting) gave the floor to UN Watch, an organization affiliated with the American Jewish Committee that "monitors the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter." But sitting in their chair was not Hillel Neuer, the group's executive director and usual mouthpiece, but Ashraf El Hagog, the Palestinian doctor who was falsely accused of and sentenced to death for infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV (along with five Bulgarian nurses). El Hagog and the nurses were held in Libya on death row for nine years, mistreated and tortured, until their release was negotiated by France last year. "Madame Chairman," El Hagog began, staring steely eyed at the Libyan ambassador. "I don’t know if you recognize me. I am the Palestinian medical intern who was scapegoated by your country, Libya, in the HIV case in the Benghazi hospital, together with the five Bulgarian nurses."Al-Hajjaji immediately started banging her gavel. "Stop... stop.... I ask you to stop," she yelled, first looking miffed, then exasperated. "You are, you are not addressing the agenda item... I will allow you to resume only if you address the agenda item we are discussing." The room immediately fell silent.El Hagog, being coached by Neuer sitting next to him, tried to introduce some amendments to the statement "based on my own suffering," and was again interrupted by Al-Hajjaji banging her gavel. But he continued recounting the story of his torture, then said, "All of this, which lasted for nearly a decade, was for only one reason: because the Libyan government was looking to scapegoat foreigners. Madame Chair, if that is not discrimination, then what is?" After listing the amendments, he concluded: "Madame Chair, Libya told this conference that it practices no inequality or discrimination. But then how do you account for what was done to me, to my colleagues, and to my family...?" (Click here for a full transcript of his testimony.)
At this point, Hajjaji recognized a point of order from ... the Libyan delegation, who said that El Hagog was not speaking on the correct agenda item. Hajjaji used the objection as an excuse to move on to the next speaker. I found Neuer on Saturday night at the UN Watch offices across the street from the UN compound, his hair rumpled and dressed in a t-shirt and sweats, working late into the night preparing for the upcoming Durban II conference. As one of the few NGOs that calls the UN on its human rights hypocrisy--particularly relating to Israel--Neuer does not often have reason to celebrate, so he could hardly contain his excitement over Friday's stunt. "The Libyans have been 'chozer b'teshuva,' they've repented--they're in with everybody these days," he said. "It is important to call them on this, to their face." Neuer had tipped off a Swiss television station, so they were on hand to film El Hagog's testimony; the story, billed on the broadcast as a UN Watch "coup d'eclat," led the news that night. (Click here for an English-language video of the incident.) "It's a small thing in the grand scheme of things," Neuer said. "But it's a rare moment that people are called on their bull crap in the UN."I caught up with El Hagog at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy today, where he read the section of his speech that was cut off by Hajjaji: "How can your government chair the planning committee for a world conference on discrimination, when it is on the list of the world’s worst of the worst, when it comes to discrimination and human rights violations?"He elaborated on his message to Libya and the UN: "It is disgusting for Libya to be the chair of a human rights conference at the UN. Shame on you, Libya." He said that, while he was in prison, he could handle the hanging, deprivation of food and sleep, and being raped by a police dog; what finally broke him was when they "finally threatened to torture my family in front of me," he said. "I was really scared of that." Upon his release, he was given Bulgarian citizenship, and is now committed to holding Libya accountable for their crimes. "I will remain, until the last moment of my life, as a stone in their throats."--Zvika KriegerClick here to read more dispatches from Durban II.
16 comments
Hillel Neuer, is an unsung Canadian hero:
www.youtube.com/watch
- noga1
April 19, 2009 at 11:15am
I'd like to see a video of the exchange. Is it available.
- jacksondyer
April 19, 2009 at 2:02pm
After this, how does anyone with at least half a brain take the UN seriously, particularly as any sort of moral authority or (in the infamous words of one John Kerry), the "global test"? For that matter why should the concept of the "international community" be treated any differently?
Hershel Ginsburg
Efrata / Jerusalem
- ginzy
April 19, 2009 at 3:43pm
Here is a Swiss video in French:
www.tsr.ch/.../index.html
"Thank you, Madame Chair.
I don’t know if you recognize me. I am the Palestinian medical intern who was scapegoated by your country, Libya, in the HIV case in the Benghazi hospital, together with the five Bulgarian nurses.
LIBYAN CHAIR NAJJAT AL-HAJJAJI, BANGING ON GAVEL: Stop... stop.... I ask you to stop. You are, you are not addressing the agenda item... I will allow you to resume only if you address the agenda item we are discussing.
[Victim resumes testimony]
Section 1 of the draft declaration for this conference speaks about victims of racism, discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance. Based on my own suffering, I wish to offer some proposals.
Starting in 1999, as you know, the five nurses and I were falsely arrested, prosecuted, imprisoned, brutally tortured, convicted, and sentenced to death.
LIBYAN CHAIR NAJJAT AL-HAJJAJI, AGAIN BANGING ON GAVEL: Stop... You are again not addressing the agenda item. I urge you to address the agenda item.
[Victim resumes testimony]
All of this, which lasted for nearly a decade, was for only one reason: because the Libyan government was looking to scapegoat foreigners. Madame Chair, if that is not discrimination, then what is?
On the basis of my personal experience, I would like to propose the following amendments regarding remedies, redress and compensatory measures:
One: The United Nations should condemn countries that scapegoat, falsely arrest, and torture vulnerable minorities.
Two: Countries that have committed such crimes must recognize their past, and issue an official, public, and unequivocal apology to the victims.
Three: In accordance with Article 2, paragraph 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, such countries must provide victims of discrimination with an appropriate remedy, including adequate compensation for material and immaterial damage.
Madame Chair, Libya told this conference that it practices no inequality or discrimination.
But then how do you account for what was done to me, to my colleagues, and to my family, who gave over thirty years serving your country, only to be kicked out from their home, threatened with death, and subjected to state terrorism?
LIBYAN CHAIR NAJJAT AL-HAJJAJI, AGAIN BANGING ON GAVEL: There is a request for a point of order. I give Libya the floor for a point of order.
LIBYAN DIPLOMAT: Madame Chair, I object to the testimony by UN Watch. This is not the correct agenda item. Thank you, Madame Chair.
LIBYAN CHAIR NAJJAT AL-HAJJAJI: We shall now move on to the next speaker...
[Due to the unjustified cut-off by the Chair, the following portions were unable to be read.]
How can your government chair the planning committee for a world conference on discrimination, when it is on the list of the world’s worst of the worst, when it comes to discrimination and human rights violations?
When will your government recognize their crimes, apologize to me, to my colleagues, and to our families?
This week, at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy, the five nurses and I will present our complaint and compensation claim against Libya, filed with the UN Human Rights Committee, the highest international tribunal for individual petitions.
The slogan for this Conference is “Dignity and justice for all.” Does this include your own country’s victims of discrimination?
Thank you, Madame Chair."
_________________
www.france24.com/.../20090417-uncertainty-reigns-eve-%E2%80%98durban-ii%E2%80%99-geneva-racism-israel
UN Watch blog entry:
http://blog.unwatch.org/?p=314
- noga1
April 19, 2009 at 4:45pm
Germany just withdrew from Durban2.
Will the UK also withdraw?
blog.z-word.com/.../germany-withdraws-from-durban-review
- jacksondyer
April 19, 2009 at 5:47pm
Here is France's 24 article with its usual anti-Israel lead:
"Uncertainty persists before the second UN conference on racism and intolerance scheduled to take place in Geneva from April 20 to 24. The nations and organizations meant to take part have dallied in confirming their participation -- following the example set by the EU, which has yet to give definitive word.
The first conference on racism -- held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001 -- was a near-failure because of strong discord over Israel’s policy toward Palestinians."
So it's all the fault of the Zionists according to this French "news" organization.
- jacksondyer
April 19, 2009 at 5:49pm
"It is disgusting for Libya to be the chair of a human rights conference at the UN. Shame on you, Libya." He said that, while he was in prison, he could handle the hanging, deprivation of food and sleep, and being raped by a police dog....
george:
Where did the Libyans get their training....at Gitmo?
gw
- iambiguous
April 19, 2009 at 6:50pm
ginzy:
After this, how does anyone with at least half a brain take the UN seriously, particularly as any sort of moral authority or (in the infamous words of one John Kerry), the "global test"?
george:
Just out of curiosity, are you one of those folks who lambaste the UN when it issues a position you disagree with, while praising any position it makes that you support?
In other words, are you one of those True Believers who despise the UN...as an organization... when it supports agendas averse to your own, but then...poof!...makes the UN...as an organization...disappear when you embrace a position it takes with respect to, say, Iran's nuclear program?
For example, on November 29th, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to cleave the land into separate Jewish and Arab polities.
Or, as the BBC noted, "b]y the middle of 1949 up to 700,000 of about 900,000 Palestinian Arabs had left the affected region, forced out by a combination of Jewish/Israeli terror tactics, the frightening thrust of war, the contagious panic of local residents, fractious and incompetent Arab leadership, the flight of some richer and therefore influential families and the actual sale of Arab land to the Jews without coercion, often by absentee Arab landlords."
And:
"These Palestinians had fled from their homes for ever, though they did not know it at the time. They ended up in the refugee camps of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egyptian-run Gaza and in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank..."
George:
Do you call this part of the UN in the historical record.....irrelevant?
Being a hypocrite [regarding the UN and damn near everything else around the globe] is analogous to breathing when you are a True Believer.
george walton
- iambiguous
April 19, 2009 at 7:18pm
"Where did the Libyans get their training....at Gitmo?"
Libyan history goes back to antiquity and from the 7th century had been ruled by Arabs who conquered the land forced people to embrace Islam a few centuries after that they experienced Ottoman rule. The Libyans were expert pirates and preyed on shipping in the Mediterranean. They enslaved sailors and passengers. After they regained their independence they had been ruled by autocratic and tyrannical rulers like Khadafy an expert in killing and torturing his enemies.
Now, George wishes to know from whom did the Libyans learn about torture?
George gets a gold medal for ignorance.
- jacksondyer
April 19, 2009 at 9:30pm
jackson:
Now, George wishes to know from whom did the Libyans learn about torture?
george:
Given that the U.S. helped train Savak to torture Iranians in the infamous Evin prison, why not Libya?
Actually facilitating the torturers in the thug states American foreign policy helped to establish around the globe [and especially in Central and South America] is something that almost never, ever gets talked about in the mainstream media. You know, like at TNR.
Gee, I wonder why?
gw
- iambiguous
April 20, 2009 at 2:54am
Why not Libya? Where is your proof? Either put up or shut up. And, oh yes, the New Republic has published many articles over the years dealing with Washington's propping up Latin American dictatorships. You are either a fifth-grade dropout or a liar, and I suspect the latter.
- nbarry
April 20, 2009 at 3:16am
The entire exchange here:
www.youtube.com/watch
- noga1
April 20, 2009 at 7:13am
Geneva, Switzerland When I walked in the door of the Israel Review Conference, I expected to find manic
- Anonymous
April 20, 2009 at 8:58am
Further on the story at the bottom of this post, which might get buried a bit. Here's the link again: UN Watch Turns Tables on Libyan Chair, Exposes Durban 2 Hypocrisy; Qaddafi's rep panics. TNR has a nice description here:...
- Anonymous
April 20, 2009 at 10:13am
UN Watch humiliated Libya at the Durban pro-racism conference. The New Republic already picked this up, but it ought to...
- Anonymous
April 21, 2009 at 4:14am
To illustrate the point I made in my article yesterday -- about how the dynamics of Durban I have been
- Anonymous
April 23, 2009 at 8:33am