http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/192939#.VQ2QKuFh-M8The United Nations has found the greatest violator of women’s rights in the world - and it’s Israel for “violating the rights of Palestinian women.”
That view is expressed in a report released by the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the UN’s top women’s rights body, and was detailed in an article on the website of Fox News written by Professor Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust.
Bayefsky notes in her article that CSW ends its annual meeting on Friday by condemning only one of the 193 UN member states for violating women’s rights – Israel.
The 2015 CSW resolution on Israel says that “the Israeli occupation remains the major obstacle for Palestinian women with regard to their advancement, self-reliance and integration in the development of their society,” according to Bayefsky.
“Not Palestinian men. Not religious edicts and traditions. Not a culture of violence. Not an educational system steeped in rejection of peaceful coexistence and of tolerance,” she wrote.
“Instead, the fault for a UN statistic like this one – an average of 17% of Palestinian women are in the labor force as compared to 70% of Palestinian men – lies with the Jewish scapegoat.
“That fact comes from one of only nine official documents produced by the UN for the 2015 annual CSW meeting. Eight were procedural or general in nature, and one was entitled: ‘Situation of and assistance to Palestinian women,’” reveals Bayefsky.
She also noted that the CSW makes no mention of countries which truly violate women’s rights such as Syria, where government forces routinely employ rape and other sexual violence and torture against women as a tactic of war; Saudi Arabia, where women are physically punished if not wearing compulsory clothing, are almost entirely excluded from political life, and cannot drive; and Iran, where crimes such as “adultery” are punishable by death by stoning of the woman and where every woman who registered as a presidential candidate in the last election was disqualified.
“In fact, not only is there no possibility that the UN Commission on the Status of Women will criticize Iran, Iran is an elected member of CSW. Sudan – whose president has been indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity – is currently a CSW Vice-Chair,” noted Bayefsky.
The UN and its various bodies have constantly singled out Israel for criticism. In fact, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon admitted in 2013 that the UN is biased against Israel, but he later backtracked on those comments.
While singling Israel out for criticism, the UNHRC has permitted countries with questionable human rights records to have seats in the organization. These include Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, Algeria, Cuba and Vietnam.
Israel's Counsellor of Human Rights, Nelly Shiloh, responded to the CSW’s singling out of Israel on Friday, saying, "Remember this date, March 20 2015. Today the CSW will probably end its annual most important meeting by singling out Israel, again. What a way to mark 20 years since the Beijing declaration!
“The goal of this forum is to advance the rights and interests of women around the world through productive and professional dialogue. However, it seems that the sponsors of this resolution would sooner score cheap political points than address the important subject at hand,” she said.
“Singling out Israel for condemnation, among all the nations of the Middle East – and the nations of the world, is not only unfair. It is absurd."
