[News] Delaying Publication of the Settlement Blacklist Exposes the UN’s False Narratives on Human Rights

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/delaying-publication-of-the-settlement-blacklist-exposes-the-uns-false-narratives-on-human-rights/ 



  Delaying Publication of the Settlement Blacklist Exposes the UN’s
  False Narratives on Human Rights

*By Ramona Wadi - March 27, 2019
<http://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/ramona-wadi>*

The UN is openly flaunting its priorities and, sadly, human rights are 
far from a major concern for the international organization. Since its 
creation post-World War Two, and having established itself as the 
platform which determines what constitutes a human rights violation and 
which countries can be considered as perpetrators, several trends have 
emerged within the UN which reduces the seriousness of people being 
deprived of their legitimate rights.

This has been achieved by creating ample space for reports on human 
rights violations to be disseminated while refusing to insist upon 
accountability and justice. Ironically, the increasing awareness 
regarding human rights violations is actually creating widespread 
impunity, as the UN promotes itself as a platform for reporting about 
violations while intentionally failing to take action.

Last month, for example, a UN report said that Israel “may have” 
committed war crimes against Palestinians participating in the Great 
March of Return demonstrations; it was publicized heavily, despite a 
predictable outcome. Israel will not be held accountable and those 
celebrating the UN’s recognition of Israel having possibly committed war 
crimes will not be vindicated by a thorough follow-up and prosecution.

Another wave of silence will descend until the UN issues another report 
that reaches the same conclusion. We will never see an international 
court having the opportunity to test the evidence from both sides to 
judge whether “may have” is to become “has”, and appropriate action is 
to be taken.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle 
Bachelet has delayed 
<https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Publication-of-UNHRC-black-list-on-West-Bank-settlements-delayed-582523> 
the publication of a report exposing companies and institutions that do 
business with Israeli settlements due to “factual complexity”. According 
to Bachelet, “Further consideration is necessary to fully respond to the 
[human rights] council’s request.”

In response to Bachelet’s decision, PLO Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi 
noted <http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=XezU1Oa108668302281aXezU1O>,

    “The issue of corporate responsibility to respect human rights is
    neither a novelty nor an anomaly in the rules-based international
    system.”

Publishing the UN blacklist of companies had already been delayed by 
Bachelet’s predecessor in 2017. Israel has lobbied extensively for the 
report to remain unpublished, fearing the repercussions if firms listed 
in the report were to be targeted by boycotts.

The /Times of Israel /described 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-again-delays-blacklist-of-companies-doing-business-with-settlements/> 
the report as “highly controversial”, yet neither Israel nor its 
apologists deem colonialism and its nefarious activities to be 
controversial, which is the least that can be said about the shocking 
level of violence unleashed by the Israelis on Palestine and the 
Palestinians. The truth is that there is nothing at all “controversial” 
about publishing a report detailing how companies and colonialism thrive 
upon human rights violations unless you have something to hide.

What is controversial, though, is Bachelet’s decision to delay 
publication. The former President of Chile is no stranger to controversy 
when it comes to her country’s human rights record, despite her own 
suffering at the hands of the Pinochet dictatorship. The application of 
the anti-terror laws to the indigenous Mapuche communities was most 
widespread during her two terms of office. As UN High Commissioner, she 
also failed to voice any substantive statement over the murder of 
Mapuche youth Camilo Catrillanca, killed on his own land by a special 
force known as the Comando Jungla.

Israel might find it has an ally at the UN in Bachelet, who is clearly 
no novice when it comes to the targeting of indigenous populations. Her 
expression of “regret” at Israel’s dismissal of the UN report 
documenting Israel’s use of violence at the Great March of Return 
protests is meaningless.

When it comes to human rights violations, rhetoric stands alone, 
especially when it comes to premeditated violence. There is no other 
institution like the UN that can create a spectacle out of violence and 
human rights rhetoric which fuels international attention, knowing full 
well that any reactions — any expressions of “regret” — will be 
temporary and have no effect.

The blacklist is another matter altogether. Bachelet is contributing to 
the impunity desired by Israel in order to retain its economic benefits 
from the occupation of Palestine. Settlements and human rights 
violations are an acceptable rhetorical subject, whereas settlements and 
the profits for the state therefrom as collaborators in violations are a 
red line for Israel and the UN.

By delaying publication of this report, Bachelet is sending a clear 
message to the Palestinians: Israel and its business links are to be 
protected at all costs, even if that means sacrificing more of the 
indigenous Palestinian population.

/– Ramona Wadi is a staff writer for Middle East Monitor, where this 
article was originally published 
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190307-delaying-publication-of-the-settlement-blacklist-exposes-the-uns-false-narratives-on-human-rights/>. 
She contributed this article to the Palestine Chronicle./

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