United States Secretary of State John Kerry has denounced the UN Human Rights Council's record of obsession with Israel at the detriment to people's lives elsewhere in the world in a speech to the world body today
Kerry said that the body's record on Israel was "deeply concerning" and that there had been a disproportionate focus on the country. "It must be said that the HRC's obsession with Israel actually risks undermining the credibility of the entire organisation. It has the potential to limit the good that we have to do. No one should doubt for a second that the United States will measure these things, I hope fairly and dispassionately, but we will oppose any effort by any participant in the U.N. system to arbitrarily and regularly delegitimise and isolate Israel, not just in the HRC but wherever it occurs," Kerry said.
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"Then there's the crisis in Ukraine. And here I urge the Council, look at the facts. Do not allow yourselves to be misled. In Crimea and in the separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, men, women and children are being killed. They're being tortured, they're being raped and sexually assaulted, detained arbitrarily, abducted for ransom, forced into labour, prosecuted and persecuted because of who they are and where they worship. That is what is happening. And it's up to the HRC to shed light on it and to help to hold accountable those who violate those human rights," he said.