Among the flock of commentators and bloggers writing about the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Petra Marquardt Bigman’s contribution stands out.
Petra remarks:
Indeed, when it comes to human rights in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nothing is too preposterous in the year in which the UN proudly marks the
60th anniversary of its Declaration of Human Rights. Earlier this year, the UN’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC) saw it fit to appoint a man who thinks Israel should be accused of committing a “holocaust” against the Palestinians as a “special investigator” on Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories. Of course, it is not only the UNHRC and its “special investigator” that constantly worry about the Palestinians, since there is also a UN agency dedicated solely to the needs of Palestinians: UNRWA, which is currently gearing up to mark its 60th anniversary next December and which happens to be the largest UN agency in terms of the number of staff employed - between 25,000 and 30,000, of which 99 percent are Palestinians.The man Petra is referring to is, of course, Richard Falk, who came under my co-writer Eamonn McDonagh’s watchful eye a few days ago. Do read the rest of her piece.
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