The House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Human Rights and Global Operations will hold a hearing tomorrow to examine the effectiveness of the newly created United Nations Human Rights Council. Morton H. Halperin, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and executive director of Open Society Policy Center, will testify at the hearing.
The Human Rights Council’s decision to focus exclusively on Israel and ignore Hamas and Hezballah’s human rights abuses in the recent Middle East crisis has prompted controversy in the human rights community. Dr. Halperin will use his testimony to emphasize the key role the Human Rights Commission has played in the past, and the central role the Human Rights Council will certainly exert in the future despite recent politicization.
Dr. Halperin will urge the Subcommittee to remember the indispensable role of the Human Rights Council: to protect all those struggling for human rights. The success of the Council in this undertaking rests on the essential leadership of the United States. On March 15, Ambassador Bolton told the United Nations General Assembly that the United States was committed to working “cooperatively with other Member States to make the Council as strong and effective as it can be.” It is time for the United States to fulfill this promise.
Read the full testimony: