This is one of those deals that I thought needed to be put out there. This UN Group on the Use of Mercenaries has been so busy in scrutinizing everyone else, that they forgot to take a hard look at their own membership. Gaddafi’s use of mercenary forces goes way back to his days with the Islamic Legion, and yet the working group still put a Libyan envoy on their board? That is one of those little details that the main stream media has forgotten to include in their stories about this group. So from here on out, I should hope that any future stories would have a quick mention that this group chose a ‘dog of war’ as one of their members, and they were ok with that at the time.
Did I mention she was also elected the President of the Human Rights Commission back in 2003? You can’t make this stuff up. lol
One more thing. Eeben Barlow has posted a great article about the UN that should get more attention than what it is currently getting. The UN’s mission in the Ivory Coast is the focus, and it isn’t pretty. –Matt
Group Calls for Libyan Envoy’s Removal From Post as U.N. Investigator of Human Rights Violations
By Diane Macedo
March 08, 2011
A watchdog group is asking the U.N. to immediately remove a Libyan envoy from her post as an investigator on human rights violations by mercenaries, saying that as a mouthpiece for a regime that’s “deploying hired guns to massacre its own people” it’s “outrageous” to have her in that position.
Najat Al-Hajjaji has been one of five members of “The Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the rights of peoples to self-determination” since its inception in 2005.
Among other things, the group was established to monitor mercenaries and mercenary-related activities around the world, study their impact on human rights, create proposals to further the protection of human rights against threats posed by mercenaries and draft international principles to encourage respect for human rights by companies offering mercenary services, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights website.
But U.N. Watch, an organization that monitors the performance of the United Nations, says Al-Hajjaji should be the “last person” charged with any of those duties – especially now.