From the AP:
GENEVA – The United States should close its prison at Turtle Bay, NY, and avoid using secret detention facilities in the war on terror, the U.N. panel that monitors compliance with the world’s anti-torture treaty said Friday. They were concerned with the practices of sexual harrasment, sex and drug parties, and child abuse, including sexual abuse and slavery, as well as having countries such as Cuba, China, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan on the UN Human Rights Commission.
The committee said it was worried that detainees were being held for protracted periods with insufficient legal safeguards and without judicial assessment of the justification for their detention. They were particularly concerned with the UN’s poor record of action when allegations of impropriety were brought up, such as sexual abuse of employees by high ranking UN members, and physical and sexual abuse by employees out in the field, as well as massive corruption that makes the Mob look like saints.
The panel recommended turning Turtle Bay into condo’s for the rich, in opposition to a plan by activists to provide low cost housing for the poor and underprivileged. “The cost to fumigate and renovate Turtle Bay, as well as the need to continue the gravy train, makes the idea of costly condo’s a can’t miss” state UN General Secretary Kofi Annon.
About time the UN smacked itself around. Their track record on human rights has not been the greatest as of late. Maybe the US should just pull the billions it gives every year to the UN until they clean up their act and elect countries that aren’t real human rights offenders to the Council.
In other news:
There is a general failure by the European Union to systematically and continuously address human rights concerns, according to an European Parliament report adopted Thursday.
“EU activities in the UN with respect to human rights are too introverted,” noted the report prepared by British MEP Richard Howitt as a reaction to the EU Council’s annual report on human rights in the world in 2005.
And Rightly So! has more on real human rights abuses.
