We noted recently that several totalitarian countries bitterly condemned the United States’ human rights record during meetings of the U.N.’s so-called “Human Rights Council.”
But we are indebted to Anne Bayefsky, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, for gathering and reporting the outrageous criticisms that the United States subjected itself to by submitting our country’s human rights record to U.N. inspection.
“This morning fifty-six countries lined up for the opportunity to have at the U.S. representatives, many standing in line overnight a day ago in order to be near the top of the list,” she wrote. “Making it to the head of the line were Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, Iran, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and North Korea.”
Among their criticisms of the United States were these:
* “Recommendations to improve the U.S. human rights record included Cuba’s advice to end ‘violations against migrants and mentally ill persons’ and ‘ensure the right to food and health.’
* “Iran – currently poised to stone an Iranian woman for adultery – told the U.S. ‘effectively to combat violence against women.’
* “North Korea – which systematically starves a captive population – told the U.S. ‘to address inequalities in housing, employment and education’ and ‘prohibit brutality … by law enforcement officials.’
* “Libya complained about U.S. ‘racism, racial discrimination and intolerance.'”
It is a mystery why the United States takes the U.N. “Human Rights Council” – or the U.N. as a whole – seriously.