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Israel returns to UN Human Rights Council joining regional grouping
Paving the way to re-establishing full ties with the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Israel was yesterday admitted into a regional grouping; having been the only country denied such status within the rights body.
The move is a significant step after Israel decided to withdraw cooperation with the UNHRC in March 2012, in protest at the council’s overwhelming focus on Israel, including the volume of debates. Israel is the only country to which the council has assigned a permanent investigator and the UNHRC’s charter stipulates a separate discussion on Israel’s human rights record at its annual meetings. In August, United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged that Israel “suffered from bias — and sometimes even discrimination” at the UN.
The first sign that relations were being repaired came in October when Israel agreed to participate in the UNHRC’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a mechanism by which the council assesses each country’s human rights record. However, Israel’s cooperation was conditioned on agreement that it would be granted membership of a regional grouping. Yesterday, Israel received an invitation to join the Western European and Others Group in Geneva (WEOG), with Arab neighbours opposing Israeli membership of the Asian grouping.
Aharon Leshno Yaar, the Israel Foreign Ministry deputy director general for UN and International Organisations confirmed the invitation and commented “Now with Israel fully engaged it [UNHRC] will have greater credibility. Israel will also enjoy the recognition of being a full member of the community of nations.” Leshno Yaar also commented that Israel accepted a compromise over the standing item to debate Israel at every UNHRC session. Although the item won’t be eliminated, the European Union and others agreed to “limit significantly their involvement” in such discussions.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Israel’s admittance to WEOG was “overdue”, commenting that the US would “continue to support efforts to normalise Israel’s treatment across the UN system.”