The UN Has A Funny Way Of Pressuring Assad To Stop Killing His People

Foreign Secretary William Hague is justifiably proud that the UN General Assembly endorsed human rights resolution written by the UK condemning the Syrian crackdown:

"Today’s UNGA resolution sends a signal of united condemnation of the Syrian regime’s systematic human rights abuses.


"I welcome the wide support it received, including the fact that it was co-sponsored by Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Turkey.

"It calls on the Syrian government to end the appalling violence and implement the Arab League’s plan of action without delay.

"As long as the crisis in Syria continues the international pressure on the Assad regime will only intensify."

But is the UN really trying to send a message to Syria that "the international pressure on the Assad regime will only intensify"?

Apparently not, because UNESCO is sending Syria the message that Syria is doing a swell job on human rights.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv reported yesterday that the UNESCO committee on human rights had accepted Syria as a member:

A short time after UNESCO, the UN's organization for education and science, accepted the Palestinian Authority as a full member despite strong U.S. and Israeli opposition, it is now Syria's turn to receive a present from the organization.
On Wednesday, the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad was chosen to be the Arab representative on the UNESCO committee the deals with issues relating to the implementation of human rights. 

UNESCO's decision comes after Assad's regime managed to kill 3,500 demonstrators and arrest tens of thousands, without any due process whatsoever.

I suppose Assad can be forgiven if he thinks that threats from the West to stop the crackdown can be ignored with impunity.

As for UNESCO, it is led by Irina Bokova, whom The National Post describes:

She's a real UNESCO person, expert already in creating projects of total silliness wrapped in language of the utmost self-importance. As chair of a founding committee, she deserves much of the credit for the creation of what must be the most whimsical of UNESCO's bizarre enterprises, the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Thanks to her devotion, UNESCO now demands protection for many practices and traditions that no one outside UNESCO ever knew needed help or were, in fact, "cultural." UNESCO now protects, aside from the usual tribal dances and rituals, the ox-herding traditions of Costa Rica and gingerbread crafts from northern Croatia. The tango and flamenco are not neglected, nor is falconry. UNESCO worries about not only Chinese art but also Chinese acupuncture; not only the Mexican festival of the dead but also traditional Mexican cuisine. And "Viennese coffee house culture" is included.

But of course each of these is, in one way or another, "cultural," like everything else on the planet. Bokova has achieved every bureaucrat's fondest dream. Her mandate is now infinitely expandable. Today UNESCO, tomorrow the world.

And now it seems that UNESCO has reduced human rights to a cultural preference as well.

Hat tip: BoL and AR

Technorati Tag: UNESCO and Syria.