Should Saudi Arabia be on the U.N. Human Rights Council?

[Deleted]

Saudi Arabia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council and has also headed a number of U.N. Committees on Human Rights during the past year.

As citizens of United Nations member states, do you think they should be on the council? Why or why not?

[Ave07]

No they should not be on it but what good has the UN done lately?

[PosPosPos]

Obviously not, but the UN is an ineffectual organization anyway.

SA has some of the worst breaches of human rights day to day.

[Endus]

The devil's advocate position is that the role of the UN is not to push all member nations to compete to be the most progressive nations in the membership, and that all voices are important, even national views we, in other countries, might disagree with.

That said, I also feel that the UN should have a policy of establishing standards through treaty documents like the ICESCR and ICCPR, and requiring that member states abide by all principles identified in those treaties, and if any don't, they're excluded from membership in UN panels entirely. At least to a certain number of the treaties, minus perhaps some of the optional ones; let's say any of the light blue/blue countries as listed by the UN here, on having ratified at least 10 of the extant 18 such treaties;

http://indicators.ohchr.org/

Of course, that excludes the USA.

[McDeloud]

This is actually a good example of that hypocrisy, that we can support in the West human rights, democracy in different countries, from Egypt, Tunisia, even Libya. But when it comes to the oil well that is called Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia sits on, apparently, 25 percent of oil reserves - then we have to maintain silence over their excesses.

tl; dr Should they be there at all? No. Will they be there? Yes (sadly for us).

[May90]

UN is a pretty sorry organization in this regard, with countries like North Korea or Equatorial Guinea as its members. I guess Saudi Arabia being the head of the Human Rights Council is quite ironic, but it also isn't completely unexpected. Saudi Arabia has a big pull in the Middle East, it is supported by Western leaders, and it is incredibly rich - it was just a matter of time before something like this would happen.

[GennGreymane]

No, but outside the security council and maybe UNICEF the UN is very pointless.

[Waynhim]

Loads of countries that shouldn't be there due to own transgressions, all it does it make it the Human Rights Council a joke. I consider Saudi Arabia together with China the worst though.

[May90]

Loads of countries that shouldn't be there due to own transgressions, all it does it make it the Human Rights Council a joke. I consider Saudi Arabia together with China the worst though.

There is also Cuba; in some regards, it is worse than both.

[Venaliter]

Loads of countries that shouldn't be there due to own transgressions, all it does it make it the Human Rights Council a joke. I consider Saudi Arabia together with China the worst though.

Easily. It's a lesson in western hypocrisy at it's finest.

[Forogil]

Saudi Arabia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council and has also headed a number of U.N. Committees on Human Rights during the past year.

As citizens of United Nations member states, do you think they should be on the council? Why or why not?

No, I think that a requirement to be member of the U. N. Human Rights Council should be that you signed the U. N. Universal Human Rights Declaration - and not some "Arab Human Rights".

[GrinnersGrin]

Why shouldn't they be? It's 2016, time to stop being islamaphobic bigots.

[hrugner]

They should be. It wouldn't make much sense to attempt an international dialogue on human rights by excluding those who weren't already in agreement on what human rights must be protected or enriched.

What were the results of those committees they headed?

[Venaliter]

Why shouldn't they be? It's 2016, time to stop being islamaphobic bigots.

They should be. It wouldn't make much sense to attempt an international dialogue on human rights by excluding those who weren't already in agreement on what human rights must be protected or enriched.

What were the results of those committees they headed?

What is the UN if not principles, morality, and peace? Guess which two don't apply to Saudi Arabia.

Also, this line of "thought" is why people call Liberalism a disease.

[Jinpachi]

Saudi Arabia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council and has also headed a number of U.N. Committees on Human Rights during the past year.

As citizens of United Nations member states, do you think they should be on the council? Why or why not?

SA could globally televise rape, honor killings,and public beheadings, and the U.N wouldn't do a damn thing, because all they have to do is turn off the oil supply. And everybody knows it.

[Deleted]

Disband the UN already.

It served it's purpose in the past-WW2 and Cold War era. Nowadays it's just a joke, since no one listens to it anyway.

[hrugner]

What is the UN if not principles, morality, and peace? Guess which two don't apply to Saudi Arabia.

Also, this line of "thought" is why people call Liberalism a disease.

And if you had your way, we'd never hear it called a disease as the minority opinion would be silenced.

[ati87]

The only countries that has the moral justification to be on the Human Right council are small countries that have almost no actual population.

You think the US has any moral justification to be on the council after we saw the horrible stuff done by the US army threw wikileaks?

Which European country is better? If you read the discussions here Germany is acting borderline like during the Nazi periods (read the Greece/Brexit related discussions) but then the other side are known for putting refugees in ghetto camps and then complaining about crime.

If the discussion is about who has done worst shit and who has done less worse shit then we are having a race to the bottom.

Also want to fix the UN? Get rid of the security council, between all the countries that have been ruined by Russia and the US they should not be their own judges as they are now.

[Stasso]

Of course, that excludes the USA.

Given the treaties we failed to sign to protect consumers, and workers, I agree, we need to fucking humble ourselves for a while.

[zorkuus]

The UN is mostly pointless and can't accomplish anything. Note: mostly, before someone gets their panties in a twist.