Wednesday, January 31, 2007
An Obstacle to Peace
While much was made of the United Nations decision to establish a Human Rights Council last year, those who've witnessed the evolution of this institution are well aware that the UN was designed by and functions to serve the interests of modern states and their supplicants, not the ancient nations they rule. For those attached to charitable organizations like Human Rights Watch and other pashas of the piety industry, this is indeed a bitter pill to swallow.
In commenting on the difficulties of Fourth World nations like Palestine and West Papua to develop independent of colonial structures like the UN, Dr. Rudolph Ryser--Chair of the Center for World Indigenous Studies--recently remarked that, "Where a people lacks the ability to develop politically, they remain unable to advance their own social, economic and human rights. The age of colonialism has prevented the emergence of politically strong Fourth World nations…the UN Human Rights Council promises to permanently lock these nations into a cage of political subjugation."
Looking at Israel--a state created by the UN--and its ongoing human rights abuses toward the indigenous peoples of Palestine, we can see how the UN has actually been an obstacle to peaceful political development. By acceding to American demands for crippling economic sanctions against Palestine, the UN has undermined their ability to manage their own affairs, in turn creating the desperation and humanitarian crisis to which cynical NGOs often cater.
In a recent post by Dr. Mona El-Faraa of the Palestinian Red Crescent, she observed that, "Israel’s disengagement from Gaza was a step towards making an independent Palestinian state impossible. Its consequence was to turn the Palestinian cause into a charitable not a national issue."
Not mincing words in his commentary, Dr. Ryser stated, "The UN Human Rights Council stands as one of the significant obstacles to dynamic political development in the Fourth World. Many individuals and the peoples they represent in the Fourth World have come to believe that the UN Human Rights Council will relieve their pain from the violence of colonialism. It cannot, and it will not."
In commenting on the difficulties of Fourth World nations like Palestine and West Papua to develop independent of colonial structures like the UN, Dr. Rudolph Ryser--Chair of the Center for World Indigenous Studies--recently remarked that, "Where a people lacks the ability to develop politically, they remain unable to advance their own social, economic and human rights. The age of colonialism has prevented the emergence of politically strong Fourth World nations…the UN Human Rights Council promises to permanently lock these nations into a cage of political subjugation."
Looking at Israel--a state created by the UN--and its ongoing human rights abuses toward the indigenous peoples of Palestine, we can see how the UN has actually been an obstacle to peaceful political development. By acceding to American demands for crippling economic sanctions against Palestine, the UN has undermined their ability to manage their own affairs, in turn creating the desperation and humanitarian crisis to which cynical NGOs often cater.
In a recent post by Dr. Mona El-Faraa of the Palestinian Red Crescent, she observed that, "Israel’s disengagement from Gaza was a step towards making an independent Palestinian state impossible. Its consequence was to turn the Palestinian cause into a charitable not a national issue."
Not mincing words in his commentary, Dr. Ryser stated, "The UN Human Rights Council stands as one of the significant obstacles to dynamic political development in the Fourth World. Many individuals and the peoples they represent in the Fourth World have come to believe that the UN Human Rights Council will relieve their pain from the violence of colonialism. It cannot, and it will not."
