Right of Answer requested by the World Jewish Congress

Meeting convened by Mrs. Halifa Wazazi, the Chairman of the 55th session
Of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection
Of Human Rights, with NGOs

During the meeting between the NGOs representatives and the Chairman which took place on the 29.7.03, the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (IAJLJJ) were represented respectively by Maya Ben-Haim Rosen and Daniel Lack.

At an early stage in the proceedings Daniel Lack asked for the floor after Mrs.Warzazi, inter alia, enjoined the NGO's present to show moderation and balance in their statements. Daniel Lack pointed out the irony of her remarks to NGO's in this context, since according to the UN Press report recording her opening remarks as newly elected Chairman of the Sub-Commission her statement was neither moderate nor balanced.

Before making his statement Daniel Lack first showed Mrs.Warzazi the UN Press resume which she recognized as fairly representing what she stated concerning the Iraqi hostilities and the situation in the disputed territories on the West Bank . Daniel Lack then delivered his statement pointing out the distorted nature of Mrs Warzazi's statement and the damage it inflicted on the image and reputation of the Sub-Commission. Her remarks conveyed the impression that these observations represented the views of the Sub-Commission as a whole. Mrs.Warzazi then stated that as an expert she was free to express any views she wished. Daniel Lack rejoined that her expertise in one particular sector did not give her a licence to present her own personal views or possibly those of her country as necessarily being those of the Sub-Commission. She had clearly abused her position as a Chairman. Daniel Lack's statement together with the extract he cited from the Spring issue of this year's American Journal of International Law is also incorporated in the attached statement.

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Madam,

The World Jewish Congress and the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists which I represent, wish to state that they consider the remarks attributed to you in the official UN Press release at the opening of the meeting yesterday, which you have made in your capacity as the Chairperson of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, to be unacceptable and an abuse of your authority as the Chairperson of the Sub-Commission.

We consider it to be a unilateral, extremist and utterly unacceptable misrepresentation of the two situations you referred to and that it is gravely prejudicial to the cause of human rights. It is redolent of the kind of extremism, bias and intolerance that has brought the UN Commission on Human Rights and now this Sub-Commission, into serious disrepute both within and without the UN.

I quote from the American Journal of International Law, April 2003 issue (vol. 97 N°2).
In the conclusion to a report on the 2002 Annual Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, its author states (at pp.385-386) as follows:

"Today, more than ever, given the massive scale of human rights abuses in some parts of the world, there is a need for constructive and effective international diplomacy in support of the implementation of international human rights standards. Within the United Nations, this function necessarily falls primarily to the Commission on Human Rights and ECOSOC. Unfortunately, many UN members states, where human rights are not properly accepted and implemented, have realized that the best way to protect oneself from scrutiny is to be elected to the Commission and divert attention from implementation to the ever greater elaboration of new rights and principles. Largely through their efforts, the fifty-eighth session of the Commission saw an unprecedented erosion of its prestige and credibility and a regression of human rights norms."

This conclusion applies with even greater emphasis to the Commission's 2003 session, where the erosion of its prestige and credibility increased even further.

Hopefully, this erosion will not extend to the current session of the Sub-Commission.

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