UN Watch is a Geneva-based non-governmental organization (NGO) whose stated mission is "to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter". UN Watch is not part of the United Nations. It participates at UN as an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council.
UN Watch is a pro-Israel lobby group, and primarily denounces what it views as anti-Israel sentiment at the UN and UN-sponsored events. The organisation also denounces human rights abuses including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur, China, Cuba, Russia and Venezuela, often using its allotted time at the UNHRC to allow for dissidents and human rights activists to speak.
Founding UN Watch was founded in 1993 under the chairmanship of Morris B. Abram. Abram served as the Chairman of the United Negro College Fund and President of Brandeis University. Abram was active in community affairs as President of the American Jewish Committee (1963–1968); Chairman of the National Coalition Supporting Soviet Jewry (1983–1988); and Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (1986–1989).
Abram supported the UN as an institution. In 1999, Abram delivered a speech to the U.S. Congress on the subject of the treatment of Israel by the United Nations in which he said "UN Watch categorically supports the UN as an indispensable institution. The US should pay its past dues to the UN as a matter of national honor and in recognition of the UN's importance. In spite of the UN's flaws, it is inconceivable that the US withhold support from the only truly global organization in such an interdependent world."United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. 1999. The treatment of Israel by the United Nations [microform] : hearing before the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, 14 July 1999 U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, Washington : 1999THE TREATMENT OF ISRAEL BY THE UNITED NATIONS. PREPARED TESTIMONY OF AMBASSADOR MORRIS B. ABRAM BEFORE THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS JULY 14, 1999 , UN Watch, 14 July 1999
After Abram died in 2000, David A. Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee, was elected Chairman of UN Watch. In 2001, Harris announced that UN Watch had become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Jewish Committee. According to a press release at the time, "UN Watch was established with the generous assistance of Edgar Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress. Eighteen months ago, the American Jewish Committee and the World Jewish Congress reached an agreement, approved by the international board of UN Watch, to transfer full control of the organization to AJC, an agreement that went into effect on January 1, 2001."
Structure and status UN Watch participates at the UN as an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI). It was affiliated with the American Jewish Committee until 2013. UN Watch has participated in the Commission on Human Rights, a Panel Discussion on the United Nations and the Middle East, a Panel Discussion on Proposals to Reform the Commission on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Working Group on Minorities. A UN Watch seminar in Geneva featured a tour of the Palais des Nations, a visit to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, and attendance at a meeting of the Committee Against Torture (CAT) with briefings from the Committee's Vice Chair.
UN Watch had 110 members in 2007, geographically distributed as follows: 56% from Europe, 38% from North America, and 4% from Oceania. In October 2008, UNHCR listed the organization as having a staff of six.
Board and funding UN Watch is funded by private individual donations and charitable foundations.
Current board members are: Diego Arria, former Permanent Representative for Venezuela to the United Nations and President of the Security Council Jean-Claude Buhrer Irwin Cotler, human rights advocate, former Canadian Member of Parliament, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Founder and Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. Yang Jianli, Chinese dissident with United States residency and human rights activist Garry Kasparov, Russian dissident and former world chess champion Mark P. Lagon political scientist and practitioner, Chief Policy Officer at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and a Distinguished Senior Scholar at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Katrina Lantos Swett President of the Lantos Foundation, former Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Gert Weisskirchen, German politician and former Member of the Bundestag
Former board members include: Per Ahlmark, former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden Max Jakobson, former Finnish Ambassador to the United Nations David A. Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee Ruth Wedgwood, Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, Johns Hopkins University Alfred H. Moses, Attorney, former United States Ambassador to Romania and Presidential Emissary for the Cyprus Conflict, Special Counsel to President Jimmy Carter.
Positions and activities
Regions
Congo In 2008, UN Watch denounced the elimination of the post of United Nations special rapporteur for the Congo at the United Nations Human Rights Council which was done with the support of Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Russia and other countries following a request by the Congolese administration. Other rights groups called for the reestablishment of the post.Rights group calls for U.N. apology over Congo post, Reuters 26 November 2008 In December 2009, UN Watch said a total of 50 groupings had signed the appeal to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and human rights chief Navi Pillay, asking to restore the post of UN rights monitor there.Groups call for UN rights monitor for Congo, Reuters, 23 December 2009
Darfur On 27 April 2008, UN Watch joined human rights organizations around the world in launching a "Justice for Darfur" campaign. The organizations behind the campaign included Amnesty International, Human Rights First and Human Rights Watch. The campaign called on the United Nations Security Council, regional organizations and national governments to pressure Sudan to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, and to arrest suspected war criminals Ali Kushayb and Ahmad Harun. The Sudanese government had refused to surrender either suspect to the Court, and had in fact promoted Harun to the position of State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs."Justice for Darfur" Campaign Launched, Amnesty International 25 April 2008
Iran UN Watch commended the US, France and other democracies for their "forceful criticism" of Iran's human rights record at a UN hearing in Geneva's UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in February 2010.
Switzerland Following Switzerland's 2009 vote to ban minarets, UN Watch stated that it was particularly embarrassed by the fact and that it will work toward its repeal. The NGO's director Hillel Neuer said that banning of Muslim structures by a government is wrongful discrimination.A Swiss Ban on Minarets, New York Times, 18 December 2009
UNHRC elections Along with Freedom House, UN Watch has opposed the candidacies of states with poor human rights records for the United Nations Human Rights Council. The 2006 UN resolution establishing the council requires that, in electing states to the panel, UN member states "shall take into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights."States vie for seats on disputed UN rights body, Reuters 21 May 2008
2007 In May 2007, UN Watch and Freedom House submitted a joint report on an election to the United Nations Human Rights Council, stating that candidates Angola, Belarus, Egypt and Qatar were unfit to sit on the human rights body, because they themselves violated rights. The report said that the four countries "are authoritarian regimes with negative UN voting records (on rights issues) and are not qualified to be Council members". The report further described candidates Slovenia, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands as "well qualified" for the Council, and called candidates Bolivia, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, the Philippines and South Africa as "questionable".Groups call 4 countries unfit for UN rights body, Reuters 7 May 2007
2009 In May 2009, UN Watch and Freedom House again submitted a joint report on a UNHRC election. The report described candidates China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia as "the worst of the worst" in terms of human rights. The report also described candidates Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Djibouti and Russia as "not qualified", and Bangladesh, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and Senegal as "questionable". UN Watch and Freedom House described the council's record for its first three years as poor. They stated that Islamic countries with Cuban support rewrote rules for a freedom of expression monitor in a manner that limits expression, and that an "alliance of regressive regimes" succeeded in having the Council cancel human rights investigators for trouble spots such as Belarus, Cuba, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur. In contrast, they said, the alliance led to the council appointing an investigator who was involved in founding a controversial human rights prize in honor of Muammar al-Gaddafi and another who believes that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job. Hillel Neuer said, "The vision had been that the council would be a voice for victims, but it is now in a state of crisis."Oppressors running for UN rights council: Groups, Montreal Gazette 5 May 2009
2010 UN Watch expressed alarm over a report that Asian countries might facilitate Iran's election in May 2010 to the 47-member UNHRC.Iran under fire at UNHRC, Jerusalem Post. 16 February 2010
2011
UN Watch is credited with leading the campaign to deny Syria's bid for a seat.Jordana Horn, "Syria may drop bid for Human Rights Council seat", Jerusalem Post, 10 May 2011.
2014
UN Watch strongly condemned the 2014 elections of Saudi Arabia, China, Cuba, and Russia to the Human Rights Council. In an interview by France 24, executive director Hillel Neuer called this a "black day for human rights." A campaign to remove these countries from the body, "Dictator-free HRC" is ongoing along with a petition on the organization's website.
Other UN activities
Goldstone Report