EJC asks EU to form human rights group

In the wake of the Goldstone report, the European Jewish Congress called on the European Union to form an independent human rights organization.

Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, expressed outrage Thursday at the high level of politicization demonstrated at the United Nations Human Rights Council with the recent Goldstone report resolution.

“The UNHRC has lofty goals, which of course we support,” Kantor said. “However, in practice it has become the ‘theater of the absurd’ when it allows nations like Saudi Arabia and Cuba a veto over democracies like Israel. We call on the European Union to create a new human rights organization made up of those nations which are open and free democracies and leave politics outside of its doors.

“The council’s obsession with Israel is hampering its efforts to achieve justice for those who scream out for their rights as human beings. The Goldstone report resolution is leaving many disappointed and in despair that true human rights abuse will receive little interest.”

The EJC is set to lobby the European nations represented on the UN Human Rights Council, including the United Kingdom, Italy and France, to reject the Goldstone Commission Report when it arrives at U.N. headquarters in New York.