Yesterday Citizens for Global Solutions joined human rights advocates from all over D.C. and the world for the 2011 Annual Human Rights Luncheon hosted by the United Nations Association of the National Capitol Area.  Held in the beautiful Cannon House Caucus Room, the event was an inspiring reminder of what true dedication to a cause can produce - just in time for International Human Rights day this Saturday!

The luncheon was in honor of many long-time human rights advocates.  The event paid tribute to Richard Griffs, an extremely active UNA-NCA member and the Chair of the Human Rights Committee, who sadly passed away earlier this week.  He was the "force behind the Annual Human Rights Luncheon," and it was clear that he will be sorely missed both at the UNA-NCA and in the field of human rights. 

Thomas Buergenthal, former Judge at both the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights as well as Professor of Law at George Washington University School of Law, was honored for receiving the Louis B. Sohn Human Rights Award.  He spoke of his personal experiences and relationship with Louis B. Sohn which was what made this day so special to him.  Thomas met Louis in 1960 at Harvard Law School where he was working on his LL.M. degree, and "thus began a student-teacher relationship and friendship that lasted until his {Louis's} death in 2004."

The Arab Spring was a historical turning point for human rights, ushering in a new era where human rights are universally accepted as the basic foundation of successful governance. That was the message conveyed at a panel held last Friday at the Brookings Institute on "Human Rights and the Arab Awakening: Assessing the United Nations Response." Keynote speakers included Kyung-wha Kang, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Both Deputy High Commissioner Kang and Ambassador Donahoe spoke about the Arab Spring as an occasion to truly cement human rights as the "third pillar" of the work of the U.N.

Deputy High Commissioner Kang spoke of Tunisia before the revolution as "model case" in international development, a nation on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals. But in all of the talk of positive economic development, many international officials ignored the continued lack of basic human rights and equality, leading to the widely unforeseen uprising that sparked revolution throughout the region. This is a clear example, in Kang's view, of why human rights must be a crucial component in development and humanitarian work throughout the world.

The House of Representatives took yet another regrettable step today to disengage the U.S. from the United Nations, as the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) voted to approve the "United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act" by a 23 to 15 margin.  The vote was along party lines, with Republicans on the committee supporting the bill and Democrats opposing it.

The United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act, introduced in August by HFAC Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), is bad legislation in many ways.  It would cut U.S. funding for the U.N.'s general budget in half if the United Nations does not enact a long series of reforms within a two-year time period.  It would prohibit the U.S. from holding a seat on, or providing funding for, the Human Rights Council, where the U.S. has been using its influence to keep human rights violators such as Syria and Iran from obtaining seats.   And it would establish a moratorium on new or expanded peacekeeping missions, at a time where instability around the globe means that the U.N. needs the flexibility to react to events and adjust its missions to protect civilians accordingly.

August is usually a quiet time in Washington, but not this year for those who advocate in support of the United Nations.  On August 30^th, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) introduced the United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act of 2011, a bill which threatens to undermine the United Nations by conditioning U.S. financial support on the U.N. meeting a number of reforms demanded by Republicans in Congress.

Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen timed her introduction of the United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act to come right before the U.N. General Assembly session in September, when a vote on Palestinian statehood is expected to occur.  In doing so, she hopes to capitalize on American support for Israel in order to push through an anti-U.N. agenda she has long championed (she introduced the same bill in the previous Congress, with a few changes). 

The bottom line is, this bill is bad legislation.  It attempts to hold hostage the U.S. commitment to the U.N. and the international community based on a single vote in the General Assembly.  But voting on controversial international issues is what the U.N. is designed to do-settling conflicts through votes rather than through wars.  For the U.S. to threaten to withdraw its support and fail to pay its dues to the U.N. based on the outcome of a single U.N. vote is simply wrong, counterproductive, and hurts our ability to lead.