From the Sydney Morning Herald:
Geneva: Oh, the irony. Oh, the hypocrisy.
To be lectured by North Korea, Iran and China on our human rights abuses.
Honestly?
For precisely one minute and five seconds each, over a couple of hours, nation after nation “had a go” in the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Many had something to say about our asylum-seeker policies. And they weren’t happy.
Many friends as well as foes, and those in between, have asked us to look again at our migration policy.
The easy response is simply to point the finger right back.
Who is North Korea to lecture us on the “violation of human rights of the Indigenous people”?
What right does Egypt have to insist on “serious and prompt attention” to reports of racial discrimination and violence?
Is there any reason we should waste breath responding to Russia’s concern that we have an “unsatisfactory situation” in terms of intolerance?
Even the US – we should “ensure humane treatment and respect” for asylum seekers? OK, how about we do that when you get rid of the death penalty?
The UPR (Universal Periodic Review), a kind of “360-degree” performance review at the United Nations Human Rights Council, is a relatively new idea.
