News Brief

Islamic states criticized U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for condemning the singling out of Israel by the Human Rights Council, according to a Geneva-based watchdog group. In a meeting in Geneva Wednesday, Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the Organization of Islamic States, reproached Ban for a statement last month saying he was “disappointed” at the council’s decision “to single out only one specific regional item given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world.” Ban did not mention Israel by name. According to U.N. Watch, a watchdog group affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, Egypt also weighed in, calling Ban’s statement “a very unfortunate development.” “We’re witnessing a dangerous attempt to censor the highest official of the United Nations, an effort to silence anyone who exposes the council’s repeated breaches of its own principles of equality, universality and non-selectivity,” said Hillel Neuer, the executive director of Human Rights Watch. Ban’s statement was defended by the Canadian representative, according to U.N. Watch, who said “it would ill behoove this council to appear to be constraining or discouraging the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression, a fundamental freedom we are committed to uphold.”

A dozen members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter urging the new World Bank president to stop funding for Iran. The letter, sent Monday, calls on Robert Zoellick to use his influence over the board of directors to end the disbursements, which in fiscal year 2007 totaled $220 million.

The World Bank “is funding nine government projects in Iran totaling $1.355 billion, one of which operates in Isfahan, the headquarters of Iran’s nuclear program,” reads the letter.

As the top contributor to the World Bank, pledging another $950 million, the United States wants the World Bank to take a position that is in line with the U.N. Security Council’s resolutions on Iran.