Herzog Assails Election of Iraq As Member of Human Rights Commission

Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog strongly criticized today the election of Iraq by the United Nations Economic and Social Council this week to membership in the Commission on Human Rights. In a scornful comment, Herzog said:

“Uganda, Libya and Syria will now be joined on the Commission by yet another outstanding champion of human rights, Iraq. All that is missing now is the inclusion of Cambodia, known as Democratic Kampuchea, for the Commission to be completely representative of the cause of human rights as reflected through its procedures and resolutions.

“The cause of human rights will doubtless benefit immeasurably from Iraq’s record of eliminating its Assyrian minority, genocide against the Kurdish people, bloody coup d’etat and public hanging of Jews in the squares of Baghdad. A measure of the seriousness of this Commission is the fact that the United Kingdom, which dared to speak out courageously on behalf of the human rights which it symbolizes, paid the penalty of not being reelected to the Commission.”