International
Human rights are not defended selectively
Gaza, Sudan, Congo, the Uyghurs, the Rohingya and Armenia: the same principles apply to each of them, whether or not it is convenient.
World leaders are in New York this week for the General Assembly, surrounded by the flags of every member state. Many of the people those flags represent are still denied their most basic rights.
In Gaza, Palestinians are being bombarded and displaced. In Sudan, UN agencies report famine conditions and mass killings as the war continues. In eastern Congo, civilians face violence that gets little international attention. Uyghurs in China and Rohingya in Myanmar remain subject to persecution that UN bodies have documented at length. Armenian families displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh are still waiting for answers.
These are current events. The governments now speaking at the Assembly have the means to act on them.
Principles applied only when it is politically convenient stop working as principles. The Caribbean has argued this for decades, about apartheid and about its own sovereignty. It should apply the same standard now, everywhere and to everyone.
Sources
Independent reporting by Pearce Robinson. Corrections and responses may be submitted here.
