Claudia Rosett | Watching the Watchmen

Описание: Claudia Rosett speaks at Oslo Freedom Forum 2010
Watching the Watchmen

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Journalist Claudia Rosett speaks not as a survivor or a fighter on the front lines, but as a reporter and a witness. In a world with many institutions that propose to safeguard human rights—from the United Nations, to regional organizations, to more localized NGOs—it can be difficult to decide who to trust. Rosett reminds us that one of the tasks of watchdog organizations is to seek out the truth and amplify for to the world, because the most powerful tool used by oppressive regimes is "the big lie"—claiming that atrocities are justified, or that they never took place at all. Sometimes the world believes "the big lie", and when this occurs at the fault of a major recognizable organization, the consequences can be more damaging than the offences themselves. The biggest organization at risk of this is the United Nations, which, Rosett reminds us, was set up with Stalin's Soviet Union as a founding member. Many member states have a deep interest in warping the meaning of human rights, and there is very little transparency or accountability. When former General Secretary Kofi Annan received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the U.N. in 2001, he did so after the Oil and Food program scandal and numerous genocides that took place under his watch. Today, there are still just as many double standards—Libya presides over the General Assembly, and the biggest U.N. voting block is chaired by Yemen (last year by Sudan). In 2009, Iran, while under U.N. sanctions for nuclear weapons, chaired the U.N. Development Program, and still holds a position in many other U.N. activities. The current U.N. Human Rights Council, which was inaugurated under a brand new $23 million ceiling, includes Russia, China, Cuba, Cameroon, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. In the face of these hypocrisies, Rosett urges us to trust our instincts. Do not accept information blindly just because it comes from recognizable names in the human rights community, she says. Observe, document, demand the truth, and remind the watchmen and the world that freedom is a universal right. Learn more about #OsloFreedomForum:

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