WJC urges UNHRC to secure better future for all minorities

GENEVA - World Jewish Congress Jewish Diplomat Aurélie Casahoursat delivered a statement on the United Nations Human Rights Council floor on Monday on behalf of the WJC, asking the council to redouble its efforts to secure a better future for all minority communities.

"During the month of June, hundreds of thousands of people mobilized to celebrate and claim the right to be different at events held in many cities across the world. At the same time last week, the Independent Expert on the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity presented, before this assembly, a damning report denouncing the discrimination and violence suffered on daily basis by millions of LGBTI people.

The report reflects that unfortunately, as for many other minorities victim of abuse and violations of their most fundamental rights, no geographical region is spared by these scourges. The World Jewish Congress has repeatedly condemned the persecution still faced by many minorities today including the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in the Rakhine State in Myanmar and has also repeatedly condemned the persecution of Christians in the Middle East – an issue that too often is ignored by this assembly.

It is clear that 70 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, whose anniversaries are being celebrated this year, that it is incumbent upon all of us to redouble our efforts to secure a better future for all minority communities. We urge the Human Rights Council to lead by example."

Members of the WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps, the flagship diplomacy program of the WJC, will deliver additional statements during the 38th session of the UNHRC including on Item 7 (which singles out Israel for criticism), Iran under Item 4, and on Item 9 (racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance).