Where are the Greens on other members of the Human Rights Council?

The ODT reports:

Last week, the Green Party asked Prime Minister John Key in Parliament to confirm or deny New Zealand’s support for Australia’s bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.

Late last week Mr Key refused to confirm or deny New Zealand’s support, saying that was the responsibility of the foreign minister.

Green Party co-leader James Shaw said it would be wrong for New Zealand to support Australia’s bid for a seat on the world’s top human rights body when Australia had ”time and time again” been found to have breached international human rights requirements.

Australia is a paragon of respect for human rights compared to the vast majority of the Human Rights Council.

Why do the Greens beat up on Australia (whom of course we would support), and say nothing about Nigeria, Qatar, Morocco, South Africa, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kenya, Pakistan, UAE, Venuzuela etc. These countries all have appalling human rights records that make Australia look saintly by comparison.

Personally I think the UNHRC is a sad joke. Less of a joke than its totally discredited predecessor, but its membership includes some of the worst human rights violators around, and it spends most of its existence condemning Israel. They have condemned Israel 57 times, and no other country has been condemned – at most countries like Sudan get a note of serious concern.

Their special rapporteur on Palestine is so extreme even Fatah have called on him to resign, as they see him as too pro-Hamas. He has posted anti-semitic cartoons on Facebook yet refused to resign.

And guess who has just been appointed the head of the UNHRC panel that appoints independent experts – Saudi Arabia.