Jean Ziegler

Jean Ziegler is a former Swiss Socialist lawmaker.

Career[edit]

Nomination to U.N. Human Rights Council[edit]

Jean Ziegler was nominated by the Swiss government to occupy one of 18 advisory positions on the U.N. Human Rights Council in March 2008.

Reaction[edit]

The nomination for this position has been highly controversial due to his political background. As a result, U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based nongovernmental organization, and 14 other NGOs to write the Swiss government urging it to withdraw his candidacy.

Political Background[edit]

• In 2004, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez nominated Ziegler for this same post.
• Ziegler has said the U.S. is committing "genocide" in Cuba
• Ziegler has also accused Israel of "state terror" and "war crimes" with the U.S.'s blessing.
• Earlier in March 2008, Ziegler filed a report with the U.N. Human Rights Council blaming not a half-century of Communist rule, but America's "illegal blockade" of the island as Cuba's main obstacle to feeding its people.
• From 2000 to 2004, Ziegler remained silent on a number of food emergencies in Burundi, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, and elsewhere.
• In 1986, Ziegler served as adviser to Ethiopian dictator Colonel Mengistu on a constitution instituting one-party rule.
• In 2002, Ziegler praised Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe, saying, "Mugabe has history and morality with him."
• During a 2008 interview in Lebanon, Ziegler said, "I refuse to describe Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. It is a national resistance movement. I can understand Hezbollah when they kidnap soldiers."
• In 1989 Ziegler went to Libya to co-found the "Muammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize." Recipients of this prestigious honor have included Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Louis Farrakhan. and Ziegler himself in 2002.
• In an unprecedented move, both Secretary-General Kofi Annan and High Commissioner Louise Arbour publicly denounced Ziegler in 2005 for comparing Israeli soldiers to concentration camp guards.^[1]

References[edit]