Iran reprimands Saudi Arabia for participation in Middle East peace talks

Saudi Arabia’s participation in this week’s U.S.-hosted Middle East peace talks has drawn the ire of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Agence France-Presse reported today.

“The U.S. government, which is an accomplice to Zionist crimes, cannot play the role of savior by hosting the Annapolis conference,” Ahmadinejad told Saudi King Abdullah.

In a telephone conversation with King Abdullah, Ahmadinejad said that he wished Saudi Arabia was not attending the conference with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The conference will be the first time the kingdom will meet with Israel to discuss a peace agreement.

More than a dozen Arab countries have stated they will be sending representatives, including Israeli adversary Syria, a chief ally of Iran. Iraq has not confirmed its presence, and representatives from the Islamist Hamas movement will not be attending.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the conference, predicting that it was “doomed to failure.”

Non-recognition of Israel is one of Iran’s main ideological themes. In response to the meeting, Ahmadinejad has invited leaders of Palestinian factions to Tehran.

The conference will be held Tuesday in Annapolis near Washington, D.C.

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U.N. human rights chief speaks at CHRC briefing

As part of her Washington visit, Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, spoke today at a Congressional Human Rights Caucus Members’ Briefing. Arbour discussed the international human rights framework and her requests for legislative action on the part of the United States.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is charged with promoting and protecting the rights enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and in numerous international human rights laws and treaties. The OHCHR mandate includes preventing human rights violations, securing respect for all human rights, promoting international cooperation to protect human rights, coordinating related activities throughout the U.N., and strengthening and streamlining the U.N. system concerning human rights. OHCHR also leads efforts to integrate a human rights approach within all work carried out by U.N. agencies.

OHCHR acts as one of the three major U.N. human rights institutions. Along with OHCHR, international human rights treaties and conventions and the Human Rights Council, help to collectively ensure human rights advocacy and protection. One new development emphasized by Arbour today was the likelihood of a new Human Rights Council obligation to perform Universal Periodic Reviews to monitor and critique the status of human rights in all U.N. member nations. In addition to this new additional system of review, the Human Rights Council will also hold talks on the continuation of the primary discussion concerning human rights violations by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. While the council will vote at the next scheduled meeting, Arbour was confident that the issue would continue to be discussed based on the need to ensure that human rights protection is universally implemented in all cases.

The High Commissioner also called for the U.S. to ratify several human rights treaties. Arbour was critical of the disconnect between America’s rhetorical advocacy for human rights and lack of actual formal support for treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the forthcoming Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

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Egypt views recent U.S. congressional visit as duplicitous

A bipartisan delegation has received harsh criticism as they met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak before meeting a group of legislators which included representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood, The Associated Press reported Sunday. The meeting with Brotherhood members is seen by Cairo as a contradiction of U.S. policy, as the Mubarak administration alleges that the U.S. chose to meet with the banned group despite its barring other similarly banned groups like Hamas from meeting directly with U.S. representatives.

“The United States says that it doesn't establish relations with a banned group, whether in Egypt or outside Egypt. The U.S. says it is meeting with the Brotherhood as Parliament members, but doesn't make the same distinction and refuses to talk with Hamas, who is heading the Palestinian government and is occupying the prime minister's seat,” said Mubarak's spokesman Suleiman Awaad. Hamas was overwhelmingly elected into power in 2006, but has been denied any meetings with a U.S. delegation due to its stance on military action in response to Israeli occupation.

Brotherhood member Mohammed Saad el-Katatni offered a rebuttal to the criticism of the U.S. envoy. “We met with the delegation for more than an hour and we discussed the American policy in the Middle East: Palestine, Iraq and Iran's nuclear issue. The talks didn't address internal Egyptian issues or political reform,” el-Katatni said.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been banned from Egyptian politics since 1954; however, group members have managed to win seats running as independents. The Egyptian government is quite set on ensuring that the Brotherhood remains a minority voice in government with the introduction of several constitutional amendments that will create additional obstacles for any opposition to Mubarak’s government.

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UNRWA Commissioner-General speaks at Wilson Center

Karen Koning AbuZayd, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), spoke at the Wilson Center today on the obstacles faced by refugees in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. UNRWA was created before the inception of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and its sole mandate is to provide for the humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees as a result of the continued occupation and ongoing restrictions on movement.

AbuZayd advocated the closing of the gap between words and actions. She highlighted the ideals and values proclaimed by the international community but noted the lack of effective, practical actions taken on behalf of remedying the conditions brought on by 60 years of occupation. Although AbuZayd said there is still a lifetime of work to do, the educational programs in the region have had a significant impact as the Palestinian literacy rate is 92.4 percent, well beyond the Middle Eastern average of 64 percent. Regarding meeting the concerns of the 800,000-plus displaced Palestinians, as well as those living under occupation, she called for a focus on infrastructure development in order to create an environment that fosters peace and good governance.

The goal of UNWRA through its humanitarian assistance is to encourage the international community to change their strategy of isolation and exclusion as a means of creating and ensuring a sustainable peace process. As poverty rates have risen to 80 percent in Gaza, AbuZayd called for the international community to meet the obligations and promises of countless international agreements to ensure compliance with current, agreed upon, human rights conventions.

AbuZayd began her humanitarian career in Sudan in 1981. Since that time, she has served as the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and in various posts at UNHCR.

To view the video of the discussion, click here.

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