Erev Day One of Durban Review Conference

I was in the company of some strong and special citizens of the world earlier today. At the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy (http://www.genevasummit.org/), the program was packed with fascinating, disturbing, horrifying, and inspirational stories. I urge you to visit their website, however, allow me to share three stories briefly with you.

Gibreil Ramid told me about how all of his family was murdered in Darfur. He asked, "Why is my family not accepted as humans?" Where is the world during all of this? Sudan threw out of Darfur 13 NGOs who supplied needed food and medical supplies. 99% of the Darfur population depended on them. Simple sicknesses are now fatal. A cousin of Gabreil dies of a simple stomach illness. Many know it is easier to lie in bed and die than to travel to Khartom without money for medial treatment. When their land was fertile, Darfurians send food to Saudia Arabia. Where is the reciporcal help? Why are they "left alone in their tragedy?" Is it because they are "only" Muslim-practicing black Africans and are not Muslim-practicing Arabs?

Ester Murawajo is a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda. She showed a photograph of her extended family. Grandparents, parents, cousins, uncles, aunts, sisters, brothers, and a baby sister. They are all gone; Murdered for reasons I cannot understand. As a survivor, she describes the "survivor's physche," the guilt of surviving and the helplessness of it. Women raped and "given" HIV/AIDS virus by the rapists. And the rapists who infected them get treatment and survive, but the raped women do not.

She echoed Gibriels comments by saying, "The world did not have the will to stop the killings and save them because their lives aren't important in the world." And 15 years later, you can just replace "Rwanda" with "Darfur"...

Lastly, I heard a story of the Libyan government's human rights violations of Palentinian Dr. Ashraf El Hagog and five Bulgarian nurses, including C. Valcheva. They all were living in Libya and they were scapegoated to cover-up Libya's government allowing dozens of children to be infected with HIV/AIDS virus. Arrested without warrant. One year passes with no legal defense. Ten months go before a 4 minute family visit. Over ten years, the doctor and nurses were tortured. El Hagog and Valcheva both detailed some of it; shocking. Water, hanging, electricity, sleep deprivation, and more. The doctor was threatened with either confessing or watching the live rape of his sister.

They were all found guilty and sentenced to death by shooting three times each. Through the work and diplomacy of Bulgaria, the United States, other countries and other NGOs, they were "sucessfully ransomed" and moved to Bulgaria and then freed. You can search for the complete story, but the point is more than just the human rights violations. Libya, this diabolical country, is the chairman of the Durban Review Conference Committee!! Dr. El Hagog says, "Shame on the UN for having Libya chair the committee." Exactly.

The doctor continued. As a Palestinian, he was taught that Israelis and Jews are the enemy. He said he was "a prisoner of his [Muslim and Arab] brother." It was the former Bulgarian Foreign Minister who was the only person to offer help. This dipolmat was a Jew, therefore, it was a Jew who was the only person to offer the doctor help to get out of "his brother's prison."

Logically, the doctor has harsh and accurate words on Khaddafi, the "King of Kings in Africa." He promises "to be a stone in the throat of Khaddafi until his last breath."


Thanks for reading this. Please check back here often. I hope you are finding these posts interesting and worthwhile. Tomorrow, I will share thoughts on Ahmadinejad.