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international

settlement arbitrations, which are a scam, an attempt interests of Washington and Brussels, and not
to circumvent the rule of law by establishing special the interests of humanity. In a way, not only
tribunals that ignore the public courts and conduct the Council, but many United Nations
secret trials that almost always curtail the regulatory agencies have been “hijacked” by what I call
space of states. Even the sacrosanct right to the “human rights industry”. The human
information is being curtailed more and more, and rights record of the World Bank and
the whistleblowers, heroes of our time, are being International Monetary Fund is a very mixed
persecuted and prosecuted by countries ostensibly bag. Many of the “loan conditionalities” of
committed to human rights. The media disseminates these institutions are at loggerheads with the
fake news, fake history, fake law, and those who object Purposes and Principles of the United Nations.
to “groupthink” are mobbed – or worse. Generally it But, of course, these institutions are not

can be observed that “democracy” is overall in decline. “members” of the United Nations and do not
Of course, there is constant lip service to “democratic take instructions from the Secretary General,
principles”, but the disconnect between the people although they do have what is termed
and their governments continues to widen. “association agreements”. The human rights
industry further includes the major human
What are the main obstacles to improvement? rights non-governmental organizations,
The greatest enemy of progress in human rights whose million-dollar budgets are devoted to
terms is the military-industrial-financial-digital- priorities other than those of the suffering
media complex. It is obscene how trillions of dollars majorities of the world.
are wasted every year on steadily increasing military
budgets and wars. What we need is disarmament for You are inclined to quote the sixth satire by
development. There is zero chance of achieving the Juvenal, Quis custodiet Ipsos custodes? Can
sustainable development goals as long as the rich you elaborate?
countries are bent on war and disregard the Yes: who will guard over the guardians? Can
fundamental needs of the “Global Majority” that we trust those institutions established to
demands peace and reconciliation. The protect our rights? What can suffering
pharmaceutical industry also exerts undue pressure humanity do, when the organs that should
on governments. promote and fulfill human rights are in the
service of the rich countries and the
Is there a real problem of double-standards? transnational corporations?
Selectivity and double-standards are a plague. And
the contagion is getting worse. In my “human rights What do you think of the role of the media?
trilogy” I give numerous examples of the Human A very serious problem is also posed by the
Rights Council ganging up on some third world media, particularly the corporate media.
country while ignoring major human rights There is a kind of war of cognitive dissonance
violations by countries of the “first world”. The going on, an Orwellian destruction of language
“weaponization” of human rights is a kind of that paralyzes effective push-back. We must
blasphemy, a sacrilege, but many government be aware of this and obtain the facts from
delegations – and some ngo’s -- engage in it with multiple sources, because the “quality press”
gusto. Everyone likes to talk about the new “doctrine” suppresses crucial information that we need
of R2P, responsibility to protect. But it has only been in order to have the complete picture. For this
invoked against adversaries of the United States. reason we need many more whistleblowers.

R2P is nothing but a scam to try to circumvent the Only we can be the guardians.
jus cogens prohibition of the use of force contained
in article 2(4) of the UN Charter. If R2P had any What are your concrete, pragmatic
meaning, it would have been applied against Israel proposals?
decades ago. The three books of my “human rights trilogy”
formulate proposals after each chapter. I did
What do you mean by hijacking? the same in my 14 reports to the Human
I am not the only observer who considers that the Rights Council and General Assembly. It’s
Human Rights Council serves principally the pointless to “belly-ache” if one does not also

w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h