What a bizarre appointment - UN and protecting human rights

THIS week the world’s significant leaders will meet at the UN Summit in New York. 

The agenda will be long, conflicting and pressing. There will be grand speeches and even grander promises. In theory the UN is a force for good but like any conglomorate it sometimes wavers from the wonderful ideals celebrated by its foundation. It may sometimes compromise in pursuit of a bigger prize and by doing so risk its moral authority.

This week’s summit comes just months after the UN announced, in June, that Saudi Arabia’s ambassador at the UN in Geneva, Faisal Trad, was elected chairman of a panel of independent experts on the UN Human Rights Council. The previous month the Saudi government advertised for eight extra executioners. Amnesty International has reported that Saudi Arabia has executed at least 175 people in the past year. Another awaiting execution is Ali al-Nimr who has been sentenced “to be decapitated ... in a public square, and for his body to be displayed on a cross until his flesh rots”.