By Fox News
"The aggressions against Iraq and Afghanistan and their occupations constitute atrocities that must be condemned and repudiated by all who believe in the rule of law in international relations," said U.N. General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann
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A top U.N. official accused the United States of committing inhuman "atrocities" in Iraq and Afghanistan during a speech Wednesday to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"The aggressions against Iraq and Afghanistan and their occupations constitute atrocities that must be condemned and repudiated by all who believe in the rule of law in international relations," said U.N. General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann.
• Click here to see the speech.
D'Escoto claimed that U.S. actions have directly led to more than a million Iraqi civilian deaths since 2003, a vastly inflated figure that does not correspond with the U.N.'s own estimates.
The U.N.'s health and medical agency, the World Health Organization, says 151,000 Iraqis have died since the 2003 invasion. IraqBodyCount.org puts the death toll between 90,000- 99,245.
D'Escoto's fiery speech came on the day the Obama administration decided to take up observer status on the Human Rights Council, which the Bush administration had boycotted because it was unable to crack down on despots and human rights abuses.
D'Escoto urged the Council to put the human rights situation in Iraq on its agenda, accusing the U.S. of war crimes and a series of human rights violations. "These must be addressed to bring an end to the scandalous present impunity," he said.
He also called on the U.S. to free five Cuban nationals being held in U.S. prisons. The group was convicted in a Miami court in 2001 on a range of charges including lying about their identities, trying to obtain U.S. military secrets and spying on Cuban exile groups.
D'Escoto, once the foreign minister for the Communist Sandinista government of Nicaragua, called the five "heroes" being held in "preposterous conditions."
D'Escoto said he was hopeful that the Obama administration would address his concerns and bring change to American policies concerning the imprisoned Cubans.
"The immediate ex-incarceration of the five Cuban heroes would help strengthen our confidence that the promised change is for real," he said.
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ADDRESS BY H.E. MIGUEL D’ESCOTO BROCKMANN,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
GENEVA 4 MARCH 2009
Mr. President, Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi,
Excellencies,
Dear Friends,
Sisters and Brothers All,
1. I am very pleased to be able to join you here today as the first
General Assembly President to formally address the Human
Rights Council since its inception three years ago. This is
especially appropriate because the Council, as you all know,
was established by the General Assembly following the World
Summit of 2005 to give higher visibility and importance to
human rights alongside with peace, security and development.
2 2. At that Summit, world leaders also reaffirmed their
commitment to the principles of universal human rights that
the United Nations has painstakingly created over the past 60
years. These are commitments that we all must monitor
closely. For, as we know, most gross violations of human rights
are committed by our very own Member States. This vigilance
must be particularly strong within the Human Rights Council
itself if we are to maintain its current, reinvigorated
momentum and strengthen the protection of our most
vulnerable citizens.-
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- Highr0ller
- 9 months ago
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I honestly believe that the US did commit these crimes of torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. I may be an American , but anymore nothing surprises me out of the US . Espeacially after they helped Israel with weapons to take down Gaza. Can only say they will one day have to face God and answer for all their mistakes.. Peace
