SOLO-International Op-Ed: Simple Simon Stay Away

Philip Duck
March 12, 2010
New Zealand's Justice Minister Simon Power and a small army of bureaucrats from various government ministries and departments have been ordered to New York to front up to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

The Minister will, over a two-day session, be asked by the representatives of countries such as Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, to 'provide detailed information on cases in which electro-muscular disruption devices, Tasers, have been used by the police.’ And Power is also going to be asked to provide information on ‘Operation Eight’ and explain whether ‘Maori individuals and their families were victims of violations of their rights and subjected to discriminatory treatment.’

So, the Algerian government, which is highly corrupt, controls the judiciary and routinely uses its secret police to beat journalists, is going to interrogate Power on New Zealand’s unarmed police force's use of the Taser?
And the government of Egypt, which refuses to make spousal rape illegal, allows the searching of people and places without a warrant, detains without charge for 'security-related' offenses more than 12,000 people every year and, in 2008, shot and killed at least 32 migrants attempting to get into Israel, is going to challenge Power on ‘Operation Eight?’

The reason for the Minister’s trip is sick; it is not just a waste of time and money. It is far worse than that. By appearing before the committee, Power will not only deflect attention away from the worst of the world’s human rights abusers and the governments of countries such as Iran, Zimbabwe, China, Egypt, North Korea and Sudan, he will also allow them to continue to engage in the sickest of moral equivalency and say, “Look! Don’t pick on us, human rights problems are everywhere!”

If Simon Power were truly concerned about the worst of human rights abuses he would pull down his trousers and give the U.N his very own performance of a Whakapohane while telling the committee to sod off.

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