Of all the plagues cursing Mankind, the United Nations is proving to be one of the worst!
What we published yesterday on our front page – ‘UN ignoring its own officials’ – reveals that not even its Bahrain office has ever been consulted about the situation here, before statements are issued lambasting our nation’s human rights record. What a horrendous revelation!
The big obvious question this now poses is why does the United Nations have an office in Bahrain? Is it just for show?
Every reader is aware that countries appoint their ambassadors to any capital. Such envoys report back truly and impartially on any given situation and the political and financial environment as they find it.
In fact, they often call their ambassadors for more in-depth analysis of any serious or doubtful reports. But for the United Nations, and especially the High Commissioner for Human Rights, based in Geneva not to seek any advice or information from their offices here, as their Bahrain-based representatives, disclosed on Saturday to this newspaper, is seriously alarming!
It is well known to every official foreign body in Bahrain that His Majesty The King willingly and freely invited the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate and assess circumstances post 2011. This was performed rigorously with no stone left unturned, then reported on publicly and impartially without any interference from Bahrain’s government.
We as members of the national Press were under the impression that the UN office in Manama monitors on a daily basis plusses and minuses of events as they unfold. But to discover now, and from the UN’s appointed co-ordinator, that they have no role in information gathering or reporting back, defies belief!
So from where does the High Commissioner gather solid data to fill his human rights reports – which have proved so damaging to Bahrain’s international reputation, and seriously harmed its economy? Are we to assume that such misinformation is obtained exclusively from ideological opposition figures, many of whom are granted political asylum in many countries, to file lies and propaganda which suits their agendas, to misguide and fabricate and distort the true situation?
In fact to quote directly from the UN’s Bahrain-based co-ordinator: “We do not have direct communication because the human rights council has different bodies and other units that function independently from us”.
And for him to also admit that “the way the system has been set up, the council does not consult UN agencies based in a country”, is simply disastrous!
We have always known that the United Nations is weak, seemingly adopting a policy of indifference in many vital cases. However, we never imagined that they could be so irresponsible. The consequences of their irresponsibility have been far-reaching, and hugely damaging to Bahrain.
We see it as our duty to demand an explanation from the High Commissioner of such wrongdoings, as revealed by his own appointed official.
Although we are not living in an ideal world, we certainly hope that the resident UN co-ordinator will not be discharged from his post, but rather rewarded for his honesty and decency.
Mr High Commissioner, the United Nations must be the serene nest of humanity – not an eyrie of hooded eagles.
We look forward to your official reply.