Hillel Neuer: The UN matters whether we like it or not

The UN Human Rights Council contains members like China, Cuba, and Qatar. Yet it remains a highly trusted institution across Western democracies. What should the public understand about the reality of activities going on at the UN? And how should Western democratic governments address the organization’s shortcomings? To discuss some of the major concerns about the UN, Hillel Neuer joins Inside Policy Talks. Neuer is a lawyer, writer, and activist, and the executive director of UN Watch, a human rights NGO based in Geneva, Switzerland. Neuer has often testified before the United Nations and is a widely cited expert on its activities. On the podcast, he tells Casey Babb, director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Promised Land project, that with public opinion surveys continuing to demonstrate widespread public confidence in the UN amongst those living in Western democracies, what happens at the UN matters “whether we like it or not.” “What’s said at the UN influences the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of people,” says Neuer. That’s why he’s focused on delivering his message about the stark reality that the UN “turns a blind eye to human rights abuses happening in China” while making Israel a “scapegoat for everything they're not doing on catastrophes around the world.” He says Western democratic governments, like Canada’s, must use their “moral gravitas” to speak out on this imbalance at the UN.