Human rights activist and international attorney Hillel Neuer shared a thread Tuesday naming the ten worst regimes — as well as their offenses — that will have a seat in 2022 as part of the United Nations’ powerful Human Rights Council.
“Happy New Year,” Neuer tweeted with a list ranking the “top ten worst” regimes (beginning with number 10) as follows:
- 10: Pakistan
- 9: Mauritania
- 8: Qatar
- 7: Somalia
- 6: Russia
- 5: Libya
- 4: Cuba
- 3: Eritrea
- 2: Venezuela
- 1: China
Neuer followed the list with a series of details that he argued ought to bar them from a seat on the council that is tasked with “strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations,” namely because in many cases, they stand accused of egregious violations of the same.
According to the organization’s website:
The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them. It has the ability to discuss all thematic human rights issues and situations that require its attention throughout the year. It meets at the UN Office at Geneva.
Neuer began with 10th-ranked Pakistan, listing the nation’s “credentials” as follows: “Persecutes Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Shias, Ahmadis; sponsors terror groups Afghan Taliban, HQN, LeT, JeM; backs Chinese genocide of Muslim Uighurs; abducts journalists.”
#10: 🇵🇰 Pakistan@UN_HRC Credentials: Persecutes Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Shias, Ahmadis; sponsors terror groups Afghan Taliban, HQN, LeT, JeM; backs Chinese genocide of Muslim Uighurs; abducts journalists. pic.twitter.com/emqFbVB9N9
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 28, 2021
Number nine on the list, Mauritania, has been dubbed “slavery’s last stand” by CNN and according to Neuer, boasts some half a million slaves among its population. Anti-slavery activists are often arrested, and officials have been known to resort to torture in order to extract confessions from the accused. In addition, homosexuality in Mauritania is punishable by death.
Qatar ranks 8th on Neuer’s list, in part because the nation’s treatment of migrant workers. “Caused 6,750 migrant workers to die for 2022 World Cup; discrimination against women; supports terrorists including Al Qaeda in Syria, Jihadis in Libya and Somalia, the Taliban and Hamas,” he tweeted.
#8: 🇶🇦 Qatar@UN_HRC Credentials: Caused 6,750 migrant workers to die for 2022 World Cup; discrimination against women; supports terrorists including Al Qaeda in Syria, Jihadis in Libya and Somalia, the Taliban and Hamas. pic.twitter.com/naCrDqy5Ok
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 28, 2021
Seventh-ranked Somalia has been called “a living hell” for women, perhaps in part because “95% of girls aged 4 to 11 face genital mutilation,” and “women are at constant risk of getting shot or raped.”
Russia comes in at number 6, and it’s no wonder. With a background in the former Soviet Union’s KGB, President Vladimir Putin has been the front man while Russia “bombs Syrian civilians, trampled Ukraine, swallowed Crimea, poisons dissidents, no free or fair elections, tortures detainees, imprisons opposition leader Alexei Navalny, crushes freedom of speech and assembly.”
#6: 🇷🇺 Russia @UN_HRC Credentials: Bombs Syrian civilians, trampled Ukraine, swallowed Crimea, poisons dissidents, no free or fair elections, tortures detainees, imprisons opposition leader Alexei Navalny, crushes freedom of speech and assembly. pic.twitter.com/qkONO9YlMq
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 28, 2021
Libya, ranked 5th, features an unelected government that “tortures migrants” and engages in “arbitrary arrests” and “extrajudicial killings.” Libya has repeatedly been ranked “worst of the worst” on Freedom House’s list of the world’s “most repressive societies.”
Fourth-ranked Cuba boasts a “60-year totalitarian regime; bans free speech, association; blocks vital food & medical aid; infiltrates & subverts entire hemisphere; drug trafficking; sends doctors abroad as slave labor.”
#4: 🇨🇺 Cuba@UN_HRC Credentials: 60-year totalitarian regime; bans free speech, association; blocks vital food & medical aid; infiltrates & subverts entire hemisphere; drug trafficking; sends doctors abroad as slave labor. pic.twitter.com/ADGWStc49C
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 28, 2021
Eritrea comes in third and according to Neuer, has a lengthy list of “qualifications” — including: “Authoritarian regime; forced child labor; arbitrary executions; disappears dissidents; torture; arbitrary arrest; denial of fair public trial; restrictions on freedom of speech, assembly, association, and religion.”
The second spot is reserved for Venezuela, under the rule of dictator Nicolas Maduro — who “destroyed his country; starved his people; crushed pro-democracy dissidents; caused 5 million to flee.”
Communist China takes the top spot after its Communist Party leadership “herded 1 million Uighurs into camps; jails human rights activists; crushed Tibet; disappeared courageous men and women who sounded the alarm on the Coronavirus; suffocated freedom in Hong Kong; put @JamesChau into WHO to whitewash COVID crimes.”
#1: 🇨🇳 China@UN_HRC Credentials: Herded 1 million Uighurs into camps; jails human rights activists; crushed Tibet; disappeared courageous men and women who sounded the alarm on the Coronavirus; suffocated freedom in Hong Kong; put @JamesChau into WHO to whitewash COVID crimes. pic.twitter.com/TLMZ8ZAGyQ
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 28, 2021
“The strength of the Human Rights Council is its diversity. The full engagement of all countries is valuable, important and essential,” UNHRC president Nazhat Shameem Khan said.