Israel Matzav: Your tax dollars at work: UNHRC reports on gendered impact of counter-terrorism measures

Your tax dollars at work: UNHRC reports on gendered impact of counter-terrorism measures

The United Nations 'Human Rights Council' has issued a report that discusses

the gendered impact of counter-terrorism measures on men and persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, and addresses how gender intersects with other prohibited grounds of discrimination, such as race and religion.”

What does that mean? Pajamas Media's Ron Radosh explains.

What this gobbledygook legalese means is that when the Israelis engage in counter-terrorism against terrorists and suicide bombers, they are threatening the rights of trans-gendered individuals. How? When a man dresses as a woman, the Israelis might embarrass an honest cross-dresser by subjecting him/her to a humiliating search, thereby interfering with the person’s sexual identity and human rights. They state:

The report identifies the ways in which those subject to gender-based abuse are often caught between targeting by terrorist groups and the State’s counter-terrorism measures that may fail to prevent, investigate, prosecute or punish these acts and perpetrate new human rights violations with impunity. These violations are amplified through war rhetoric and increased militarization in countering terrorism, both of which marginalize those who challenge or fall outside the boundaries of predetermined gender roles and involve situations of armed conflict and humanitarian crisis in which gender-based violence and gendered economic, social and cultural rights violations abound.

They add: “The report then draws attention to the fact that contrary to these international human rights obligations to ensure equality, some Governments have used the human rights of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals as a bartering tool to appease terrorist or extremist groups in ways that have furthered unequal gender relations and subjected such persons to increased violence.”

On page 19 the report says: “Enhanced immigration controls that focus attention on male bombers who may be dressing as females to avoid scrutiny make transgender persons susceptible to increased harassment and suspicion.” (my emphasis.)

And now that the United States has joined the 'Human Rights Council,' if you're an American, your tax dollars are paying for this important research.

Of course, the irony of all this is that Israel is the only country in the Middle East in which 'lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals' can live without fear of being stoned to death. Gay 'Palestinians' are constantly trying to flee to Israel out of fear of death in the 'Palestinian Authority.'

But what's more important: The rights of gays or the rights of terrorists? I'm waiting to hear the gay community in the US tell President Obama.

Exit question: Are those men or women at the top of this post? How can you tell?

Israel Matzav: Your tax dollars at work: UNHRC reports on gendered impact of counter-terrorism measures