Silly Little Country

Arbour Backs Down

Lousie Arbour, after a lot of help from people who apparently actually read the documents she is responsible for, almost reverses course.

“In the space of about 72 hours this week, the one-time poster girl of Canada’s legal establishment -- former war crimes prosecutor, and Supreme Court Justice -- had first endorsed, then backed away from endorsing (sort of) the Arab Charter on Human Rights,” wrote George Jonas, a columnist with Canada’s National Post. “Within three days, our fearless crusader for human rights -- oops, wrong word, sorry -- lapsed back into a sort of, well, shall we say, benign Canadian neutrality about a ‘regional’ charter, or ‘human rights’ as seen by a culture that has been known to greet mass murder with celebratory ululation. We don't endorse it holus-bolus, you know; we endorse it only up to a point. Not the bad bits, just the other ones.”

Makes me feel a bit ashamed to be a Canadian at times watching her in action. It's telling that the Arab states prefer not to simply refer to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and an even sadder reflection, though hardly surprising, that the UN is serving as a sort of accomplice.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 9:20 AM