27 March 2008

The controversial Swiss writer Jean Ziegler has been appointed to an advisory position on the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Ziegler won 40 of 47 votes to become one of 18 "expert" counselors. His election to the council, dominated by anti-Western authoritarian states, was virtually guaranteed despite efforts by Jewish groups to convince the Swiss government to withdraw his nomination. A letter signed by 24 human rights activists and groups opposing Ziegler was dismissed by Swiss officials as politicking. Ziegler, a leftist theorist, has in the past praised and supported dictators including Cuba's Fidel Castro, Ethiopia's Haile Mengistu, Libya's Moammar Khadafi, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and North Korea's Kim Il-Sung.

In 1996, Ziegler called the French Holocaust denier Roger Gaurady "one of the leading thinkers of our time." In interviews, Ziegler has called his critics puppets of his Western opponents and noted that he had helped expose how Swiss banks hoarded funds deposited by Jews during the Holocaust. Also elected as an "expert" adviser to the council was Richard Falk, a Princeton emeritus professor who in the past likened Israel's dealings with the Palestinians to the Holocaust.