Women in US lagging behind in human rights, UN experts report | Hacker News Reader

Women in US lagging behind in human rights, UN experts report

un.org

15 pointsnkurz12 comments

Haha, these people again? The members of the UN Human Rights Council are like a who's who of oppressive or failed states.

Members include: China, Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bolivia, the Congo, Venezuela, Ecuador, the UAE, and Kyrgyzstan.

When they're not attacking Israel (which is a permanent agenda item at every single meeting) or hosting Hamas politicians, they're advocating for the prohibition of "defamation of religion", which is code for prohibiting criticism of Islam.

And yet they say this:

>> United Nations experts warned today that the extreme polarization of US politics is “profoundly” affecting

Which people like you should probably pay attention to.

Maybe, just maybe, that polarization is caused by a false narrative of gender and racial exploitation that does not align with reality. It is in-part perpetuated by organizations similar to this that dress themselves up with legitimacy ("UN Experts"), but are really only interested in a political agenda.

UNHRC isn't OHCHR. The former is more like HFAC, the latter more like a State working group -- in other words, politicians vs professionals.

Edit: I originally acknowledged my mistake, but upon closer inspection, I was actually not mistaken. This Working Group was commissioned and appointed by the Human Rights Council, the one with zero credibility. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?Ne... (see the italic bit near the end).

Other half of original reply because it's still relevant:

Nonetheless, I'm suspicious of a report that cites flawed statistics, such as a gender wage gap of 79 cents on the dollar, as evidence of discrimination and denial of rights. See my comment and sources here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10785515 . Equal rights does not mean equal outcomes because, even in the case of equal ability and opportunity, people have different preferences. This report is nonetheless equating those.

I think those are totally valid objections -- the microeconomic research remains equivocal on gender pay gap differences and, while I firmly believe that American politics and policies regarding women's rights are marching boldly backwards, I also think this is more than a bit of grandstanding (I admire many UN professionals, but there are plenty of excitable activists amongst their peers, though both professionals and rabble-rousers are outweighed by the clock punchers. Bureaucracy, don't you ever change).

Also, the UN org chart looks like a bowl of spaghetti, so remembering who is what and when is an absolute pain.

The UN can complain about US equal rights AFTER they have gotten equal rights in Middle Eastern countries.

nonsense. all countries should be encouraged to move in a progressive direction.

They should focus their limited time and resources on the real problems of the world and not on the alleged wage gap and "reproductive rights" in the U.S.

Women in many parts of the world are dealing with war, kidnapping, sexual slavery and rape, total lack of rights, genital mutilation, lack of birth control, lack of medical care, lack of adequate food on the dinner table. Surely these are far more pressing issues than the First World problems that Americans are dealing with.

To be fair, OHCHR has a lot to say about those nations as well (including, showing a markedly professional lack of favoritism, Jordan), but their well-intentioned "guidances" are diplomatic damp squibs. But while I generally deplore appeals to tu quoque, the U.S. doesn't deserve -- while not ignoring the retrograde policies towards women and families characterizing current politics -- this kind of grandstanding.

English is the preferred language on HN.

We don't need to sign a treaty for this...

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