UN insanity

Uganda is a member of the world's foremost human rights organization, the UN Commission on Human Rights. The same commission chaired by Lybia in 2003. This year it is chaired by Tunisia, another Arab country (which automatically means it is not a democracy).

Commission on Human Rights procedures and mechanisms are mandated to examine, monitor and publicly report either on human rights situations in specific countries or territories (known as country mechanisms or mandates) or on major phenomena of human rights violations worldwide (known as thematic mechanisms or mandates).

Keep this mandate and Uganda's place in it in mind when reading this BBC report:

Uganda's security forces routinely torture suspects, the Human Rights Commission says in its annual report.

And

"[Torture] is either presented as part of training, or a learned practice," the report says.

"We need to explain to all officials that actually torture is not acceptable under any circumstances and the government has already ratified the convention against torture," [Nathan Byamukama of the Uganda Human Rights Commission] said.

Yes. Please explain it to them. It shouldn't be that hard to understand, as Uganda is a serving member of such an august body.

What is the point of such an organization? Its purpose is completely defeated by the fact that the commission is for a large part made up of the very perpetrators of human rights violations. Cuba has been a member for as long as anyone can remember. And we all know how well Fidel treats his beloved subjects.

It's a joke. A very sad one. And no one is laughing.