The Report that the U.N. Wants to Suppress : Soviet Atrocities in Afghanistan

Publication Date: January 1987

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Juliana Geran Pilon

Research Area: International relations

Keywords: International organizations

Type: Report

Abstract:

A recent United Nations report on human rights reveals much more about the U.N. than it says about anything else. Prepared by the Special Rapporteur of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, it is an "Interim report on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan." But when the report was released officially on November 4, it had an embarrassing, gaping hole.This 13-page hole, reminiscent of the 18 minutes erased from a key Nixon Watergate tape, typifies the United Nations' pervasive double standard: treating the U.S. and the West tough but putting on kid gloves when dealing with the Soviet Union. Censoring a report on Soviet atrocities in Afghanistan, prepared by a noted Austrian jurist, is no way for the U.N. to regain credibility.