What’s got into the George Soros-funded Human Rights Watch? They’re actually calling on the UN Human Rights Council to stop the obsessive focus on Israel and do something meaningful? Are the Palestinians beginning to lose their Exalted Victimhood status?

UN Human Rights Council Must Expand Its Reach.

(Geneva, September 18, 2006) – The new U.N. Human Rights Council must take urgent action to address crises from Darfur to Sri Lanka and expand its focus beyond the Middle East, Human Rights Watch said today.

The council begins its second regular session today. Thus far the council has held one opening session to establish its framework and two special sessions, one on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and one on Lebanon.

“It’s time for the Human Rights Council to get down to work,” said Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Victims of human rights violations from Darfur to Sri Lanka are looking to the council to take immediate steps for their protection.”

On Darfur, Human Rights Watch called on the council to condemn war crimes and crimes against humanity by Sudan and the janjaweed militia it supports and to recommend stronger Security Council action, including the extension of the arms embargo to cover all of Sudan and targeted sanctions on high-level Sudanese officials should they continue to block the deployment of a U.N. force in Darfur.

In Sri Lanka, the resumption of major fighting in the two-decades-long civil war that has already claimed 65,000 lives has now placed hundreds of thousands of civilians at risk. Human Rights Watch said the council must immediately dispatch a mission of inquiry into recent massacres and other atrocities and urge the government to accept the deployment of a U.N. human rights monitoring mission to conflict areas.

In its meetings to date, the council has adopted three resolutions on human rights abuses and violations of humanitarian law by Israel, but has ignored the responsibilities and roles of other parties in the Middle East, including Hezbollah and Palestinian armed groups, who have committed violations. In taking a one-sided approach, the council failed in its duty to act to protect the rights of all citizens in the region.