By: Kenny Liebowitz In the week leading up to the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the Louis D. Brandeis Center sought to expose and educate undergraduate and law students about the juncture between human rights and the Jewish people, within the United Nations. LDB arranged the unique opportunity for students to meet with United Nations human rights expert Frances Raday. Raday is a prolific and accomplished Israeli academic, currently serving as Chairperson-Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (HRC) Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law & Practice. She is also a Professor of Law at the Haim Striks Law School at Colman College of Management Academic Studies, where she also acts as President of the Concord Center for Integration of International Law in Israel. In our discussion with her, Raday focused on how the institutional make-up of the Human Rights Council influences its intersections with the state of Israel and the conflict it produces. Raday noted that while the Human Rights Counsel consists of 47 countries – representing each region of the world – 15 of those countries are also members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), an organization that often condemns Israel and pushes for the prosecution of Israeli politicians and military leaders for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. This is an elucidating fact when considering that over 40% of the resolutions issued by the Human Rights Council since its establishment in 2006 have been against Israel. Raday asserted that this imbalance in HRC resolutions demonstrates a gross disproportion in attention to and condemnation of Israel, no matter how it is measured. The disparate treatment the HRC devotes to Israel is the product of imbalanced conversations within the body. While HRC members define Israel as “occupying” the West Bank, no mention is giving to Turkey “occupying” Cyprus or China “occupying” Tibet. Israel is not only a consistent talking point on HRC’s agenda but a permanent fixture – as the HRC dedicates an agenda item to Israel at each and every meeting, a “privilege” no other country receives. Raday explained that the HRC’s intolerance of Israel came to a head in 2013 after it set up a committee to investigate Israeli settlements and their effect on Palestinian human rights. Consequently, Israel elected not to partake in the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a review of each member country’s human rights record conducted every four years. In light of the fact that the HRC oversees the Universal Periodic Review, Ken Marcus asked Raday her opinion of the process and Israel’s decision to forego it. She responded by saying that although the UPR process is deficient, it has value in keeping the subject of human rights and their protection in conversations within and among states and the United Nations. It is this conversation, one about human rights and the international attention and work devoted to their protection, that LDB sought to engage in with students in this event. Professor Raday not only portrayed the past inadequacies in the Human Rights Council, but the continued struggles Israel is forced to face – like being equated with Hamas, an internationally recognized as a terrorist organization, by the Goldstone Commission or lop-sided investigations by the Schabas Commission on Gaza. This discussion is one LDB seeks to continue and we will have the opportunity to work with, learn from, and ask the assistance of Professor Raday as we do so.