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[fuagf]

UN rights chief urges more investment

From: AAP
June 30, 2011 11:14PM

OT: Searched for pets and came up with your "ethics", so it kinda fits .. :)

THE UN human rights chief today called for financing, saying that her office was being "stretched
to breaking point" as funds were not keeping pace with soaring demand for human rights work.

"With the momentous events taking place in the Middle East and North Africa, it has been striking, and heartening, to see how
much attention is being given to human rights across the world," said Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"Yet, when I look at the amount of money being invested in human rights, I start to wonder how deep the commitment goes," she added.

Of the total budget of $4.8 billion allotted to the UN secretariat, only 2.8 per cent or about $66.28 million is given to human rights in 2011.

With commissions of inquiries ordered by the Human Rights Council to Libya, Ivory Coast and Syria,
as well as a slew of resolutions passed during the last session of the council, the office would
need $141 million worth of voluntary contributions on top of the UN allocation this year.

However, donors are only ready to give between $98.72 million and $103.42 million, said Pillay.

Pointing out that her office's annual budget is "the same amount as Australians spend on
Easter eggs", the UN's top official on human rights urged states to invest more in human rights.

"The amount Europeans spent on their pets in 2010 alone - $53.4 billion - would fund the entire
UN human rights system, including my office, for something like 250 years," she noted.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/un-rights-chief-urges-more-investment/story-e6frf7jx-1226085197309