This session comes just weeks before the controversial Durban Review Conference on racism and affords an important opportunity to interact with key players in the United Nations system.

“These meeting are a vital and unparalleled chance to bring together our expertise on human rights and the U.N. system,” Smith said. “We are able to press for vital changes to what has so far been a very biased and ineffective U.N. body.”

In the three years since it was created, the UNHRC has had a disturbing obsession with Israel, often to the point of distraction. Such issues as genocide in Darfur, wide-spread starvation in North Korea, and the inability for women to congregate in Iran or drive in Saudi Arabia, have all been virtually ignored, while the council has convened multiple special sessions, and adopted multiple resolutions, all to condemn Israel.

The Human Rights Council could better promote universal human rights by ending its myopic obsession with Israel. “Unfortunately, the vital mission of the Human Rights Council has been sacrificed to a blatantly anti-Israel agenda,” Michaels said from Geneva. “The council continues to miss opportunities for real dialogue and real change. We hope this human rights body has not veered so wildly off its mission that change becomes impossible.”

In addition to meeting with HRC member states, as well as with other non-governmental organizations, BBI hosted a panel discussion on accusations that Israel was responsible for war crimes during the recent Gaza conflict.

As a non-governmental organization deeply involved in the U.N. since its inception, B’nai B’rith International is in a strong position to help steer the council toward neglected human rights issues.

BBI’s annual delegation to the Human Rights Council consists of a team of more than a dozen members from six countries.