The Swiss parliament’s foreign affairs committee has called on Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter to cancel the bid to nominate Jean Ziegler–-a former Social Democratic MP known for his virulent anti-Israel positions - to serve as an adviser to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
In 1982, Ziegler sought the expulsion of President Shimon Peres, then head of Israel’s Labor Party, from the Socialist International, and in a 2006 interview he refused to describe Hezbollah as a terrorist group. ‘’It is a national movement of resistance,’’ he said.
He also expressed support for the late French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy. Ziegler’s Social Democratic party has been embroiled in Holocaust controversies over the years. Former Foreign Minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, herself a member of this party, proposed in 2006 seminars on different perspectives of the Holocaust when meeting with an Iranian delegation on the nuclear crisis.
“The declaration of the Swiss parliament is a victory for the reputation of Switzerland, for common sense, and for opponents of dictatorship worldwide,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based UN watchdog which has exposed Ziegler’s support for former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and other dictators.
Last week, the new US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, also opposed Ziegler's nomination. “Indeed, Dr. Ziegler is unfit for continued service” at the UN Human Rights Council, she wrote.
The Swiss foreign ministry has defended the nomination, pointing to Ziegler’s service as a UN representative to fight world hunger from 2000 to 2008.