Canada has formally withdraw from the United Nations World Tourism Office (UNWTO), a move it said was formalized this week over the agency's recognition of Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe as being representative of international tourism.| Another smart move by our neighbors to the north. |
Yet, the recognition of Mugabe at a UN event was enough for Baird, who called it the "last straw" for Canada's participation in the UNWTO.
US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, commenting on the UNWTO's action said, "The UN has hit a new low with the naming of Mugabe as a UN tourism envoy, as if North Korea chairing the Conference on Disarmament and Cuba serving as vice president of the Human Rights Council had not been enough...The UN's legitimization of brutal dictators is a disgrace. Mugabe's terrible human rights record and intentionally-ruinous economic policies have made him the subject of US and EU sanctions--including a travel ban. This UN honor for Mugabe comes just days after the newly reappointed, anti-Israel, anti-Western UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for the lifting of international sanctions on Zimbabwe. The continued rewards the UN bestows upon the world's dictators has reached the point of being absurd.
Despite Canada's political strength in promptly and publicly criticizing Mugabe for any UN recognition and in withdrawing from the UNWTO and Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen's strong statement, there was understandably no similar criticism expressed by the Obama Administration.