?AID=3D/20081202/OPINION/812020330

Cape Cod Times
Hyannis, Massachusetts

December 2, 2008

Human rights panel flouts mandate

By SHAHKEH Y. SETIAN

The Barnstable County Human Rights Commission, which has done some
good work, claims that it takes human rights "very seriously"
("Commission supports ‘No Place for Hate,’" My View, Oct. 20). The
facts say otherwise.

The commission still defends the national Anti-Defamation League and
its so-called No Place for Hate anti-bias program even though the ADL
denies the Armenian genocide and shamelessly collaborates with a major
human rights violator, Turkey, in lobbying against recognition of that
genocide.

The national ADL’s statement of Aug. 21, 2007, was the very opposite
of the genocide acknowledgment that human rights advocates had long
requested.

It was deceptively worded so that the premeditated murder of 1.5
million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 would not fit the official
definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Genocide
Treaty of 1948. Echoing Turkey’s own denials, the ADL implied that the
Armenian deaths were not intentional but rather merely a "consequence"
of wartime conditions.

The national ADL has yet to retract, apologize for or clarify that
statement, though the ADL and Barnstable County Human Rights
Commission would have you believe otherwise.

Since that time, the city governments of Arlington, Bedford, Belmont,
Lexington, Medford, Needham, Newburyport, Newton, Northampton,
Peabody, Somerville, Westwood and Watertown have shut down their No
Place for Hate programs in response to the ADL’s anti-human rights
actions against Armenians.

Those cities and their human rights commissions realized that No Place
for Hate, which the ADL created, trademarked, sponsored, funded and
certified, had lost its credibility.

While Barnstable County’s commission has been burying its head in the
sand, the ADL’s assault on Armenians has become an international
scandal, widely condemned by both Jewish and non-Jewish human rights
advocates (please visit ).

Had No Place for Hate’s sponsor denied the Jewish genocide and huddled
with foreign lobbyists to persuade the U.S. to not recognize that
genocide, the Barnstable County commission would long ago have
rejected the program and its sponsor. The commission refuses to show
similar respect for Armenians and their genocide.

Frankly, this demonstrates that its seven members, sadly including
those of Jewish descent who share the Armenian experience of genocide
and denial, are giving preferential treatment to the ADL while
discriminating against Armenians. The commission is violating its own
charter, and the county is violating civil rights statutes.

Every No Place for Hate chapter must be recertified annually by the
ADL (local ADLs, by the way, answer to their national office in New
York City). Meanwhile, the Barnstable County commission ignores the
obvious: No civil or human rights program should be subject to review
by a political group that lobbies against genocide recognition.

Every No Place for Hate program, such as those in Barnstable,
Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee and Provincetown, must also have been
formally approved by the municipality’s public officials. It’s
inappropriate for those officials to have implicitly endorsed ADL
policy. Moreover, No Place for Hate often invites ADL instructors
into public schools. No instructor representing a political group
that works to suppress genocide recognition should be lecturing public
school children.

The Massachusetts Municipal Association represents every municipality
and its elected officials. It very publicly ended its umbrella
sponsorship of No Place for Hate earlier this year because of the
national ADL’s unconscionable efforts against Armenians. The
association recommended that No Place for Hate be replaced by the
well-regarded Inclusive Communities program of the National League of
Cities.

Officials in Cape Cod communities with No Place for Hate programs need
to seriously reflect on the civil and human rights principles that led
the Massachusetts Municipal Association to make those decisions and
that led 13 city governments and their human rights commissions to
sever ties with the ADL program. The Barnstable County Human Rights
Commission should do the same.

If the commission doesn’t sever ties with the ADL and rededicate
itself to its mandate of truth, honor and non-discrimination, the
commission must remove the "human rights" from its name.

***
Shahkeh Y. Setian of Mashpee has taught the issue of genocide at Cape
Cod Community College, and has also taught development in minority
communities at Springfield College. She is currently writing a book
about Muslims who saved Armenians during the Armenian genocide.