An adviser to the United Nations hit out at the BB for totally ignoring Western human rights abuses during a fierce debate on Newsnight this week.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs, a current serving Environmental Advisor to the UN, said that the broadcaster’s framing of the debate was “not what [he had] expected” when he was asked to come on the show.
He claimed the choice to debate China’s human rights abuses whilst completely ignoring human rights abuses of the West was “absolutely bizarre”, and preceded to list America’s crimes as a case in point.
“The Iraq war – together with the UK – [was] completely illegal and under false pretences”, he said, “the war in Syria, the war in Libya.
“The continued sanctions against civilian populations in Venezuela and Iran.
“Walking away from the Paris Climate Agreement for the last 4 years.
“Unilateral trade actions that have been deemed illegal by the WTO.
“Not to mention the continued, massive racism, white supremacism, and incarceration of hundreds of thousands of black African American and people of colour in the US.
“So I think that the whole premise of this story is a little bit odd!”
Watch the clip in full below:
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