The following nations . . .

by Dick Mac

. . . have at least one thing in common.

No, they are not all second- or third-world nations. Russia is in the list and Russia is a first-world country.

They are not all wealthy or poor, or hot or cold, or North or South. Some are English-speaking countries, some are not.

They are inhabited by people of every race.

Some are allies of the United States, some are not.

Some are big and some are small.

Look at the list closely:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belize
Benin
Botswana
Brunei Dar-Sala
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
China
Comoros
Congo
Cote d’Ivoire
Cuba
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Qatar
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United Republic of Tanzania
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

They are all members of the United Nations; and they all voted for an amendment to the UN's position on the death penalty.

The UN has a generally positive position on the death penalty, condemning it as a tool that is used unfairly. In countries that use it, it is most often used to eliminate people of a particular class, race, or political persuasion.

The UN's total inability to protect the weakest and prevent mass murder is a different conversation; to its credit, the UN has convinced many nations to abolish the most barbaric form of state-sanctioned murder: the death penalty.

So the UN was putting forward a resolution condemning the death penalty and reaffirming the list of groups they believe are targeted more often than others for death under questionable laws.

For the past ten years, that list included sexual minorities, including homosexuals.

Well, the shitty little nation of bigots in Africa called Benin (yes, I know, you've never heard of it either) put forth an amendment to remove homosexuals from the list. Meaning, that it's OK to sentence homosexuals to death simply for being homosexual.

A collection of notorious human rights violators voted for the amendment including Afghanistan, Algeria, China, Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, North Korea, Iran (didn't Ahmadinejad tell the world there were no gays in Iran?), Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

Add to this Bahamas, Belize (where you get 10 years for being gay), Jamaica (10 years of hard labor), Grenada (10 years), Guyana (life sentence), Saint Kitts and Nevis (10 years), Saint Lucia (10 years), Saint Vincent (10 years), South Africa (Apartheid? What apartheid?), and Morocco (ruled by a gay monarch!). They are all on the list of nations that do not think execution of gays and lesbians is worthy of condemnation or investigation. (The full vote tally is published beneath this column.)

To its shame, Colombia was among the 16 nations who abstained.

United Nations: It’s Okay To Kill The Gay

Seventy-nine nations voted for the amendment, 70 against it, and 17 abstained. Twenty-six nations were absent from the voting. So, the amendment passed and the UN no longer condemns the execution of homosexuals based solely on their sexuality.

Nice.

So, here again is the list of nations again so we can all consider a boycott of their tourism, products and economy:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belize
Benin
Botswana
Brunei Dar-Sala
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
China
Comoros
Congo
Cote d’Ivoire
Cuba
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Qatar
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United Republic of Tanzania
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

See more,

UN General Assembly Votes To Allow Gays To Be Executed Without Cause

Oslo Freedom Forum