"A View From the 29th Floor "
In a brazen violation of Christian neutrality, Bethel went so far as to send a representative of the Watchtower to the UN headquarters in order to interview a human rights official for the special anniversary issue. Knowing that Jehovah’s Witnesses were unaware of the NGO connection at the time, the Society seemingly flaunted their spiritually adulterous affair by publicizing the fact the illicit liaison took place high up on the 29th floor of the UN headquarters. The Awake interview, entitled “A View From the 29th Floor,” is prefaced with the following remarks appearing on page six:
“When you step off the elevator onto the 29th floor of the United Nations building in New York City, a small blue sign shows the way to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This liaison office represents the headquarters of the OHCHR in Geneva, Switzerland—the focal point for UN human rights activities. While Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, heads the OHCHR in Geneva, Greek-born Elsa Stamatopoulou is chief of the New York office. Earlier this year, Mrs. Stamatopoulou graciously received an Awake! staff writer and looked back on five decades of human rights activities. Here are some excerpts from the interview.”
The article fails to mention that Mrs. Stamatopoulou, as a representative of the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human rights, no doubt “graciously received an Awake staff writer” in her New York office because the Watchtower Society was an active human rights NGO at the time. And as has already established, NGOs are in a partnership with the United Nations and therefore are granted greater access to UN facilities. Had the Watchtower Society not been an accredited NGO at the time the Awake writer likely could not even have been permitted admittance to the 29th floor of the United Nations tower.
The actual interview with Mrs. Stamatopoulou is also enlightening. When asked by the Awake interviewer what promise she saw ahead in the future, she stated:
“The development of a global human rights culture. What I mean is that through education we should make people more aware of human rights. Of course, that’s a huge challenge because it involves a change of mentality. That’s why, ten years ago, the UN launched a worldwide public information campaign to educate people about their rights and countries about their responsibilities. Additionally, the UN has designated the years 1995 to 2004 as the “Decade for Human Rights Education.” Hopefully, education may change the minds and hearts of people. This may almost sound like the Gospel, but when it comes to human rights education, I’m a true believer. I hope the world will adopt the human rights culture as its ideology in the next century.”
Mrs. Stamatopoulou reiterated that the goal of United Nations is to “educate people,” particularly in regards to human rights issues. And although she does not specifically mention the vital role NGOs play in that regard, or perhaps the Awake chose to not reprint her comments if she did, it is abundantly clear that the Awake was serving in its role as an NGO facilitator to the United Nations on that very occasion by proudly informing and educating its readership about human rights issues by means of their interview with Mrs. Stamatopoulou.
To put things in perspective as to the inappropriateness of the celebratory article on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights, and also the unseemliness of Awake’s personal interview with a UN official in the very bowels of the United Nations headquarters, we simply have to ask why Bethel has never arranged to interview, say, a US senator or congressman on the anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence; perhaps on the steps of Capitol Hill, or something of that nature. Such a thing, of course, would be offensive to the sensibilities of many of Jehovah’s Witnesses; and yet, obviously, the Watchtower did not consider commemorating the UN’s special occasion as a violation of our political neutrality.
(As of this writing, the November 22nd, 1998, Awake is still listed on the United Nations’ human rights website as an example of a supportive organization)
In keeping with the spirit of the “Decade for Human Rights Education,” a few months after commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights, the January 8th, 1999, Awake magazine published yet another series of human rights articles; this time transparently pandering to the United Nations to protect the rights of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Most offensively, though, the human rights segment concluded by obscenely claiming that the “some of the values” of a proposed UN declaration were inspired by Jesus’ so-called Golden Rule. The Awake states:
“While it is relatively easy to determine which human rights should be protected, it is not always easy to define which human responsibilities should be universally accepted. However, some of the values in the proposed Declaration of Responsibilities find their inspiration in the timeless and universal Golden Rule, given by Jesus some two thousand years ago: “All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them.’
