The UNHCR has an Israel "obsession"

Kerry and Lavrov spoke on the sidelines of a meeting of the UNHRC in Geneva, which the secretary of state also addressed. In his speech on global human rights violations, he faulted the UN body for its "obsession with Israel," to the detriment of other people suffering throughout the world.

The secretary of state mentioned severe abuses in the rebel-controlled area of Ukraine and condemned North Korea's human rights record as "appalling." He said that "there is no freedom of expression, worship, or political dissent," and accused North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un of executing anyone who disagreed with him and starving his citizens.

He also charged the UNHRC of "undermining" its own credibility by obsessing over Israel, creating an unbalanced focus in the organization's work.

Iran and West still can't agree on sanctions

Zarif, pictured here at the Munich Security Conference in February, said a nuclear deal is within reach - if the West removed painful sanctions

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who will speak with John Kerry later this week in ongoing negotiations over his country's nuclear program, was also at the Geneva conference. According to Reuters news agency, Zarif said a deal could be reached as early as this week if the West had sufficient political will and rolled back sanctions against Iran.

"Our negotiating partners, particularly the Western countries and particularly the United States, must once and for all come to the understanding that sanctions and agreement don't go together," Zarif said, explaining that one of the major stumbling blocks in the negotiations was how fast sanctions would be lifted.

http://www.dw.de/kerry-unhrc-is-obsessed-with-israel/a-18289270