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Many nations and organizations also use allegations of abuse to promote goals that actually undermine human rights. The UN Human Rights Council, for example - a body that includes some of the world's most repressive regimes, including Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan - has dedicated itself to the vilification of Israel. In the last two years, it has passed 22 resolutions condemning Israel, four criticizing Burma, and one directed at North Korea. In the same period, it has not passed a single resolution calling attention to abuses in Zimbabwe, Iran, Tibet, the Congo, or Saudi Arabia, or to concerns in any of the other 184 UN member states. This reflects a growing corruption of elements of the human rights movement that are willing to subordinate the interests of vulnerable populations to advance crass political purposes.
Finally, over the past two decades, a well-organized challenge to the very idea of human rights has emerged. Under the umbrella of the Saudi-based Organization of the Islamic Conference, 57 Muslim majority nations are promoting a measure that would amend the Declaration so that speech that some construe as blasphemous would no longer be protected. The claim is that such utterances induce anti-religious violence and hatred against religious communities, particularly against Muslims. Each year since 1999, this nonbinding resolution has been approved by the UN Human Rights Council.