With friends like these, I'd rather hear from our enemies

Just who do the authors of this Age burble call our "friends" and "peers"?

WHEN it comes to criticism, sometimes the harshest but most constructive feedback comes from friends. This month, Australia's human rights record will be reviewed on the world stage under the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review process. This is a peer review in which, every four to five years, the human rights record of each of the 192 UN member countries is reviewed by the 191 other countries.

On January 27, it's Australia's turn.

Let me do what the authors - Ben Schokman of International Human Rights Advocacy and Phil Lynch of the Human Rights Law Resource Centre - didn't and name some of our "friends" and human rights "peers" on the UN body about to give us this "constructive feedback":

Bahrain

China

Cuba

Libya

Pakistan

Russia

Saudi Arabia

If we're really the "peers" of that lot, we're in strife.

(Thanks to reader Andrew. No comments during break.)