A couple of weeks ago, Ms. Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was in Tehran, attending a Conference organized by the Non-Aligned Movement on Human Rights and Cultural Diversity. Those poor diplomats who fought tooth and nail nearly 15 years ago to maintain the universality and indivisibility of human rights at the Vienna Conference, against an Iranian proposal led by no less than Mr. Zarif himself, must really feel let down. One wonders who advises Ms. Arbour. She should know better than allowing herself to be manipulated into what is no small victory for Iran and its likes.
Moreover, I have a question: Did the High Commissioner take this opportunity to condemn the violations in Iran? Well, publicly, she couldn’t really; it would have upset her hosts... However, in her report at the Human Rights Council last Thursday, she indicated that she had raised a few points with her Iranian counterparts (she met with Mr. Mottaki, it seems).
At least the EU (through its Portuguese Presidency) and Canada used the opportunity to say that they were worried about the human rights situation in Iran. Don’t know why it was only the latter who got the brunt of Iran’s response.
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