Speak to the point

For once the International media reported the adoption of the resolution on the human rights situation in Iran, and they even reported a few sentences of the statement of the Iranian Ambassador. However, they omitted to say that rather than trying to respond to the criticism that was included in the text,
Mr. Khazaee, aside from attacking Canada for its widespread (!) human rights violation, went on and on about the Goldstone report and about Israel and Palestine.

Far from me to want here to dismiss the Goldstone report, I just want to point out that Mr. Khazaee, his superiors, and his inferiors (who probably drafted the statement) should listen to the Iranian people.

An unhealthy (re)visit

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.

ouch!... ouch, ouch, ouch!

The resolution on the human rights situation in Iran was adopted on Tuesday by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, with quite a large margin: 70 in favour to 48 against.

Of course, it was rejected by the government as "based on biased and distorted information", and it's result only due to pressure by the US and Canada on other governments.

Aside from the fact that I do believe that UN resolutions have an effect -- if not they would not go out of their way to get rid of them -- this year, our government had to face more than one defeat: firstly, the resolution Iran put forward on the human rights violations in Canada faced a humiliating rejection, with 107 votes against and only 6 in favour, but even more painfully, Iran tried to pull-out a procedural motion, called "no-action" before the actual vote and did not succeed, whereas the day before, Uzbekistan (probably still considered by some as our former colony) managed to have a similar motion pass and thus avoided a condemnation.

Iran Human Rights UN Canada

Look who's talking

So Canada has announced that it will once again introduce a resolution on the human situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran at the UN General Assembly. Interestingly Iran has also announced that it will present a resolution on the human rights situation in Canada (unfortunately their statement is not posted, so for those of you who understand Persian and are reading this post today, watch here at 33 minutes into the programme).

It is a little ridiculous, but as was rightly said, the positive part of this action by Iran shows that it still believes that the UN has the right to look into the human rights situation of any given country, therefore that should apply to Iran too...

A few weeks ago, the second session of the UN Human Rights Council took place in Geneva, but this time, since the meeting was not graced by the presence of Mr. Mortazavi, nobody really talked about it... Well, it seems that there were a number of Special Rapporteurs and countries who mentioned Iran.

Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on Summary and Arbitrary Executions;

Yakin Erturk, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women;

Asma Jahangir, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief in a response to a question by the Netherlands;

Miloon Kothari, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing;

and two NGOs jointly, the International Federation for Human Rights Leagues and the Bahai International Community.

No one spoke of human rights violations in Canada.

Iran Human Rights UN Canada

Yet another inalienable right

Saeed Mortazavi is the IRI's inalienable right. Well, having him as part of Iran's delegation to the inaugural session of the Human Rights Council is.

Much ado about nothing? In some ways, yes. Any sovereign country is allowed to choose the members of their delegations to the United Nations and the host country has to issue a visa and grant them diplomatic immunity. However, I understand that today -- the day that Mr. Mottaki spoke in the Assembly Hall -- Mr. Mortazavi chose to go sightseeing in Bern.

Was it because Canada's Minister had issued a formal statement of "disgust"? Or because the EU had threatened that its Ambassadors would leave the room at the beginning of the speech? Or was it due to condemnations voiced by a number of NGOs ?

Perhaps. Or perhaps it was because the weather, or climate, in Bern was better than in Geneva.

Had he listened to our Minister's speech though, he would have been impressed, as I always am, at the commitment of Iran to human rights, and I cannot but quote him: "My country commits itself in working closely with the international community and the members of the Council in making the human rights aspirations of all peoples in the world a reality."

I hope this includes the people of Iran.