UN Human Rights Council appoints monitor for Iran

[hatzel]

I have had a fleeting involvement in a number of Iran-orientated human rights groups, most recently AIWYA (http://www.aiwya.com/), and we have been greatly heartened by this news, though we unfortunately remain sceptical that it will make any real difference...


GENEVA — For the first time since its creation five years ago, the UN Human Rights Council has appointed a special investigator to monitor Iran's compliance with international human rights standards.

The decision, by a vote of 22 to 7 with 14 abstentions, reflects the world's growing impatience with Iran over its increasing violations of human rights.

"This vote is quite historic," said Diane Ala'i, the representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

"The decision today to create a new mandate to examine Iran's compliance with human rights standards marks a new stage in the Council's exercise of its responsibilities to uphold and protect the fundamental human rights of all peoples throughout the world.

"The world community has heard once too many times Iran's claims that it does not violate human rights - when, in fact, it has become among the worst offenders in the world today," said Ms. Ala'i, who noted that the resolution passed by a resounding margin, and had co-sponsors from every region of the world.

In its resolution today, the 47-member Council also called on Iran to allow the investigator, who is known as a Special Rapporteur, to visit the country. If Iran allows it, it would be the first such visit by a human rights investigator from the UN since 2005.

The resolution, which had 52 co-sponsors, including many members of the United Nations who are not currently on the Council, followed the release of a new report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about human rights in Iran.

That report, issued 14 March, expressed concern about a wide range of human rights violations in Iran.

"The Secretary-General has been deeply troubled by reports of increased executions, amputations, arbitrary arrest and detention, unfair trials, and possible torture and ill-treatment of human rights activists, lawyers, journalists and opposition activists," wrote Mr. Ban.

Mr. Ban's report also expressed concern about continuing reports of the persecution of minority groups in Iran. He specifically highlighted reports of persecution against Iranian Baha'is, and noted as well that members of the Arab, Armenian, Azeri, Baloch, Jewish, and Kurdish communities have also reportedly faced discrimination and persecution.

In the case of Baha'is, Mr. Ban noted that a number of Baha'is have been arrested recently, and that seven Baha'i leaders were sentenced to long prison terms after a trial last year that many felt was unjust.

"The High Commissioner for Human Rights raised their case several times in letters to and meetings with the Iranian authorities, expressing deep concern that these trials did not meet due process and fair trial requirements," said Mr. Ban, noting that the High commissioner had asked Iran to allow independent observers in to monitor the trial but the request was rejected.

Mr. Ban added that although the seven were charged with espionage and acting against national security, the High Commissioner expressed concern that the charges brought against them in fact appear to be a violation of their internationally recognized right to freedom of religion and belief, and freedom of expression and association.

Mr. Ban also noted that the UN also has been receiving reports of persecution directed against Christians.

And he said that members of the Kurdish community have continued to be executed on various national security-related charges including Mohareb.

Finally, Mr. Ban expressed concern over the fact that Iran has not allowed any UN human rights Special Rapporteurs to visit the country since 2005. He encouraged Iran to "facilitate their requested visits to the country as a matter of priority in order that they might conduct more comprehensive assessments."

Source (http://news.bahai.org/story/813)

[Dimentio]

...

Imperialists!!!!!

:laugh:

[Tomhet]

Are you kidding? How can you claim the UN is ANYTHING but the worlds biggest capitalist power???

[RATM-Eubie]

Idk what to feel about this....

[hatzel]

Idk what to feel about this....

Feel free to make a suggestion or two about possible things you could potentially feel about it :lol:

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

'the world's growing impatience with Iran over its increasing violations of human rights.' - okay, let me know when the world grows impatient of saudi, american, israeli, britsh, chinese, burmese etc human rights abuses. not gonna happen though, because it has nothing to do with human rights abuses, does it?

[RATM-Eubie]

Well i dont think countries should be all like Iran fuck your nuclelar program but at the same time i want to see nuclelar weapons disbanned im stuck in this in between

[B5C]

I do the like idea of checking on the Iranians, but this is the UN.

[Scary Monster]

Wow pretty stupid. As if Israel and the US dont bomb people for no good reason, or have brutal foreign policies that no one in the UN approve of besides israel and usa.

[hatzel]

I do the like idea of checking on the Iranians, but his is the UN.

That's the issue summed up, really. There's plenty of shit going down out there...it's unfortunate that the 'big dogs' don't stick their noses into the systematic oppression of people on for their religion / sexuality / political opinion / etc. without some agenda, when it's only through the 'big dogs' sticking their nose in that the very serious issue is brought to public attention...so really its the eternal trade-off...

I'm surprised the UNHRC of all people took this up, though. Seems Ban's whipping 'em into some kind of shape :lol:

[RGacky3]

I wonder where are the condemnations of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Israel, Colombia and so on.

Its a damn joke.

[Viet Minh]

'the world's growing impatience with Iran over its increasing violations of human rights.' - okay, let me know when the world grows impatient of saudi, american, israeli, britsh, chinese, burmese etc human rights abuses. not gonna happen though, because it has nothing to do with human rights abuses, does it?

Yes it does. A woman stoned to death in Iran for alleged infidelity is a human rights abuse.


Wow pretty stupid. As if Israel and the US dont bomb people for no good reason, or have brutal foreign policies that no one in the UN approve of besides israel and usa.

And what does that have to do with anything? Does every thread have to be about the US and Israel, because nobody else is capable of brutality?

[RGacky3]

Yes it does. A woman stoned to death in Iran for alleged infidelity is a human rights abuse.


No on here is condoning Isreal, we are just rightly pointing out that this has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with Human rights, as is obvious as the biggest violators of human rights don't hear a peep from the UN, this is just politics.

[Viet Minh]

No on here is condoning Isreal, we are just rightly pointing out that this has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with Human rights, as is obvious as the biggest violators of human rights don't hear a peep from the UN, this is just politics.

Absolutely nothing? I'm not even going to look into stuff because I find it too sad but off the top of my head there's been major brutal clampdowns on Iranian protesters, a guy killed for being homosexual, a young girl stoned to death for alleged immoral behaviour. Regardless of the UN, US, Israel, Burma THAT IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE AND IT IS RELEVANT! :(

[hatzel]

I wonder where are the condemnations of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Israel, Colombia and so on.

Its a damn joke.


As of 2010, Israel had been condemned in 32 resolutions by the Council since its creation in 2006. The 32 resolutions comprised 47.76% of all resolutions passed by the Council

That's where they are, kind sir! :lol:

[B5C]

I wonder where are the condemnations of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Israel, Colombia and so on.

Its a damn joke.

http://www.cagle.com/working/110321/darkow.jpg

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

Absolutely nothing? I'm not even going to look into stuff because I find it too sad but off the top of my head there's been major brutal clampdowns on Iranian protesters, a guy killed for being homosexual, a young girl stoned to death for alleged immoral behaviour. Regardless of the UN, US, Israel, Burma THAT IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE AND IT IS RELEVANT! :(

you don't understand the elementary point at hand. yes iran has violated human rights, but so have many other nations, which the un ignores. the point: the un is not an institution that operates in response to human rights violations, that is a pretext for its imperialistic agenda, in this case against iran. hence why iran is being investigated, but not saudi arabia, or america or israel, even though they are other huge human rights abusers - these nations just happen to be on the right team. the un and its double standards are pure hypocrisy, the un doesn't care about human rights.

[Viet Minh]

you don't understand the elementary point at hand. yes iran has violated human rights, but so have many other nations, which the un ignores. the point: the un is not an institution that operates in response to human rights violations, that is a pretext for its imperialistic agenda, in this case against iran. hence why iran is being investigated, but not saudi arabia, or america or israel, even though they are other huge human rights abusers - these nations just happen to be on the right team.

No I got that, and I agree the UN can seem blinkered, but I don't believe it is some US-Israel Imperialist conspiracy. Iran itself is a member of the UN, and they are not ptoposing an invasion (admitedly the US were so its udnerstandable people are concerned) it was just a concern that was raised. I got the idea people were dismissing it because its not as bad as the US or Israel, human rights are issues leftists shouldn't ignore

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

No I got that, and I agree the UN can seem blinkered, but I don't believe it is some US-Israel Imperialist conspiracy. Iran itself is a member of the UN, and they are not ptoposing an invasion (admitedly the US were so its udnerstandable people are concerned) it was just a concern that was raised. I got the idea people were dismissing it because its not as bad as the US or Israel, human rights are issues leftists shouldn't ignore

i agree that we shouldn't ignore them too, but the un is not an institution we should look to on the question of human rights, given their blatant double standards. i wont support an institution that claims to denounce one state for human rights abuses whilst supporting other nations that are guilty of the same. the un is an institution that serves international capitalism, hence why we don't support them in the battle against oppression.

[Scary Monster]

And what does that have to do with anything? Does every thread have to be about the US and Israel, because nobody else is capable of brutality?

Im just pointing out the hypocrisy in the fact that the US and Israel are the main enforcers of oppression around the world- and at the same time, are appointing groups to watch for human rights abuses.

[Viet Minh]

Im just pointing out the hypocrisy in the fact that the US and Israel are the main enforcers of oppression around the world- and at the same time, are appointing groups to watch for human rights abuses.

So far they have condemned only Israel, and expressed 'deep concern' about Sudan. Israel's human rights abuses are reviewed at every council session, and even kofi Annan has criticised them for disproportionate focus on Israel. The council's rapporteur Richard Falk has compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to Nazi Germany's treatment of Jews in the Holocaust.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Human_Rights_Council#Overview

[Che a chara]

What's so wrong about this is that the UN can authorise sanctions and embargoes on Iran or other nations that they see violates human rights, but they can't and wont sanction such resolutions on the main abusers of human rights... the US and Israel.

Is it true that no other nation on the planet violates more UN laws than the US or Israel, not even the bogeymen of Iran and the DPRK ?

I'm not trying to downplay Iran's abuses, but a bit of consistency wouldn't go amiss, especially seeing as the world's biggest arms dealer and terrorist nation, the US, can veto UN resolutions.

[RGacky3]

Absolutely nothing? I'm not even going to look into stuff because I find it too sad but off the top of my head there's been major brutal clampdowns on Iranian protesters, a guy killed for being homosexual, a young girl stoned to death for alleged immoral behaviour. Regardless of the UN, US, Israel, Burma THAT IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE AND IT IS RELEVANT! :(

Yes, that is a human rights abuse, but it is not the reason that the UN is taking action against Iran.

As far as Israel, where are the meaningful actions? sanctions? Anything?

A statement saying the world is not pleased is'nt meaninful.

[Viet Minh]

Yes, that is a human rights abuse, but it is not the reason that the UN is taking action against Iran.

As far as Israel, where are the meaningful actions? sanctions? Anything?

A statement saying the world is not pleased is'nt meaninful.

Source?

[RGacky3]

The Source is logic, if it was human rights abuses that was the reason, then Saudi Arabia, Colombia and so on would be way under the buss.

[Viet Minh]

The Source is logic, if it was human rights abuses that was the reason, then Saudi Arabia, Colombia and so on would be way under the buss.

No I meant what actions are the UN taking against Iran? Because so far all they have done is asked permission to visit the country.

[Scary Monster]

No I meant what actions are the UN taking against Iran? Because so far all they have done is asked permission to visit the country.

I think this is all just another way for the west to demonize the Iranian government (although thats not very hard) and make a cause for war, like the US has been doing for about a decade now. Of course, as a commie, I do not support any government run by a ruling class against the majority.

[hatzel]

Can everybody just remember for a second that this is the UN Human Rights Council, which has a rocky (at best) relationship with the UN 'proper'. As such, the UNHRC can't do anything concrete, beyond just saying 'this is bad' or 'this is acceptable'. Anybody saying 'oh oh oh, why are the UN ignoring the US Israel and shizzle and demonising Iran all the time?' clearly aren't talking about the UNHRC, and are clearly ignoring the fact, as I pointed out near the beginning, that nearly half of the resolutions passed by the UNHRC have been condemning Israel. In fact, when it comes to their overall activity, every action, every report, everything, the two most addressed countries have been...that's right, the US and Israel. So actually address the issue, which is the actions of the UNHRC.

Anybody who knows the first thing about the UNHRC, actually, will know that it's far from popular amongst human rights groups, even in the UN itself, not least because it's considered a bit of a bloc-voting affair, with, as they say, a number of African and Muslim countries, backed by Russia, China and Cuba, protecting each other from criticism. Of course it's natural to assume that countries where homosexuality is punishable by death, for instance, wouldn't condemn other countries for executing homosexuals. That is why this decision is significant. We can see from the high number of abstentions that this was still a very contentious issue, but perhaps, just perhaps, this shows some sort of souring in the relationship between these countries. (Remember, this is the first resolution the UNHRC has ever passed against Iran, despite its infamously poor human rights record.) If this is so, it might actually be a 'clue' to future political developments in the region, and, as such, is worth discussing. All this talk of 'but they're wooooorse, why aren't they looking at them?!' is literally the least interesting thing that could ever be said about this story, particularly when the facts totally contradict that standpoint...:glare:

[ComradeMan]

I think people tend to see the "UN" as a block, which it isn't.