- 23 April 2010
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- 3 Comments
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- Human Rights in Iran
Report: Iran’s bid for UN human rights panel seat fails
23 April 2010 Posted By Jamal Abdi
The Iranian government’s appalling human rights record will not be rewarded with a seat at the United Nations Human Rights Council, according to a report by the Politico’s Laura Rozen. Iran has decided to no longer seek election to the Council in May, owing to behind the scenes efforts by Western states to block the bid. Human rights activists and organizations, including the National Iranian American Council, opposed Iran’s bid to join the UN Human Rights Council. NIAC has publicly called for a special session of the Human Rights Council to address Iran’s human rights record.
From Politico:
The failure of Iran’s bid, after aggressive lobbying in New York, African capitals (Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in Zimbabwe this week), and elsewhere, is “a big embarrassment for them,” the official continued. It “seems to be a mark of their isolation and broad distaste for their human rights record.”
Iran’s bid to be a member of the UN rights body was strongly opposed by Iranian and global human rights activists, including by Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi who wrote a letter opposing Tehran’s bid.
3 Responses to “Report: Iran’s bid for UN human rights panel seat fails”
Well, if President Obama can be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize (AfPak war escalation, ICBM con-warhead development, drone warfare, NPR declaratory against non-nuclear states, etc.), well then what’s all the hubbub about the Islamic Republic of Iran wanting a seat at the UNHRC? Heck, not very long ago, the US didn’t even want to be a part of it.
But anyway, I wouldn’t characterize this as a “big embarrassment” for them. Surely they knew it would be an uphill battle, regardless. Really, in that part of the world’s perspective, it’s just another element of the “world of arrogance.”
Thank you, NIAC and Mr. Abdi, for the article! The rights we enjoy in Iran are in fact grossly inhuman ones. We are allowed the right to remain silent about the coup d’etat that was staged in the country and which was disguised as presidential elections. We are given the right to forget – even if we fail, for some odd reason, to forgive – the judiciary’s committing injustices against just protestations and criticism. We are given the right to be unsung heroes, in the sense that we may now begin to ‘bear it and grin’ in the face of economic hardship just as we did while defenceless youth were subjected to atrocities committed by the minions of the military regime in the aftermath of last June’s elections. The majority of Iranians are in the same boat as the (mostly Afghan) immigrants in having been made invisible and non-viable in one way or another, the only difference being that – at least so far – the Iranian citizen is still officially accounted for on paper and treated like a hero whenever there’s a need for it, while those who cross the border into the land of the mean are yet to be issued the hard-copy Iranian ID, a luxury which, out of the little bit of self-respect that is still allowed them, the meek immigrants no longer even desire. I don’t see how any international body could be expected to make a conciliatory gesture towards Iranian officialdom in any form when we the people living in Iran can’t bring ourselves to do the same.
Do keep up the good work!
Well, that’s a relief. At least the world has not gone completely mad.