UN Schizophrenic on Iranian Human Rights

 

Warning – House of Cards spoiler ahead.

In the last season, Frank Underwood “requests” Jacky Sharp to do all she can in order to impeach the president. Her reaction is that Frank’s request is “just shy of treason” to which Frank pragmatically answers “just shy, that’s politics.”

Remember his answer while reading this post…it will help you understand.

 

UN Appoints Iran to Key Human Rights Committees

The UN appointed Iran to several key committees on human rights including the “Commission of the Status of Women.” If reading this sentence sounds legitimate to you, you must be an Iranian hardliner or an experienced politician.

The state of Iranians’ human rights, even under President Rouhani’s presidency, represents one of the most repressive regimes in the world. In our earlier post, we outlined how Rouhani is taking a stand on women’s rights even if it is against Supreme Leader Khamenei but his efforts have still not reached the women of Iran.

The outcry by human rights watch groups was answered harshly by Tehran with praise for the country while claiming that thousands of NGOs in Iran are “actively pursuing their goals in different areas such as social, economic, environmental, women and human rights”.

 

Human Rights Boiling Over in Tehran

Following the latest report of UN Special Rapporteur for Iranian human rights, Ahmed Shaheed, which blasted, one gets a decidedly weird feeling that either the UN bodies are having big problems communicating with each other or that it’s simply politics.

The scathing report which proves that human rights are not yet improving in Iran despite Rouhani’s promises to do so was met with denials and denigrations from Tehran. Although Tehran’s response might be based on lies, it sounds like a legitimate form of defense.

Since then reports of human rights transgressions leak out daily. Protesters have hit the streets and are picketing parliament and the infamous Evin prison and violence has taken its toll. Prison guards, bolstered by IRGC troops attacked the political prisoners leading to over 30 wounded while Rouhani kept conspicuously quiet.

 

Insult Or Just “Politics”?

Placing Iran on any human rights committee is an insult to all the victims of human rights in Iran and around the world. Asking Iranian diplomats, mostly men, to work within a UN committee to strengthen the rights of women is simply outrageous. Yes, Rouhani might be championing this cause but the facts are still dismal.

So why would the UN do so? Two reasons come to mind and both are political.

The UN might want to send a supporting message to Rouhani to help him deal with Khamenei and his IRGC cronies.

Or the UN might want the Iranians to work from within human rights committees in order to make them feel that they are not on opposite sides.

In any case, the victims of human rights abuses are probably turning in their graves or swallowing the bitter taste of being the pawns of ruthless politicians once again.

Ashton, the Regime IS the Message

Human Rights and the Nuclear Program

The issue of human rights surrounding Catherine Ashton’s visit in Tehran might seem to some a meaningless sidetrack on the highway to negotiate a permanent deal with Tehran on its nuclear program. It isn’t.

The problem with Tehran’s nuclear program, has been its lack of transparency and its unwillingness to set the infamous Iranian pride aside long enough to focus on peaceful relations with the rest of the world. Its unwillingness to accept UN resolutions and wall-to-wall criticism on the nature of its nuclear program were coupled with an arrogant defiance and macho bravado that fuelled accusations and threats that seemed condescending and border-line paranoid to the West. And although President Rouhani’s smile spearheaded the rapprochement with the West, it is the never ending rants of the hardliners that remind us that Tehran might not yet have the humility needed to accept that if everyone says that there is a problem in the contested nuclear program, there simply is one.

Now, substitute the words “nuclear program” in this paragraph to “human rights problem” and notice that it rings true in the same manner. They are both symptoms of the main problem…the bigoted regime that places Islamic Revolutionary values above all else.

Rants and Rebuttals

Ashton’s primary objective in Tehran was obviously the nuclear deal and her meetings with Rouhani and Zarif retained the essence of Rouhani’s hash tag #Constructive_Engagement.

But her two hour meeting in the Austrian embassy with 7 Iranian women’s rights activists brought the realities of the regime back into the spotlight. The next day, posters of Ashton morphed with Saddam Hussein over pictures of dead babies hit the streets and the angry rants followed:

• Sadegh Larijani – head of the judiciary: “Where in the world do they allow a foreigner to enter and go wherever they want and meet whoever they want?”.
  Answer: In the free world, Mr. Larijani, in the free world.
• Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, IRGC commander: the meeting was a violation of diplomatic principles and Ashton should focus instead on “solving women’s problems in Europe”.
  Answer: Perhaps…but if Ashton met with 7 women’s rights activists in Europe, nobody would rant about it.
• Signed statement by over 20 Iranian lawmakers: “The parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee strongly calls on the government to prevent these intolerable and interventionist actions by foreign delegations that travel to our country“.
  Answer: Comments like these will make foreign delegations think twice about coming to Tehran in the future.
• Marzieh Afkham, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman: “These kinds of actions will increase our people’s distrust towards the West,”.
  Answer: Mrs. Afkham – it is exactly comments like these, by a woman and a representative of Rouhani’s moderate foreign policy, that cause distrust.

Meanwhile…

And just as the rants from Tehran faded into background echoes, Dr. Shaheed Ahmed, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights, opened a press conference regarding his latest report on Iran with this statement: “Today, I report with deep regret that despite overtures and announcements emanating from the newly elected Iranian government, and perhaps even in spite of modest attempts to take steps towards reform, the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran remains of serious concern.” Un Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon joined Ahmed and “sharply rebuked the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, for failing to improve human rights since taking office in August“.

Yes, Rouhani would prefer to separate the negotiations with the West on the nuclear program from the issue of human rights but, unfortunately, both are intrinsically connected to the same regime.