IRANIAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS DEFEATED AT UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
By an IPS correspondent
GENEVA, 22 Apr. (IPS) The Islamic Republic scored an major success Monday in Geneva where the United Nations Commission on Human Rights voted against a resolution calling for re-conducting the mission of the UN’s Special representative on the situation of human rights in Iran, thus ending 19 years of scrutiny of the appalling situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic.
Twenty of the Commission’s 53 countries, mostly Arabs and Muslim regimes but as well as Cuba and some African states,
voted against the European Union-sponsored resolution, which, while having noted progress in Iran, but also expressed concern at continued "public and especially cruel executions, the use of torture, and the deterioration of freedom of expression".Iran's delegate, Ms. Paymaneh Hasta’i, had rejected the proposed move as a "biased, futile and routine exercise pursued by a few for political objectives", and appealed to the commission for cooperation.
"To this end, we are prepared to contemplate another practical alternative to replace this current mechanism", she told the forum, adding that under the presidency of Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, Iran was moving towards a "full fledged democracy" and remained "committed to human rights", without adding details.
In his last report, which was presented to the UN commission last month, Mr. Copithorne had observed that though Iran's leader-appointed and controlled judiciary was largely responsible for ongoing human rights abuses, however, political and social changes in Iran were "unstoppable".
Iranian human rights activists mostly based abroad, expressed anger and sorrow at the one majority vote, saying it was a "sad day" for human rights, adding that it would "encourage" the authoritarian ayatollahs suppressing people’s basic freedoms.
Explaining the vote, Dr Karim Lahiji, the president of the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights blamed the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian controlled cites, the unilateral backing the United States provide Mr. Sharon’s iron fist policy and some "give and takes" between Iran in the one hand, China and Russia on the other for the "regrettable, negative vote".
"The situation of human rights in the countries that voted against the resolution were as bad, if not worse than those existing in the Islamic Republic", Mr. Lahiji said, adding that considering the emotions the situation in the Middle East had provoked, such a "negative vote" by Muslim nations was "foreseeable".
He also noted that in order to divide the Europeans and encourage "hesitant states", the Islamic Republic had not only freed from jail most of the detainees belonging to the Nationalist-religious groups and Iran Freedom Movement, but also deployed great lobby activities in the corridors of the United Nations HQ in Geneva.
Also, and for the first time, the Iranian delegation was led by a female diplomat, even though under Islamic laws, women do not have equal rights with men and are considered as second class citizen.
Iranian media immediately hailed the rejection of the resolution as "very important and Mr. Mohammad Hasan Zia'ifar, president of the Islamic Human Rights told the pro-reform newspaper "Bonyan" that the international community has realised that the Islamic Republic is serious about changes.
However, he warned that "some centres of power" should not think that the world has given approved our righteousness and gave Iran a blanc note, permitting us to whatever we like", a clear reference to the ruling conservative clan that is led by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic.
Speaking to Iran Press Service in Geneva last month, Mr Copithorne said in his view, the present government of Mr. Khatami has not been able to keep up with wishes of the Iranian people, mostly the young ones, the students and the women.
He also confirmed that imprisonments, abductions, floggings, stoning, tortures, both physical and psychological, long period of solitary confinement of dissidents, political prisoners, journalists, intellectuals, artists and scholars not only continue unabated, but are on the rise, with some of them, like the cases of stoning and floggings not reported by the press.
However, he immediately added, the Iranian society has become more dynamic, more vibrant, walking straight towards changes", he said.
"There are signs that he incorporation of human rights values into Iranian society is proceeding at an accelerating rate. However, the implementation of such rights by the government continues to lag behind evident public expectation", Mr. Copithorne, a Canadian lawyer, further indicated.
In her remarks before the vote taking, Ms. Hasta’i, an Iranian foreign ministry official, insisted that "External pressures and interference would hamper the normal stand of this process".
The motion was defeated by 20 votes to 19 with 14 countries abstaining.
The commission's annual meeting is due to end on Friday. ENDS IRAN RIGHTS 22402