IRAN: Candidate for United Nations Human Rights Council?

March 19, 2010

Signs held high at a rally of Iranian Americans.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a 2010 candidate for the United Nations Human Rights Council. Even those who expect little from the U.N. anyway should be outraged by this situation.

On March 12, 2010, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a resolution (H. Res. 1181) expressing their opposition to Iran joining those nations of the world whose mandate is to pressure all governments to improve their human rights practices. The resolution, sponsored by U.S. Representatives Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) and Ted Poe (R-TX), provides a helpful list of all the reasons why Iran should NOT gain access to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Included among the reasons are the following:

• The Islamic Republic of Iran is broadly considered one of the world’s worst human rights violators
• Iran routinely discriminates against and persecutes its Sunni and Sufi religious minorities as well as Iranian Shi’ite religious dissenters
• Since 1979, the Iranian regime officials have executed over 200 Baha’i leaders and imposed numerous discriminatory policies to disenfranchise its Baha’i citizens
• The Iranian regime continues to officially incite anti-Semitic hatred, promote Holocaust denial through its state-controlled media, require Jewish schools remain open on the Sabbath, and create a climate of hostility and intimidation for Iranian Jews
• The Iranian regime regularly harasses, physically attacks, arrests, and imprisons its Christian citizens
• The Iranian regime specially singles out Iranian human rights defenders for arrest, imprisonment, and execution
• The Iranian regime continues to repress dissent by restricting access to the Internet, banning newspapers and journals, expelling pro-reform students from universities, and prosecuting critical journalists
• The Iranian regime uses the charges of ‘waging war against God’ and ‘spreading corruption on earth’ as a pretense for executing Iranian dissidents and prisoners of conscience
• The Iranian regime officials routinely engage in tortures such as beatings, long confinement in contorted positions, cigarette burns, hanging detainees by their arms or legs, striking the soles of feet, rape, and smearing prisoners with feces
• During the protests following the disputed June 12, 2009, Iranian Presidential election, the Iranian regime and its paramilitary units fired upon and killed Iranian citizens with live ammunition;
• In June 2009, at least 40 Iranian civilians were murdered by the Iranian regime’s post-election crackdown
• After the disputed June 12, 2009, Iranian Presidential election, the Iranian regime carried out a campaign of repression with mass arrests of at least 4,000 protestors and dissidents which produced numerous torture-induced confessions
• In January 2010, two of these dissidents, Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, were executed by hanging for their opposition activism

An Iranian American woman displays “human rights” in Iran – a pro-democracy activist who died in prison, and victims of Islamic Shari’a being executed.

Congressmen McCotter and Poe, have been joined by three other co-sponsors, so far. The additional co-sponsors are U.S. Representatives Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Dan Burton (R-IN), and Eric Cantor (R-VA). The resolution sponsored by these 5 members also noted the obvious internal contradiction that would be caused by the entrance of Iran in the U.N. Human Rights Council. In Iran’s November 18, 2009, National Report submitted for the Seventh Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Iran admitted it is unable to uphold human rights standards because its legal structures are based on principles of Islam! In addition, Iran said that ‘‘Pressure or demands by other countries to accept and adopt certain Western standards of human rights” would have a “negative impact on the promotion of human rights.”

Therefore, H. Res. 1181 states that the House of Representatives “calls on the United Nations General Assembly to reject the Islamic Republic of Iran’s bid to join the United Nations Human Rights Council; and urges the President to direct the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the United Nations to ensure Iran does not gain membership on the United Nations Human Rights Council.”

Regardless of whether individual citizens view the United Nations favorably or negatively, it would send a strong statement of solidarity with those standing up for freedom in Iran if the U.S. Congress passes this bill. If you would like to urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor H. Res. 1181, please find his/her web page by scrolling through the list of Representatives at www.house.gov. From there you can obtain all the contact information you need to call, email, write to, or visit your member of Congress.