Iran censure squeaks through United NationsThe Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
UNITED NATIONS - Canada barely avoided international embarrassment yesterday as Iran came within just two votes of winning enough United Nations backing to throw out a Canadian-led censure of its human rights record.
Iran won support not only from allies, but also many countries that believe singling out states for reprimand can be politically motivated.
Canada has sponsored the censure annually since the 2003 torture and murder in a Tehran jail of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.
Gasps and other expressions of astonishment erupted in the UN chamber as 78 countries voted with Iran in its call for "no action" on the censure bid -- but 79 countries were against, and 24 abstained. Under UN rules, a tie would have defeated the motion.
The censure itself passed 72-50, with 55 abstentions.
"We ... look forward to the day when the government of Iran will simply acknowledge that it faces human rights issues," John McNee, Canada's ambassador to the UN, told delegates in the UN General Assembly's chief human rights committee.
"And one day, hopefully, the Iranian citizens themselves will be able to discuss and address human rights issues openly, without fear of persecution or, in the case of the media, without fear of being shut down."
In his response, Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee suggested the Canadian-led draft was the product of a conspiracy -- presumably of western democracies, which account for most of the draft's 42 co-sponsors.
"It is deeply unfortunate that manipulation and abuse of the United Nations human rights mechanisms has become a prevalent tradition and exercise of certain states in advancing their political purposes," he said.
He also painted Canada as a country with serious human rights problems, saying it "arrogates to itself a leading global role on human rights advocacy, while certain parts of its own population -- especially minorities, immigrants, foreigners and indigenous people -- suffer from human rights violations."
Addressing the chamber in angry tones, Mr. Khazaee continued for so long that the committee chairman called on him to draw to a conclusion.
Because Iran came within three votes last year of seeing its "no action" motion passed, it was clear that this year's vote would be close, and Canadian and Iranian officials lobbied furiously to win countries over to their cause.
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier also brought up the matter in most -- if not all -- of his one-on-one meetings with 30 of his counterparts from other countries when they gathered several weeks ago for the UN annual summit.
The 2007 censure highlights "confirmed instances" in Iran of torture, public executions, and stoning as a method of execution, among a litany of abuses.
It also speaks of "arrests and violent repression" of women exercising their "peaceful right to assembly." In accusing Iran of human rights violations of religious, ethnic and linguistic minorities, it details discrimination against the country's 300,000-strong Baha'i community -- of which there are about 30,000 co-religionists in Canada.
Monitors of the UN system said the close vote reflected badly on the UN's credibility as a body meant to uphold the landmark 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"What does it say for the world body when more than half of its members don't believe there is a problem with human rights in Iran?" said Anne Bayefsky, a Canadian professor who is editor of the online EyeontheUN.org.
Among countries speaking out in favour of Iran's motion were Pakistan and Venezuela. Sudan, Syria and Belarus later spoke of their opposition to "country-specific" resolutions -- with Belarus calling the Canadian-led draft "arrogant and unfounded."
Before Canada took on the role, the European Union had earlier led censure of Iran in the UN's Human Rights Commission in Geneva. But by 2002, that body had become so infiltrated with human rights abuser states that Iran managed to beat it that year. The commission has since been replaced by the Human Rights Council.
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