Iran must explore parallel human rights avenues as UN agencies wane
Mansour Haghighatpour
A special session of the UN Human Rights Council concluded Friday with the passage of a resolution condemning what it termed the “violent suppression” of protests in Iran. The resolution, stemming from recent economic demonstrations in Iran that escalated into violence and resulted in casualties, was approved by 25 votes, with 14 abstentions, and 7 opposed. Despite Iranian officials’ explanations regarding the involvement of Israel- and US-backed terrorist groups in instigating violence and forcing security forces to intervene, the resolution highlighted the Council’s continued human rights scrutiny of Iran and proposed extending the mandate of a fact-finding mission and special rapporteur to continue gathering information and issuing reports. Iran’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva condemned the resolution as “politically motivated” and “completely devoid of genuine concern for human rights.” Iran Daily spoke with foreign policy expert, Mansour Haghighatpour, to delve into the implications of this development. He believes that Iran must define parallel human rights mechanisms under multilateral organizations of which it is a member to counter such actions, given the weakening of the UN agencies.
IRAN DAILY: How do you assess the UN Human Rights Council’s performance regarding Iran? Considering the passage of this resolution against Iran and the Council’s track record with other countries, can it be said that the Council’s standing has been undermined by adopting double standards?
HAGHIGHATPOUR: This Council is not only undermined but has a truly ridiculous standing. These international organizations today are completely duplicitous, entirely partisan, and completely instrumentalized. It’s a shame to use the title of “human rights” for a Council where some who are not even truly human nor understand humanity want to comment on these rights, and whose commentary has no authenticity.
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