Iran's envoy made the remarks at a meeting of the Human Rights Council.
The full text of his speech is as follows:
Mr. President,
The report that was presented is the culmination of a purely political mandate forced upon the UN system, by Canada and some other actors as part of their adversarial policy against my country.
The Islamic Republic of Iran regrets that the Council is, once again, instrumentalized as a political leverage to antagonize a UN developing Member State. Reducing the lofty cause of human rights into a petty political tool is appalling and disgraceful.
Abusing the Council as just another means of bludgeoning countries that are out of favor with certain States, with a long record of interventionist policies is outrageous.
Mr. President,
The report is based on a mal-intended mandate crafted by a few Western States as part of their division of labor here in Geneva and in New York to stigmatize my country. The content of the report could not be much different, from the other three reports that are produced annually; they are all biased by default, displaying the unsatiated appetite on the part of the scheme's sponsors to generate an atmosphere of negativity around a member-state.
The question that is left ignored is how can possibly such confrontational approaches contribute to the protection and promotion of human rights?
How can we talk about the Council’s efficiency and efficacy while spending its scarce resources for producing four reports every year only to antagonize a member state, through dissemination of unsubstantiated claims, and false allegations?
The delay in publishing the report was not a simple administrative mishap; it was a deliberate choice to align its overall tone and ambiance with the latest developments in Vienna. That’s why the compilers of the report chose, not only to disregard Iran’s extensive and well-argued comments on the draft, but also inject further negativity into the text by deleting certain parts and adding new negative elements. That’s very telling of the real purpose and intent of the reporting scheme on Iran’s human rights.
Mr. President,
The Islamic Republic of Iran is fully committed to the protection and promotion of human rights, and respects its international obligations.
We are driven by our sincere conviction that promotion and protection of human rights and dignity, is our mission and responsibility, based on the long aspirations of our people.
Mr. President,
We are not disheartened by the confrontational sentiment that has long been inflicted on the UN human rights mechanisms.
They should condescend to recognize that they do not own human rights and that some of them need to be accountable for variety of atrocities and rights abuses they have committed as part of their colonial past and their present interventionist policies.
A very revealing example of continuing gross violation of human rights by some western States is the application of unilateral coercive measures. The US continues to carry on with the Trump’s criminal maximum pressure policy, in complete defiance of international law and in full disrespect to the ICJ's ruling of 3 October 2018.
The US unilateral sanctions have not only undermined rule of law and violated all principles of humanity and civility but also violated fundamental human rights, including the right to health, to food, and to education. The US unilateral coercive measures could best be qualified as crimes against humanity, and are comparable to war crimes, in terms of gravity and the indiscriminate physical pain and suffering they cause collectively on the targeted populations.
It is deplorable that this sheer injustice is taken so lightly and overlooked by the compilers of these reports.
Mr. President,
It is very regrettable that the Council is seized with a matter that, by any fair assessment, does not deserve to be raised here. We continue our interactive approach to contributing to the promotion and protection of all human rights for all, including through constructive engagement with other States, the office of the UN High Commissioner, and relevant mandate holders.
We would like to reiterate the urgent need for all states and non-state actors that truly care for human rights to actively explore effective mechanisms against ever increasing tendency on the part of some western States in further denigrating the UN human rights machinery with a view to disparaging their adversaries and smokescreening their abysmal rights records
I thank you, Mr. President.
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