Iran has behaved disgracefully yet again, thumbing its nose at the international human rights obligations to which it has voluntarily signed up.

It is deeply worrying that Iran and one or two other countries appear to be using the Universal Periodic Review, which is supposed to strengthen the monitoring and enforcement of human rights, to undermine hard-won international human rights law.

On the morning of February 17, 2010 the Working Group on the UPR met to adopt the draft report on Iran. The adoption followed a momentous UPR session, during which Iran received strong criticism from Western States. The report, which was prepared by Mexico, Pakistan and Senegal, includes a summary of the proceedings of the review process and a list of conclusions and recommendations.

The 53 delegations that participated in the UPR made a total of 189 recommendations; Iran expressed support for 123 of the recommendations (it considered 21 of these as already implemented or in the process of implementation), will review and respond to an additional 20 and rejected 45 recommendations. Of the rejected recommendations, Iran identified 28 as 'inconsistent with the institution-building text and/or not internationally recognized human rights, or not in conformity with its existing laws, pledges and commitments.' This statement, expressed in paragraph 92 of the report, provoked a series of comments.

The United Kingdom requested a clarification on Iran's position of recommendations as stated in paragraph 92, arguing that its recommendations on facilitating a visit by the Special Rapporteur on torture, ensuring that the penal code complies with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and investigating allegations of abuse, were not inconsistent with international human rights law. France, the United States, Austria and Canada made similar objections regarding their recommendations, which were also rejected, and sought to clarify what they saw as an inconsistency before the report was adopted. Iran also rejected recommendations from Spain, Estonia, Chile, Israel, Australia, the Netherlands, Mexico and Luxembourg, among others.

It was notable that Iran accepted recommendations to 'continue to respect international humanitarian law and international law in general (Kuwait)' and to 'comply fully with the international human rights obligations to which it is bound (New Zealand)'. However, it rejected recommendations to amend or repeal laws that discriminate against women (Israel); to take measures to end discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities (Austria); to cease the practice of torture in detention facilities (US); to release political prisoners (Luxembourg); stop intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders, journalists, bloggers, media and artists; and to prosecute security officials involved in torture, rape or killings (Austria).

A small number of States, including Pakistan and Uzbekistan, have also argued that recommendations made to them did not reflect internationally recognised human rights. This raises fundamental questions about the UPR process and its potential to be misused to undermine established human rights law.

In its closing remarks, Iran responded to accusations, holding that it refuses to support recommendations delivered by an 'organised clique' using 'poisonous language' and jeopardising the cooperative spirit of the UPR.

The report on Iran will be considered by the Human Rights Council at its 14th session in June.

Baha'is offer decision-making model at UN commission

16 February 2010

UNITED NATIONS — A new model of decision-making among peoples of different cultures would contribute to integration "at this time of transition to a new social order," according to a new Baha'i statement.

The statement was prepared for the 48th United Nations Commission for Social Development, which concluded on 12 February. The commission is the chief UN body charged with following up on the World Summit on Social Development held in 1995 in Copenhagen, where world leaders outlined principles that would characterize a new "society for all." These principles included respect for diversity and participation of all people.

The Baha'i International Community said in its statement that it was offering its experience in the method of consultation used by Baha'i communities around the world – a key component in creating unity among people.

The consultative process, the Baha'i statement said, rests on the understanding that all human beings are essentially noble – "they possess reason and conscience as well as capacities for inquiry, understanding, compassion, and service to the common good."

Mr. Ming H. Chong of Singapore, a delegate to the commission who presented a summary of the Baha'i statement, said afterward that understanding the nobility of all humans prevents people from dismissing others as needy rather than being in charge of their own development.

"If you start with (this) understanding, then you have a different perspective, one that avoids labels like 'marginalized' and 'poor,'" he said. He explained that he was a child of immigrants to Singapore and had learned that such labels create the wrong impression of entire groups of people.

"Language shapes the way we think," he said. "It creates mental pictures of how we see the world. Some of these mental pictures are not always positive – those that dehumanize migrants, for example."

The Baha'i statement to the UN commission suggested that the human body can serve as a model for comparing the integration of the world's cultures and peoples. "Within this organism, millions of cells, with extraordinary diversity of form and function, collaborate to make human existence possible. Every least cell has its part to play in maintaining a healthy body," the statement said.

This image can be used to envision the world's peoples as one human family and understand how each culture plays a part in the functioning of the whole, Mr. Chong explained.

In consultation as practiced in Baha'i communities, great value is placed on the diversity of perspectives and contributions that individuals bring to the discussion.

"Actively soliciting views from those traditionally excluded from decision-making not only increases the pool of intellectual resources but also fosters the trust, inclusion, and mutual commitment needed for collective action," the Baha'i statement said.

A key feature of Baha'i consultation is that ideas belong to the group rather than to individuals.

"Detachment from one's positions and opinions regarding the matter under discussion is imperative – once an idea has been shared, it is no longer associated with the individual who expressed it, but becomes a resource for the group to adopt, modify, or discard," the statement said.

A diversity of opinions, however, is not sufficient – it "does not provide communities with a means to bridge differences or to resolve social tensions," it continued.

"In consultation, the value of diversity is inextricably linked to the goal of unity. This is not an idealized unity, but one that acknowledges differences and strives to transcend them through a process of principled deliberation," the statement said. "It is unity in diversity."

The Baha'i International Community participated in or cosponsored several other activities during the Commission for Social Development, which ran from 3 February to12 February. Among other things, Baha'is sponsored a panel discussion on freedom of religion or belief, offered a presentation on "Child Participation for Social Integration" featuring the New York-based Children's Theater Company, and contributed to NGO consultations leading to a Civil Society Declaration to the Commission.

The panel discussion – titled "Freedom of religion or belief: A forgotten pillar of social integration?" – was held at Baha'i offices on 5 February. It featured presentations by Brian Grim, a senior researcher at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life; Dr. Anupam Ray of the mission of India to the UN; John Mosoti of the mission of Kenya to UN; and Azza Karam, a senior researcher with the United Nations Population Fund.

Participants discussed how freedom of religion contributes to social integration, focusing in part on the success of multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies like India and Kenya in achieving relative harmony.

"To the extent that efforts towards social integration will reflect the diverse voices and aspirations of the world's people, governments will need to tackle one of the most challenging and neglected issues of our time – ensuring every individual's freedom of conscience, religion or belief," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the UN, who introduced the discussion.

This is a great statement! If there's nothing else you learn from the Baha'i Faith, at least look at the way Baha'is make decisions.

Mind you, Baha'i consultation, as it's called, is much more than a technique. It depends upon the participants exercising personal and social virtues and accepting that, at root, all human beings are noble and have the capacity to express that nobility in their lives.

The United States criticized the violent crackdown on postelection protests last summer.

February 15, 2010

By Golnaz Esfandiari

Western countries expressed concern today at the UN Human Rights Council over the violent methods employed by Iran against protests over the country's disputed presidential election.

The countries, including Britain and France, also called for an international probe into the violence that followed the election in June 2009.

…

Call For UN Investigation

The announcement of Ahmadinejad as the winner led to mass protests in Tehran and other Iranian cities, as the president and other top officials rejected accusations that the election result was engineered through massive fraud.

The ensuing and continuing crackdown against the opposition has resulted in the arrest of more than 2,000 activists and human rights defenders, a number of whom have faced trial. Two people have been executed after being found guilty in connection with the unrest, although at least one was arrested before the election.

Germany said today it was deeply concerned about the way the Islamic republic treated those who took part in the protests that followed the election.

Britain voiced similar concerns. Britain's ambassador in Geneva, Peter Gooderham, recommended that Iran invite UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to "investigate the postelection violence and independently assess the human rights situation."

Senior diplomat Seyed Hossein Rezvani, a member of the Iranian delegation, told reporters that an international investigation was "totally out of the question," since the country's own judicial system was capable of examining allegations of wrongdoing.

But he claimed Iran had issued an open invitation to all of the UN's independent investigators to visit the country.

…

Religious Persecution

Aside from the postelection crackdown, a number of countries expressed concern over death sentences handed down to juvenile offenders and political prisoners in Iran. Canada called on Iran to stop issuing such sentences.

Discrimination and pressure on religious minorities, including the Baha'is and Sufis in Iran, was also criticized today by Western countries, including the United States.

Iran reacted by saying that all recognized minorities in the Islamic republic enjoy the same rights. Larijani said no Baha'i in Iran has been prosecuted because of his or her faith.

"Baha'is [who] are pursued in Iran through legal structure are those who are indulged in cult type of activity -- cult type of activity is against all the basic human rights of the people," Larijani said.

The UN representative of the Baha'i International Community, Diane Ala'i, however, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the Iranian delegation's claims about the Baha'is were untrue. "Baha'is have no rights in Iran and they get persecuted only because of their religion," she said.

'Human Rights Tragedy'

Today's three-hour debate before the Geneva-based council was eagerly anticipated by human rights groups who have strongly criticized rights abuses in the Islamic republic, particularly the execution of minors, mistreatment of postelection detainees, and the jailing of journalists.

On February 12 Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi called on the world to help before it is too late. "If this situation continues in Iran, I must warn that the day will come when the young Iranian people will no longer be able to endure government violence. They will reach the end of their rope," Ebadi said, warning of a "human rights tragedy" in Iran.

The UN Rights Council is due to issue its report of today's session on February 17. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has called for the Iranian government to be censured "for its serious human rights violations."

But Larry Cox, the executive director of Amnesty International in the United States, told RFE/RL on February 11 that he didn't expect much from today's session.

"The hopes are that because precisely of what's been happening in the last months and even in the last days, that if ever there's a moment when governments should find the ability to ask hard questions -- this should be it," Cox said.

"But I am afraid that I will be, as I often am, disappointed in the performance at the council."

RFE/RL correspondent Nikola Krastev contributed to this report from New York

The Iranian authorities always try to claim that freedom of religion or belief does not apply to Baha'is by claiming, quite spuriously, that the Baha'i Faith is not a religion but a political movement. Thankfully, and whether or not they accept what Baha'is believe, many governments work hard to hold Iran to account for its persecution of the Baha'is and other minorities.

Shirin Ebadi speaks in Belgium after the disputed 2009 Iranian elections.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Shirin Ebadi cites abuses in Iran against religious minorities, women, unions, rights campaigners
  
• She pleads for action from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
  
• She accuses Iran of putting psychological pressure on political, social activists

Editor's note: Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Human Rights Advocate and 2003 Nobel Laureate, writes an Open Letter to Honorable Madam Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and members of the United Nations Human Rights Council

(CNN) -- Although I have already highlighted the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran on several occasions in writing and in person, I deem it necessary to once again draw the attention of Your Honor and the distinguished members of the UNHRC to the following issues as you prepare to review the Islamic Republic of Iran's human rights record, on February 15, 2010.

My compatriots have endured a difficult period. Their peaceful protests were responded with bullets and imprisonment. Many photographs and witnesses corroborate the government's violence, not to mention instances when sufficient facts and evidence were presented to the authorities and public that revealed the identity of the killers.

Sadly, however, the Judiciary and other state officials have not taken any steps to arrest the killers or even reduce the level of violence.

A large number of political, civil, and even cultural, activists have been arrested on unfounded charges. Some of them were sentenced to death after summary trials behind closed doors.

So far, based on official figures released by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, four of them have been executed and more than 25 others are awaiting their impending fate.

Political prisoners are treated so badly that some have died in jail and under torture. These prisoners are even deprived of the rights afforded by law to ordinary and dangerous inmates.

There are some whose conditions are very serious because of old age and illness. They include Dr Ebrahim Yazdi, Dr Mohammad Maleki, and engineer Behzad Nabavi. The first two are almost 80 years of age and are suffering from cancer, while the third is suffering from heart problems.

They receive no medical care and, because of the unsanitary prison conditions, there are fears that they could die at any moment.

Tragically, the number of political prisoners who are ill and in need of medical treatment is not limited to these three; there are more than 60 political prisoners who need to be hospitalized.

Iran has turned into a big prison for journalists whose only crime is to disseminate information. There are currently 63 reporters and photojournalists in Iran's prisons. Iranian students are imprisoned or barred from education for making the slightest political criticism.

Iranian women who seek equal rights are charged with conspiring to overthrow the Islamic Republic; criminal proceedings have been instituted against more than 100 of these women.

Workers and teachers have been accused of causing riots and disorder because they were trade union members and had protested against their low wages. Some of them have been imprisoned, and many have lost their jobs.

Not only non-Muslims are persecuted -- such as members of the Baha'i faith who, since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, have not even been allowed to study at university -- but even the followers of Iran's official religion, Shi'ite Islam, have not been immune from government repression; as an example, one could cite the persecution and detention of the Gonabad Dervishes [who practice the Sufi tradition of Islam].

Even more appallingly, they have recently embarked on yet another means of exerting pressure on political and social activists, which is to take one or a few of their relatives hostage.

In so doing, they aim to attain their illegitimate objectives through putting psychological pressure on the activists. In that regard, one could point to the arrest of two daughters of a human rights activist Mr. Tavassoli. Sadly, so far eight families have been victims of the same phenomenon.

Meanwhile, the plight of human rights defenders is the worst because the authorities do not want any reports whatsoever on the human rights violations in Iran to leave the country.

As a result, most of the known activists in Iran are either in prison or barred from traveling abroad; or they have been forced underground and into hiding. More distressingly, indictments have been issued against some of them for Moharebeh (waging war against God), which is punishable by death.

Under such circumstances, the defenseless people of Iran are continuing to resist and insist on the realization of their just demands for democracy and human rights by demonstrating their political maturity through peaceful protests.

My question to you in your capacity as representatives of UNHRC member states is this: For how much longer do you believe that you could urge young people to remain calm? The patience and tolerance of Iranian people, however high, is not infinite.

A recurrence of the recent months' events, the continuation of the repressive policies, and the killing of defenseless people, could bring about a catastrophe that may undermine peace and security in Iran, if not in the entire region.

So, I urge you, yet again, to use whatever means possible to convince the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to abide by the resolutions adopted by the U.N. General Assembly, in particular the resolution of December 2009; to allow human rights rapporteurs, especially those who deal with arbitrary arrests, freedom of expression, religion and women's rights, to enter Iran, and to cooperate with them.

I also urge you to appoint a special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, who would be able to continuously monitor the government's conduct and, by offering prompt advice and suggestions, help end the political crisis and mounting repression.

My honorable friends! Please bear in mind that we are all responsible and accountable to history. God forbid, lest we stand ashamed before a defenseless nation because of our political complicities.

Yet again Shirin Ebadi very publicly stands up for human rights in Iran. She urges the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanetham Pillay, and member states of the UN Human Rights Council to 'use whatever means possible' to convince the Iranian government to fulfill its human rights obligations towards all its citizens, including women, minorities (such as the Baha'is), and even members of Iran's majority religion, Shi'i Islam.

One issue that should be put on the table was displayed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week in New York: Iran's religious minorities.

Iran's deplorable record on human rights is often treated as separate from the nuclear issue. It's not. If Iran's government can't be trusted to treat its own citizens with basic dignity, how can it be trusted with nuclear technology?

Mr. Ahmadinejad's theatrics involved including five religious minority parliamentarians in his entourage to the UN General Assembly, this week. This act shows how eager Tehran is to be accepted back into the community of nations. Thus, the human rights card could be considerable leverage for Western powers in coming weeks.

When he addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23, Ahmadinejad professed concern for "justice, freedom, and human rights." He apparently thought his five props would help him project a tolerant, peace-loving face. It was a stiff performance.

...

Apart from the four heritage religious minorities (Jews, Armenian Christians, Assyrian-Chaldean Christians, and Zoroastrians) that are allotted parliamentary seats, there are other groups who have even fewer rights. Bahais, treated as heretics from Islam, have no constitutional protections. They can be robbed and murdered with impunity since Iranian law declares that their blood is mobah or can be spilt. Major Bahai shrines have been demolished and the people can assemble only in secrecy.

...

If Ahmadinejad's regime meets obligations to its fellow Iranians, then it is more likely to fulfill agreements with the international community. Transparency and well-being, rather than secrecy and aggression – as reflected yet again by the recently revealed nuclear facility – are necessary in Iran's national and international affairs.

Ultimately, when free to express their beliefs and ideas, Iran's people will be the best guarantors of their nation's fidelity in world affairs.

In this article, Jamsheed K Chosky and Nina Shea neatly highlight the hypocrisy of Ahmadinejad's public performance in New York. It also highlights the confusion amongst Western governments about how to deal with the challenges that Iran poses.

Naturally everyone is concerned about the possibility that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons, but, as Chosky and Shea point out, this cannot be regarded as somehow separate from Iran's appalling human rights record and its egregious treatment of religious and other minorities, including the Baha'is.

The 64th session of the UN General Assembly offers the world's governments the opportunity to voice their condemnation of Iran's calculated disregard for international human rights covenants to which it is a party and which it has never repudiated.

This is a matter of principle. I know that "realpolitik" and principle are not comfortable bedfellows, but if the international community remains silent on Iran's truly appalling treatment of the Baha'is and other minorities, who are, after all, Iranian citizens, this will be tantamount to complicity with these abuses.

Do read the rest of the Christian Science Monitor article.