Hossein Jaberi Ansari who was announcing foreign ministry’s official reaction to extension of Ahmad Shaheed’s mission on Friday, said that the Islamic Republic of Iran had been committed to improving its human rights and rights of citizenship according to Constitution and religious teachings, and had been cooperating with UN different processes of human rights including Universal Periodic Review (UPR); “Iran has accepted so far 7 UN such Special Rapporteurs and has in agenda accepting a number of others; however, we oppose any abusing of human rights issues and using it as instrument to advance vested interests of some of UN member states,” he added.
Ansari criticized the composition of the members voting to extend Shaheed’s mandate in Human Rights Council which includes Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar as suffering a dark human rights record in systematic violation of women’s, immigrants, and other citizens’ rights; “in regional politics, their record is no less pernicious and devastating; in Yemen, they are red-handed in genocide and mass killing of the civilians; these, along with a host of other issues well indicate that human rights issue is instrumental to western interests,” he emphasized.
“Such starkly discriminatory resolutions will bring the inevitable outcome of discrediting UN’s human rights council and its place as international effective body; the signatories to the resolution are subject to possibilities of the same processes to examine human rights conditions in these countries according to reciprocity of international law principles,” Jaberi Ansari told reporters.
Foreign ministry spokesperson believed that turning a blind eye to the major countries violating human rights had the logical consequences of outspread of terrorism and extremism in Europe and elsewhere in the world and that western states would be held accountable to their respected nations for such outcomes; “based on these realities, we believe that extension of Ahmed Shaheed’s mission as Special Rapporteur on Iran is politically motivated and Iran would not abide by the provisions of the resolution accordingly.”
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