lslamic Republic of
PermonentMissionto the United Notions Statementbv H.E. Hossein Panahiazar Director General for International Legal Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Iran Before the Third Committee on the agendaItem 67 (c): Human rights situation and reports of specialrapporteurs and representatives Third Committee of the 61" Session the United Nations of General Assemblv New York, October 30, 2006 In the Name of God, the Compassionate, merciful the Mr. Chairman, The item under considerationis one of the important items on the agendaof the Third Committee. However, we have been reluctant to make statementson the specific situations due to the lack of an objective definition to guide our deliberationsin a fair, comprehensive, impartial and non-politicizedmanner. Sadly, the long-standingpractice of few countriesin dealing with this item is indicative of their frequent attempt to use it more as an instrument of fault finding, naming and blaming exercisethan a vehicle to bring understanding the promotion and protection for of human rights worldwide. Such few states,being traditionally assertiveand at times aggressivein the field of human rights, tend to divide the world into two confronting blocks: human rights claimants and human rights defendants.'the so-called claimants have always the habit of attributing human rights violations to others,while striving to portray their own human rights record as perfect. In fact, all countriesface a variety of challenges and impedimentsin the fulfillment of to their human rights obligations, and thus no country can claim perfection in its human rights record. Besides,such an attitude cannot concealthe truth, w-hichis that all States, be they from the North or from the South, are equally presentedwith human rights predicamentsand more or less experienceviolations in various forms based on their societal structures,and thus are equally accountableto the collective conscienceof the intemational community.

I R AN

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The aggressive policiesadoptedby certainwesterncountries in their political agenda lie that, on the one hand,disregards grossviolations of humanrights in many parts of the the world that fall directly or indirectly under their influence,and on the other hand"unjustly treats the countries that are not considered as "allies". The appalling situations in Guantanamobay. the disclosureof torture in the Iraqi prisons by the occupying forces especiallyin the Abu Ghraib prison, the existenceof secretdetentioncentersin Europe, the inhumane treatment of the Palestinianpeople by the Israeli regime are but a few examplesof gross violations of human rights committed by the so-callecl claimants and self-proclaimedchampionsof human rights. Yet, the perpetratorscontinue to maintain stereotypes blaming and condemnothersfor violation of human rights, while shirking by away from their responsibilityfor the violations they commit in different forms. Mr. Chairman Discrimination on the basis of religion and ethnic origins in many westerncountrieshas been on the rise in the past several years. Muslims and certain ethnic minorities are subjectto verbal and physical attacksas well as discriminationin jobs and housing.They are even deprivedfrom practicingtheir religious duties and requirements public places in such as observingtheir religious and traditionaldresscode. Muslims are unfairly and falsely brandedwith and accused extremistideas,thus being of increasingly and systematicallytargeted by police and security agents.It is even more unfortunateand alarming that certain politicians in the West are racing to play on public fearson ethnic and religious groups,particularlyMuslims, in the west. As one of the latest act of growing discrimination on the basis of religion ancl ethnic origins in the western countries,the media recently reportedthe dismissalof {ozens of workers from an airport in Western Europe after having been identified as practicing Muslims. It could not be portrayedas an iiolated case,ur it follo*ed severalother cases of similar naturein the samecountry this year. The samepattem of rights violations is in display in Canadaas a concreteexample.There is a grave concernover the situation of individuals deprivedof their liberty awiiting trial or sentencing, continuedallegationsof police brutality and of inappropriateuse of illicit chemical agents by law enforcement authorities in the context of crowd control, disappearances murder of aboriginal women and extrajudicial summeryor arbitrary and executions. Indigenous women and girls continue to suffer from a high level of discrimination and violence. There were also concems that counter-terrorismpractices did not conform with human rights obligations.I decline to go further to bring to the attentionof this augustmeeting other casesof human rights violations committed by the Governmentof Canada.Such violations have been enumerated different intemational by human rights bodiesespeciallyby the Human Rights Committeein its report of 2006.

Mr. Chairman We believe that all peoples in all parts of the world, irrespectiveof their ethnicity, race and religion deserve to live in dignity and respect. A dignified and prosperouslife requiresa social and political systemfree from discrimination,injustice and inequality.In this context, it is the view of my delegationthat the internationalcommunity should pay attention to human rights situations in all comers of the world without exception or ulterior considerations. Hence,time has come to put an end to the practiceof oveilooking the situation of human rights in the West where the rights of certain segments society of particularly minorities and immigrants are systematicallyand persistentlyinfringed. In the same vein, the aggressive policies of certain westem counties against the independence and integrity of developingcountries,which have ultimately given rise to the violation of human rights in the targetedcountriesand peoples,shouldreieive serious attentionand needto be appropriately dealt with. I wish to conclude by emphasizingthe need for approachinghuman rights issuesin a cooperativeand constructiveway. In our view, the policy of confrontation and fingerpointing has thus far failed to achieve the long-awaited objective of promoting and protecting human rights in today's world. Time is ripe to reverse this unhealthy and counterproductive course. Thankyou Mr. Chairman.