Iran slams UN rights resolution, extension of rapporteur mandate

Iran has slammed a recent resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic, saying it proves that a few countries are abusing the world body’s human rights mechanisms.

In a statement released on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said the anti-Iran resolution was opposed by the majority of the UNHRC’s members and was adopted through the vote of a special political bloc.

“Although most members of the UN Human Rights Council refrained from supporting the resolution, it was simply adopted through positive votes of a specific political bloc and certain regional countries, which are known to be main violators of basic human rights across the world and region,” the Iranian official said, stressing that Iran condemns the resolution and considers it unacceptable.

In its midday meeting in Geneva on March 23, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to extend by a further period of one year the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran.

The resolution was passed by a vote of 21 in favor, 7 against and 19 abstentions. The council asked the Special Rapporteur to submit a report on the implementation of the mandate at its fortieth session and to the General Assembly at its seventy-third session.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian spokesperson said the extension of the mandate of Asma Jahangir, who is the current UN rights rapporteur on Iran, was an unjustifiable, unprofessional and unnecessary move.

“A rapporteur, who is appointed with such a suspicious record, faces a fundamental problem in her credibility and legitimacy,” Qassemi pointed out.

He said the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is the fairest international mechanism to survey the human rights issues in all countries and emphasized that the Islamic Republic’s policy is to reinforce this mechanism and to cooperate and interact with it.

The Universal Periodic Review is a unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council aimed at improving the human rights situation on the ground of each of the 193 United Nations member states. Under this mechanism, the human rights situation of all UN members is reviewed every 5 years.