Iran to pursue Canada rights violations

Iran slams Canada for its stance on Tehran’s election to a UN panel on women’s rights and says Ottawa should answer for the violation of the rights of its indigenous groups.

Canada on Saturday reacted to a UN decision to appoint Iran, along with 10 other countries, to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) for the term beginning in 2011.

“The approach adopted by Canadian authorities toward human rights is influenced by political grudges and suspicious lobbies that serve Zionist interests,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Thursday.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a Saturday statement that there was “serious concerns” about Iran’s election to the UNCSW.

“We deplore this development but will use Iran’s membership on this body to take the Iranian authorities to task for their systemic human rights violations,” he added.

The UNCSW seeks to ensure women’s rights by investigating nations that violate women’s rights, monitoring their efforts to improve women’s equality and detail their shortcomings.

Mottaki also said that Iran would “seriously pursue the violation of the rights of women and indigenous groups” in countries such as Canada.