[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

[stefania]

UN adopts resolution condeming the regime for persistent Human Rights abuses
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Dec 23, 2003



The Plenary of the UN's 58th General Asssembley adopted, on Monday, a Canadian-drafted resolution (document A/58/508/Add.3–III), during its 77th meeting, condemning the Islamic republic regime for human rights abuses, including public executions, amputation, torture, suppression of free speech and discrimination against women and minorities.

The resolution was adopted by a vote of 68 in favour, to 54 against, with 51 abstentions. It's to note that the majority of the countries having voted against the resolution or having abstained are ruled by regime's dealing with the Clerical leadership or which are known as to be themselves human rights abusers or corrupts.
The official UN's Press Release on the rights abuses in Iran (GA/10223) is as follow: "Draft resolution III on human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran would have the Assembly welcome the open invitation extended by the Government of Iran to all human rights thematic monitoring mechanisms in April 2002, the opening of human rights dialogue with a number of countries, and the efforts by the elected Government to foster the growth of civil society. However, the Assembly would express its serious concern at the continuing violations of human rights in Iran, the continued deterioration of the situation with regard to freedom of opinion and expression and the continuing executions in the absence of respect for internationally recognized safeguards. Concern would also be expressed at the use of torture and other forms of cruel punishment, in particular the practice of amputation and public executions, as well as the systematic discrimination against women and girls in the law.

The Assembly would call upon the Government of Iran to abide by its obligations freely undertaken under the International Covenants on Human Rights, to expedite judicial reform, to guarantee the dignity of the individual and to ensure the full application of due process of law and fair and transparent procedures by an independent and impartial judiciary, and to eliminate all forms of discrimination based on religious grounds or against persons belonging to minorities."


* The countries which voted in favour of the resolution by condemning the Islamic regime were: Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Monaco, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Sweden, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, United States.

* The countries which voted against the resolution by trying to protect the Islamic regime were: Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Brunei Darussalam, China, Colombia, Comoros, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Myanmar, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

* The countries which abstained from voting were: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bhutan, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Dominica, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Suriname, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Zambia.

* The countries which were absent during the vote were: Armenia, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Kiribati, Liberia, Republic of Moldova, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tonga, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu.
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Referendum AFTER Regime Change

"I'm ready to die for you to be able to say your own opinions, even if i strongly disagree with you" (Voltaire)

[Gil]

Not to cheapen the satisfaction that such a resolution brings, but I find it hard to feel any emotion other than distrust when the UN issues a "condemnation" for human rights abuses; too often Israel - a defender of human rights in an area bereft of it - is at the other end of that condemnation. However, it is important to see such a resolution issued against an Arab regime; such things usually get squashed before they can flourish (remember: the UN is an organisation that has Koffi Anan on its security panel). I would like to see this condemnation followed up by any type of action from the UN against the government of Iran. I don't think it will happen, unfortunately.

I'm curious as to why the UAE abstained from the vote. It seemed that voting against this resolution was their "party line" - so why did they drop it?
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We Won't Get Fooled Again
"Revolution in a Bottle"

[stefania]

Dear GIL,i also dislike this U.N. I am for the Community of Democracies..our movement is working hard to bring all the democracies together against the majority of the UN members which are undemocratic..

However, dear, Iran is not an arab country!!

Yes, the mullahs are arabs of origin and culture..

but it's not Iranians' fault if they invaded their country!!

The majority of the Iranians dislike the arabs very much.
25 years of islamic regime have provoked an anti-arab feeling and possibly even an anti-islam sentiment.

The Iranians are deeply nationalists and they are proud of their past and civilization.
Zoroastrianism is a growing religion in Iran and many ,specially the youth, are embracing this religion and leaving Islam.

I think i can say that most of the iranian youth is proudly pro-american and pro.israel .

I can be 90% sure of this because i have many contacts with iranian youth in Iran and they tell me this.

The Palestinians have harmed the iranians so much.
They and their leader Arafat gone to Iran in 1979 and shot thousands of people and,let me say, contributed to massacre the Kurds in their villages..

There are the sad pictures of palestinian mercenaries shooting innocent iranians.

And nowadays,they are among those who go to Iran as mercenaries paid by the mullahs.

This is the sad truth
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Referendum AFTER Regime Change

"I'm ready to die for you to be able to say your own opinions, even if i strongly disagree with you" (Voltaire)

[Spenta]

This is still a great step.

2 years ago when the UN removed Iran from its list of HR villators, IRI topped the international charts with the highest number of public executions. Unfortuantely the regime will continue to kill, but less than without this resolution. All of this helps, its saving lives even as we speak.

[Gil]

stefania,
You speak truly. I misspoke when I referred to Iran as an "Arab country" - and it is an important mistake. The Iranian people's Persian heritage distinguishes them, in my eyes, as one of the greater allies of Israel. Zoroastrian Persia was very accepting of the Jews, and this has not been forgotten. I meant to say, in my previous post, that the Iranian government is Arab in nature (you would say this is true, no?), and the Iranian government is no friend of Israel. However, we may have different definitions of what an "Arab" is.
I have two "working" definitions:
1) Any Egyptian or Syrian. The only country ever to be officially "Arab" was the United Arab Republic, formed in 1958 by Egypt and Syria. When the UAR was formed, Egyptians and Syrians ceased to exist; citizens were known simply as "Arabs." See the Artzeinu Article on the subject
2) A citizen of any Middle Eastern country, or the government of any Middle Eastern country, that is both an enemy of Israel and of Semitic descent. This is a personal, rather than historical, definition.
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We Won't Get Fooled Again
"Revolution in a Bottle"