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by Algemeiner Staff
The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Photo: UN.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) outraged its critics once again on Friday, as a mandatory annual human rights review of the Islamic Republic of Iran gave way to unabashed praise of Tehran’s record by other member states — many governed by similarly authoritarian regimes.
Out of 111 countries present at the session at the UN’s Geneva headquarters, 95 lauded Iran as a defender of human rights, according to a tally kept by UN Watch, a leading Geneva-based NGO.
“This included 49 countries that glowingly praised the theocratic regime, and another 46 that expressed some praise for Iran’s alleged achievements,” a UN Watch statement said. “Only a small minority of 16 nations used their brief speaking time to apply real scrutiny to Tehran’s human rights record.”
Delegates who showered compliments on Iran included the representative of North Korea, who said, “We highly commend Iran for its effort and continued protection of human rights for its people, particularly children and people with disabilities.”
The PLO’s representative said that the “State of Palestine commends Iran’s commitment to promote and protect human rights,” while the delegate from Qatar — the oil-rich emirate that funds the Hamas terrorist organization — spoke glowingly of the “legislative and executive developments made by Iran to ensure the development of social and human rights.”
Hillel Neuer — executive director of UN Watch — said that whitewashing of Iran in the chambers of the UNHRC conformed to an established pattern.
“Sadly, as underscored by the recent election of Venezuela’s Maduro regime to the UN Human Rights Council, where China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia already sit, it’s the foxes guarding the chickens,” Neuer stated.
“Cynical politics have hijacked this council, giving a free pass to a regime that subjugates women, tortures human rights dissidents, executes gays and spreads hatred, war and terror across the region, including aiding and abetting genocide in Syria,” he said.
The US-based NGO Freedom House ranked Iran as one of the world’s most repressive states in its 2019 Freedom in the World report, assigning it a score of 6/7, with 1 being “most free” and 7 “least free.”
