The thirty-seventh United Nations Human Rights Council meeting kicked off in Geneva on Monday, February 26, 2018 and will run through March 23, 2018.
In recent years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has emphasized the importance of attending the Human Rights Council’s annual summit in a bid to foster enlightenment and to respond to unfair disputes.
During the first three days of the summit, the heads of state and relevant ministers outlined their positions on the national, regional and international dimensions of human rights. This section was attended by the Minister of Justice of the Islamic Republic of Iran Seyed Alireza Avaei and Deputy Head of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi.
Dr. Mohammad Javad Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, left Tehran on March 10 to attend the thirty-seventh annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Larijani is leading a high-ranking Iranian human rights delegation during the visit. Asghar Jahangir, Head of the Iran’s Prisons Organization, as well as Farhad Afsharnia, Head of Iran’s Judiciary in Khuzestan Province, are accompanying the country’s HR chief.
Elaborating on his visit’s agenda, Mohammad Javad Larijani said one of our most important tasks is to reveal the real nature of these aggressive behaviors which are often carried out using humanitarian claims as a cover-up.
“So far, thousands of people have been martyred in Yemen, hundreds of children are being slaughtered every day and millions of people are on the brink of dangerous hunger, but perpetrators of these horrific crimes against Yemeni people are widely supported while defenders of Yemeni people are deemed as human rights violators,” Larijani made the remarks prior to his departure at the International Imam Khomeini Airport (IKA) on Saturday morning.
Mohammad Javad Larijani, highlighting that war crime needs to fully removed from the global scene, added "the same case holds true also in Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and elsewhere, so one of the main activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to touch upon these events from a rightful point of view."
The official went on to reiterate that "the Islamic Republic remains a very successful example in the last century since it marks the foundation of a fully-structured and strong democracy based on Islamic rationality, and the honorable nation of Iran has enjoyed this revolutionary experience over the past forty years."
"Today the Islamic Republic is major democracy in West Asia which is a huge success that has worried arrogant governments of the world claimed that only secular liberalism could make a strong civilization in the world," noted the official.
Larijani, saying that the attacks on Iran are very scandalous ones, said "we respond to each and every one of these attacks strongly and with sensitivity, reasoning and patience, and of course tirelessly.
hand, the issue of human rights is an issue that affects all people, and it cannot be restricted to the US and Europe," he added. In our opinion, America and Europe do not possess the competency to speak about the crimes they commit, and so we must have an active presence in the conceptual and structural reconstruction of human rights.
He expressed regret that the documents of the first generation of human rights were formed in the absence of Islamic thought adding "the documents of the second generation were also formed by the Western countries and their own international mechanisms though absence of Islamic though in development of the third-generation documents is totally unacceptable."
Head of High Council for Human rights recalled that one major obstacle to advancing human rights is the dual standard approach adopted by the United Nations who rather than pursuit of human rights seek to provide support for terrorists. "Sadly, they assume that by introducing terrorists as human rights defenders the issue will be solved, which is not the case."
"Important reforms must be made in human rights structures and in its basic concepts, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is a very active country in the field of human rights," he continued.
At the end of his remarks, Mohammad Javad Larijani asserted that Iran hired various strategies in different fields; "for instance, the UPR mechanism proposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran is a very sensible mechanism that holds all countries accountable and indicates a major success achieved by Iran in extensive cooperation with other states."
Speaking on the sidelines of the annual event, Kazem Gharib Abadi, Deputy Director of Human Rights Council for International Affairs highlighted the main axes of the summit as regards the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran; “the first issue raised at the meeting was that human rights should not be contaminated with political debate and that cultural diversity should be respected.”
He added that lifestyle and standards of Western countries cannot be imposed against other states as desirable human rights standards.
Iran’s deputy HR chief said it was also emphasized at the meeting that appointment of the Special Rapporteur for the Islamic Republic of Iran as a country which marks the largest democracy in the Middle East is entirely based on a political decision by the Human Rights Council.
He pointed out that Iran is a great country that has made huge developments in human rights and civil rights since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution, and should not have a special rapporteur.
Gharibabadi said “today, we asked members of the Human Rights Council to end the mission of the Special Rapporteur due to the progress that the Islamic Republic of Iran has made and specially because the Rapporteur’s appointment has been politically-loaded.”
Based on the old mechanism of the Human Rights Council, the Council’s meetings were held only in March, but with criticisms against the issue, different sessions are now held throughout the year. The meetings of the council are convened at least three times a year and the duration of the meeting will be two to three weeks each time. The summit focuses on various issues over the course of four weeks. World countries discuss various human rights issues, problems and offenses across the globe and share views on deepening the theorem and concepts of future friendly discussions.