The full passage of the statement by Ali Bagheri-Kani, the Secretary of the High Council for Human Rights of the Islamic republic of Iran, presented to the 46th Session of the Human Rights Council read as follows:
At the outset, I would like to express my congratulations to her Excellency Madam Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan on her election as the President of the Human Rights Council.
Madam President,
You’re Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to appreciate the efforts of the international community in eliminating racism and structural discrimination as well as welcoming the Durban Declaration and Program of Action. The Islamic Republic of Iran, as a country interacting with international mechanisms, fully adheres to the rights of every human being, not merely because of its international obligations, rather because of its underlying commitments that are rooted in the Islamic thought.
Fifteen years ago, the UN Member States restructured the Human Rights Commission into the Human Rights Council, aiming at further protection and promotion of human rights and dignity, free from any selective, politicized or instrumental approaches to gender, ethnicity and religion, the importance of which is increasingly unfolding, and it necessitates adherence and contribution of all Member States, particularly at this time of Coronavirus outbreak.
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
In recent years, the Iranian nation has paid the highest price to defend its rights and the rights of other human beings, and it has been at the forefront of the victims of the crime of terrorism and the sanctions.
The martyrdom of 17,000 innocent people by the notorious MKO terrorist group, a group which was not only removed from the list of terrorist organizations with the impunity granted by some Western countries but also has been praised by a number of those countries for its terrorist attacks; the assassination of the greatest defender of the rights of nations in the region against terrorism, General Qassem Soleimani by the US regime and the assassination of our scientists of the field of peaceful nuclear science and technology, including Martyr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, by the Zionist usurping regime, are but a portion of the expenses paid by the Iranian people in the fight against terrorism.
I speak of a nation whose inalienable rights, including the right to health, the right to food, the right of access to humanitarian aid and the right of access to peaceful nuclear technology, have been grossly violated by the illegal sanctions imposed by the US regime, and its implementation by a number of Western countries. But there is much to be regretted that those very countries which have violated the rights of the Iranian people are, today, claiming to defend the rights of people!
The countries which spare no effort to disrupt the Iranian nation's access to science and technology, the countries which despite their dark history of equipping the dictator Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons, and seeking to deprive the Iranian nation of its right to self-defense; the countries which have even refused to sell Mepilex wound dressings for the treatment of children suffering from the painful butterfly disease; how could they claim protecting the rights of the Iranian people and claim to be sympathetic to human rights?!
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is all clear that the designers and implementers of the “policy of maximum pressure", although failing to achieve their "minimum goals", succeeded in "maximum violation of the rights of the Iranian people"; and, more regrettably, the international human rights mechanisms have also failed to guarantee the "minimal rights of the Iranian nation."
Although, according to the UN Charter, the cruel sanctions of the US regime, construe a blatant violation of international law, the arbitrary detention and mistreatment, and even physical and psychological torture of Iranian citizens, by countries claiming to protect human rights, under the pretext of circumventing illegal sanctions, is a double violation of the rights of the Iranian people, which is still ongoing.
It is disgusting that the countries which accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran of human rights violations, with their "politicized votes", are the same countries that violate the rights of the Iranian people through their illegal acts, including sanctions and assassinations.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In conclusion, emphasizing the genuine will of the Islamic Republic of Iran to play an effective role in the human rights mechanisms, I would like to reiterate that the practical protection and promotion of human rights depends on the administration of justice for the perpetrators and deputies of the crimes of terror and sanctions. Hence, the Human Rights Council is highly expected, in the age called as the age of "accountability and responsibility", to find the facts on terrors and sanctions, free from any politicized approach, and facilitate and prepare the ground to bring the perpetrators of crimes to justice, and to fight against impunity.
I thank you.