Kazem Gharibabadi, the Iranian Judiciary chief’s deputy and secretary general of the country’s High Council for Human Rights, made the remarks on Tuesday in a meeting with ambassadors from more than 65 countries and representatives of international organizations based in Tehran.
He said unilateral sanctions were illegal and ran contrary to international law and the UN Charter, and that all countries were “duty-bound to confront unlawful unilateral sanctions.”
Gharibabadi said described unilateral sanctions, terrorism and certain political viewpoints as obstacles facing Iran in the area of human rights, adding, “We hope that we will be able to overcome the obstacles through cooperation with countries and judicial systems all over the world.”
The official underlined the importance of human rights and said the issue should not be affected by political considerations.
“Unfortunately, we are witnessing that some countries use human rights as an instrument to achieve their foreign policy goals,” Gharibabadi said. “We expect all countries to stand against the adoption of political approaches by some states in the field of human rights.”
He noted that Iran was party to many human rights-related international conventions and treaties, adding, “We abide by all of our commitments and regularly present reports to human rights organizations on the implementation of our international obligations.”
Gharibabadi said Iran was a fierce critic of the political approaches applied to the human rights issue in the Islamic Republic, particularly the appointment of a relevant UN special rapporteur and the adoption of illegal resolutions, but “we have never stopped our interactions with human rights mechanisms.”
The official said Iran had made great efforts to promote peace and stability, while some 17,000 Iranians had lost their lives in acts of terror against the country, but the Islamic Republic was still accused of human rights violations.
He called on world countries to pursue an “impartial and non-political” view to the issue of human rights.
Addressing a special hearing late last month at the General Assembly, Zahra Ershadi, deputy permanent representative of Iran to the United Nations called on the world countries to abandon a hypocritical approach to the issue of human rights, and instead pay attention to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a state-driven process under the auspices of the Human Rights Council (HRC).