Tehran, March 25: Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has denounced the “unfair “adoption of a US-sponsored resolution against Iran at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Under the United States’ pressure, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Thursday voted for the appointment of a special human rights rapporteur for the Islamic Republic. The motion was approved with 22 votes in favor, seven against, including China, Russia and Cuba, and 14 abstentions, IRNA reported.
Meanwhile, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman stated that the passage of the resolution by the Geneva-based monitoring council, was highly politicized, adding that the “illegitimate” resolution was adopted under the US pressure.
“The aim of the resolution was to put pressure on the Islamic Republic and to further side track the current process of the UN Human Rights Council’ periodic review of the human rights situation across the world,” Mehmanparast noted.
He also turned the spotlight on a previous case brought by the UNHRC against the United Sates, which cast a harsh shadow over the dire human rights situation in the country.
“The US policies both in deeds and words have always been paradoxical and predicated upon double standards, and the recent resolution clearly exemplifies such behavior,” the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman added.
Earlier this Month, the council, in a report, reviewed the United States’ human rights record for the first time in its history. The council then issued a document making 228 suggestions to the US to improve its rights record.
In recent years, many human rights organizations have condemned the US over wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and its treatment of prisoners in the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison and the Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad.
Police brutality towards African Americans, Latinos and undocumented migrants were also a cause for scrutiny and concern in the report.
In addition, Arabs, Muslims and South Asians were said to be the targets of racial profiling. The US government has reportedly been monitoring private communications of individuals within and outside of the country without judicial oversight, infringing upon people’s rights to privacy.
——–Agencies