Iranian Acting Ambassador to the UN Gholam-Hossein Dehqani on Tuesday described the Canada-proposed resolution on Iran as unbalanced and biased, stressing that such country-specific resolutions increase distrust and undermine the UN credibility.
The diplomat also called into question Canada’s claim of advocating human rights.
All the evidence available indicates that Canada is not concerned about the issue of human rights and is not sincere in its claim of advocating human rights, Dehqani said, citing Canada’s stance on Israel’s recent war on the Gaza Strip.
He said Canada’s failure to condemn Israel’s crimes in Gaza casts doubt on the sincerity of Ottawa's concern about human rights. Over 2,140 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed and more than 11,000 others injured during the nearly 50-day Israeli onslaught on Gaza this summer.
On Tuesday, the UN General Assembly human rights committee approved a resolution on alleged rights violations in Iran. Seventy-eight countries supported the resolution, which was presented by Canada at the UN General Assembly Third Committee. Canada has come under fire for violating the basic rights of the aboriginal community of the country. Native Canadians remain among the poorest members of the Canadian society with most of them suffering poor educational, economic and social conditions.
The resolution builds on a recent report by UN Human Rights Rapporteur on Iran Ahmed Shaheed.
This comes as Tehran has repeatedly criticized biased reports on the human rights situation in the country, saying the appointment of a UN special rapporteur on Iran's human rights situation is a selective, politically-tainted and unacceptable move.
