Canada urges UN investigators to focus on rights abuses in Iran
Updated: Friday, October 30, 2009
Photographer: Canadian Foreign Ministry
Lawrence Cannon, Canadian Foreign Minister
10:30GMT—6:30AM/EST
Washington, 30 October (WashingtonTV)—Canada on Thursday introduced a draft resolution at the United Nations, criticizing the human rights situation in Iran and urging UN investigators to get proactive about exposing human rights abuses there.
The draft resolution calls on UN investigators to “pay particular attention” to Iran, reports Canada’s National Post newspaper.
“Today, at the United Nations General Assembly, Canada will table the toughest resolution on the human rights situation in Iran,” Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said on Thursday, according to Canada’s Canwest news service.
“For the first time, under this government, we are calling on the investigators to focus on Iran’s appalling human rights record,” he added.
The draft resolution says there is a “persistent failure to uphold due process of law rights” in Iran, reports the National Post.
It noted that Iran has offered a “standing invitation” for UN investigators, but has not fulfilled any requests from the investigators to visit the country in four years, according to Canwest.
Diplomats at the Canadian mission to the UN have begun distributing the draft and have asked countries they think will support it too actively lobby to bring other countries on board.
Canada has led the drafting of resolutions on alleged human rights abuses in Iran every year since the 2003 torture and murder while in Iranian custody of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi, reports the National Post.
Sources: National Post newspaper, Canwest news service
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