|
|
|
| “Islam is ready to rule world.” | “Iran executes minors, discriminates against women, persecutes minorities.” |
| “By the grace of Allah, we will be a nuclear power.” | “Iran’s racism was on world display when it hosted the Tehran conference denying the Nazi Holocaust.” |
| “The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm.” | “President Ahmadinejad should be indicted under the Genocide Convention.” |
UN Watch Remarks to UN Human Rights Council
September 24, 2007
Indict Iran’s President Ahmadinejad
Delivered by Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security. But the illicit nuclear program of President Ahmadinejad potentially threatens these rights for millions, near and far. That’s why the Security Council, acting under Chapter VII against threats to the peace, held Iran to be in breach, and imposed sanctions.
The Iranian leader speaks at the UN about “human dignity and justice.” Yet the UN itself — GA Resolution 61/176 — found that Iran treats its own people with neither dignity nor justice. It called on Iran:
-
to end its use of torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment;
-
to end its execution of minors, and its violence and discrimination against women;
-
to end its discrimination against minorities, including Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds, Christians, Jews, Sufis, Sunni Muslims, and the Baha’i.
Mr. President, Iran’s policy of racism was on world display when it hosted the Tehran conference denying the Nazi Holocaust. The GA responded with a condemnation of Holocaust denial, which Iran alone refused to support.
But it’s worse. Iran’s president not only denies genocide, but he incites to genocide. When he first threatened to “wipe Israel off the map,” he was condemned by Kofi Annan and the Security Council. When he called for the “destruction of the Zionist regime,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his shock and dismay.
Dr. Hamburg, an advisor to the Secretary-General on genocide, said that he could not recall anyone “since Hitler who so repeatedly and explicitly called for genocide,” and he warned of the combustible conjunction of this with nuclear weapons capability.
Mr. President, does the UN have an answer for a government that tramples human rights, practices racism, denies the Holocaust, incites to genocide and threatens international peace?
It does. Under Article 6 of the UN Charter, a country that persistently violates the Charter’s principles may be expelled.
And the correct answer for a government leader who commits such acts is not an invitation to a UN podium and global platform.
It is the response recommended by Noble Laureate and UN Messenger of Peace Eli Wiesel: the indictment of President Ahmadinejad under the Genocide Convention.
Thank you, Mr. President.
