How the Iranian government breaches its own constitution and still receives the praise of countries during the UN’s seventh Universal Periodic Review

The UN Human Rights Council carried out its seventh Universal Periodic Review on Iran, on February 15, 2010.[1] The UNHRC provided a world forum to country representatives, willing to express their official stand on Iran’s human rights profile and to make recommendations. A close analysis of the Draft Report of the Working Group on the Islamic Republic of Iran, where 53 delegations made statements, reveals certain patterns in the positions of some of the states that took part in the Working Group.[2] These particular states, as discussed below, did not acknowledge the latest human rights abuses in Iran. Just the contrary, they recognized progress on Iran’s human rights record. The failure to acknowledge the latest suspensions of human rights in the Islamic Republic demonstrates how states’ economic priorities of trading with the second biggest oil exporter in the world can effectively undermine the entire international human rights enforcement scheme.

Before discussing the states in question, it is worth mentioning two examples of the latest human rights violations in Iran. In the examples discussed below, the Iranian government suspends human rights by breaching provisions of the Iranian constitution. The use of judicial and military methods like prolonged imprisonment, forced confessions and the utility of legislative techniques aimed at reducing women’s civil rights, all contravene Iranian constitutional guarantees. According to unofficial statistics, there are more than 1000 political prisoners in Iran.[3] In contravention of article 37 of the Iranian constitution, political prisoners are often first tortured and then forced to confess. [4] One of the numerous female human rights activists in Iran, Bahareh Hedayat, received 16 charges for participating in a peaceful march. The charges vary from “Propagation against and blackwashing of the regime,” “Active participation in gatherings after the elections,” “Interviews with and news propagation to foreign press,” “Insulting the Leader,” “Insulting the President,” and “Mutiny and congregation and actions against national security”[5]. These charges are all in contravention of the freedom of assembly and association, and freedom of the press constitutional guarantees in the Iranian constitution (articles 24-27). The Iranian government’s denial of human rights also involves the tabling of legislation that severely undermines women’s civil rights.

A bill was proposed this month in the Iranian government which would give men the right to take additional wives without requiring the wife’s permission, as under current laws. The law would also impose restrictions on alimony for women.[6] This is another manifestation of the Iranian government’s undermining of its own constitution. Article 3, 9 and 21 guarantee the status of women and the need for special protection as a way to advancing their status.[7] Contrary to these constitutional provisions, the bill in question aims to limit women’s civil rights and is thus anti-constitutional. Despite gross human rights abuses by the Iranian government, numerous states in the last Universal Periodic Review on Iran effectively denied such abuses by failing to discuss them.

Among the countries that abstained from criticizing Iran’s deplorable human rights record was Pakistan who commended the “high standards set out in the area of economic, social and cultural rights”.[8] Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Venezuela and Libya recognized Iran’s commitment to promoting economic, social and cultural rights and Nicaragua acknowledged the country’s compliance with “several human rights treaties”. Qatar, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, India and Syria noted the recent advances made by Iran in terms of the provision of welfare, education and the protection of refugee populations. Russia, Vietnam, Kuwait, Bangladesh and India abstained from criticizing and commended Iran’s progress, whether in combating illiteracy or in cooperating with international human rights bodies like the OHCHR.

While Iran’s trade partners maintain ambivalence towards the regime’s severe post-election crack-down, the remaining members of the delegation did not spare the opportunity to shame the Iranian government’s denial of human rights. Strong statements were made by Denmark, who expressed concern about the post-election crackdowns and cited reports of extrajudicial killings, rapes, torture and violations of the rights of freedom of assembly and expression, as well as thousands of arbitrary arrests. Chile was alarmed at the excessive use of force against demonstrators and expressed concern about the use of the death penalty. The remaining states were equally alarmed, expressing varying degrees of concern about the status of women and minorities, political prisoners, the treatment of detainees and Iran’s failure to comply with international human rights legislation. Given the gross human rights abuses, it is time international law proves its effectiveness as an enforcement mechanism for human rights. Clearly, the Iranian government has so far failed in enforcing its own constitutional provisions and has instead fixated itself  entirely on tightening its grip on power for as long as possible.

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