Posts tagged ‘Iran’
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…
Are New Economic Sanctions on Iran Foreseeable for Noncompliance with International Nuclear Obligations? The Combined Power of International Law with a Unified Action across World Powers.
US State Department spokesperson, Ian Kelly has said, in response to the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran’s nuclear program, that the report underscores Iran’s refusal to “comply fully with international nuclear obligations.” Kelly’s statement is a result of Iran’s latest skepticism to comply with an international agreement on the scrapping of its nuclear program. The latest Brussels meeting of UN Security Council members and Germany indicates a growing sense of despair by Western diplomats with Iran’s failure to give concessions on its nuclear proliferation program. The negotiations between the “Iran Six” (the US, Britain, China, France and Russia) as well as Germany is centered on a “freeze for freeze” agreement, according to which Iran would suspend its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for the UN Security Council weakening its economic sanctions. However, world powers are growing increasingly desperate with Iran’s failure to carry out its international legal obligations and might proceed to impose sanctions.
Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and as such is entitled to enrich uranium. The degree of enrichment is essential here. Low enriched uranium (LEO) is for use of fuel in an electricity generating plant. Medium enriched uranium is for production of medical isotopes, and more than 90 percent enrichment is for a bomb-grade fuel. Iran has so far manifested LEO at its Natanz nuclear plant. The…
