On Monday, February 18th the Foreign Press Association (FPA) hosted a press briefing in London to discuss the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran. Chaired by President of the FPA, Hosny Emam, the briefing saw an impressive panel of human rights experts, including Hadi Ghaemi, Director of The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, as well as Tom Porteous, the London Director of Human Rights Watch. During the briefing, the panel touched on a variety of subjects in addition the human rights crisis, including the role of Iran in the Middle East and the nuclear issues — and how those issues may detract attention from the human rights violations in Iran. Said Hadi Ghaemi, “The thing to do is to hold Iran accountable on the human rights issue, not as interference in domestic affairs… Many European government officials and Obama administration officials have told me that [they] cannot focus on the human rights angle because that would be interference in domestic affairs.” The International Campaign for Human Rights Director continued, noting that not holding Iran accountable for the international obligations it has voluntarily signed is “intellectually dishonest, morally wrong, and… counter-productive.” The press briefing, organized by United4Iran London, came only days after the the Universal Periodic Review of the human rights crisis in Iran. Various NGOs and human rights organizations- including The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran – convened at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to pour over reports highlighting Iran’s human rights abuses and making recommendations as to how to remedy the violations. Many of the recommendations were rejected by the Iranian government with its questionable justification that the human rights recommendations were “inconsistent with internationally recognized human rights.” [Read more about Iran and the UPR here] Watch a clip of the press briefing below.
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Sources http://www.foreign-press.org.uk/showevent.pl?id=420 http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2010/02/rejection-unhrc/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/United4Iran-London/294641483928