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Iranian government endeavors for stopping isolation
By IHRV | May 25, 2010
The Iranian political establishment firmly believes that membership in international organizations and their affiliates has potential benefit, and can create credibility for the Islamic Republic, considering the pressures the Iranian government is feeling from both internal and external forces. Some of these benefits are detailed below.:
By appearing in such organizations, and considering the ever-expanding role these organizations are playing in collective international relations, the government can gain international acceptance and portray a finer image of the existing conditions inside Iran.
The Iranian government considers these organizations a suitable driver to promote its views and plans to make an impact within the international community, and authorities are well aware of the powers that such appearances can bear.
The Iranian government is aware of the fact that such a presence potentially expands the level of contact with other governments and even with non-governmental organizations, and considers it an opportune channel to express its needs, enabling Iran to attain its own ends from the international community.
The Islamic Republic considers these types of membership an international affirmation, and for this purpose alone, in the past weeks we witnessed Iran’s request to appear in United Nations Human Rights Council, an organization that is considered of lesser importance among United Nations general assemblies, whose role is to review incidences of human rights violation in different countries. Should Iran not have decided to back out of its decision regarding its membership due to the increasing level of protest by the opposition, the choice could have been made to solicit international recognition of human rights issues for the government of Mr. Ahmadinejad. Through its membership in this organization, the Iranian government could have given an aura of legitimacy to its autocratic policies, enabling it to further suppress and violate human rights. In pursuit of such policies, we are noticing the establishment of a new committee under the title of the Iran Human Rights Group, to be headed by Doctor Mohammad-Javad Larijani, speaker of Iran’s Islamic parliament. We are also seeing Kazem Jalali, a member of the National Security Commission and the Islamic parliament office of foreign policies, become a member of the Human Rights Committee within the union of nations representing the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Jalali has also applied for membership in the Commission on the Status of Women, and at the present time, a group of women’s rights supporters are circulating a letter protesting Iran’s request to join the United Nations commission, saying that Iran’s membership is a violation of the Commission’s charter.
Iran’s political machine believes that membership in international organizations will deflect excuses which could be used by western governments and human rights activists, thus easing Iran’s access to friendlier international opinion..
Also, the Iranian government believes, that by making such appearances, Iran can avoid international isolation and can securely promote its internal and external agendas.
Nonetheless, the Iranian government’s presence in such organizations are against the aims defined by these organizations; it is in violation of the establishment of such organizations, which are designed to defend human rights, and will lead to the propagation and impression of inequality among the international community, and it will adversely affect the activities of domestic human rights advocates, including the use of even further pressure by Iranian officials against human rights and political activists. If the Iranian government sees itself under the protection of an international security umbrella, the government will intensify its pressures and it will justify its policies on a variety of issues within the international community. Furthermore, it will disillusion Iran’s home-grown activists about these organizations, which are claiming to defend human rights, and it is possible that lacking any viable protection, the young activists will be depleted, disappointed from further activities.
Also, the Iranian government’s membership in these organizations, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, would threaten Iranian women, and an international opportunity to be used for the promotion of democracy and gender equality could fall victim to opportunistic and discriminatory ideals, thus encouraging the use of uninhibited brute force.
Topics: analysis |