Five civil society activists warn of Iran's exploitation of UN Special Rapporteur's visit

In a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on "coercive and unilateral sanctions," five civil society and trade union activists asked him to meet with independent activists in Iran and seek their views on the country's conditions.

Giti Pourfazel, Ahmadreza Haeri, Keyvan Samimi, Sadra Abdollahi, and Jafar Azimzadeh wrote in this letter to Alena Doohan that if she does not meet with activists independent of the Islamic Republic, the suspicion will be raised that she does not want or is not allowed to hear the opinions of critics of the Islamic Republic.

They added: "The undemocratic structure, systemic corruption, and inefficiency of the government have caused economic pressure on the people and blatant and gross violations of human rights in Iran."

According to the UN statement, Alena Doohan is scheduled to meet with representatives of international and regional organizations, financial institutions, non-governmental groups, and civil society groups in Iran, in addition to government officials.

Five trade union and civil society activists have warned, in contrast, that in Iran, there are dozens of organizations called popular organizations and "ostensibly civil institutions" that are in practice "created by the government and merely reflect the positions of the Islamic Republic," and therefore, dialogue with their representatives cannot provide the UN representative with real data about the situation in Iranian society.

Ms. Doohan arrived in Tehran on Saturday and is scheduled to stay in Iran for about two weeks (until May 18) to research the effects of unilateral sanctions on people's rights.

He is scheduled to present his findings and recommendations in a report to the 51st session of the Human Rights Council in September of this year.

After withdrawing from the nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Donald Trump administration in the United States targeted the Islamic Republic government with unilateral and severe sanctions in an attempt to bring government officials to the negotiating table to reach a "better" agreement.

Government officials in Iran have repeatedly cited these unilateral sanctions as the reason for the shortage of vital items in the country, including medicine, and have called for their lifting.

For example, in December 2020, Abdolnaser Hemmati, then-governor of the Central Bank of Iran, claimed that the government had been unable to purchase vaccines due to "American sanctions," a claim that was denied a few days later by Nasser Riahi, head of the Iranian Medicine Importers Union.

However, in February of the same year, US President Joe Biden ordered an "urgent" review of unilateral or multilateral trade and economic sanctions to avoid their "unnecessary" impact on the fight against Corona.

Alena Doohan's trip is being reported in the media in a situation where the Islamic Republic has not granted any of the special human rights rapporteurs, including Javed Rehman, the right to travel to or enter Iran and has repeatedly accused them of "political activity."

Mr. Rahman, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, in his latest report, published in February 2019, called on the international community to hold the authorities of the Islamic Republic "accountable" for numerous human rights violations, including the "arbitrary" executions of 2018 and the suppression of the November 2019 protests.

A day before Ms. Doohan's trip to Iran, 11 human rights organizations issued a statement protesting the Islamic Republic's instrumental use of the UN reporting system, noting that the issuance of her travel permit was aimed at diverting the world from addressing human rights violations.

Previously, Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, referring to Iran's agreement with the visit of the "United Nations Special Representative to assess the damage caused by sanctions," had asked the organization's officials to make this visit conditional on "allowing the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights to enter Iran."

Source: Radio Farda