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UNOG THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA |
HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL CONSIDERS ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Human Rights Council
MORNING
5 March 2009
The Human Rights Council this morning took up its agenda item on the annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General. Following a presentation by the High Commissioner, in which she highlighted the activities of her Office over the past year, there was an interactive debate, in the context of which speakers raised a range of issues, including the functioning of the Universal Periodic Review, violence against women and girls, and the upcoming Durban Review Conference.
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Right of Reply
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ASADOLLAH ESHRAGH JAHROMI (Iran), speaking in a right of reply, said Iran strongly rejected the baseless allegations and fabricated distortions raised against Iran by the representative of the Israeli regime. These were but a preposterous, and indeed tired practice to distract the international community's attention from the criminal policies and abhorrent atrocities of the Israeli regime in occupied Palestine, and elsewhere in the region and most recently in the Gaza Strip. This regime posed the sole and most real, serious and urgent threat that the world and the region were facing today, and should be countered by the international community urgently and decisively. All these atrocities had been committed in a climate of impunity, and in clear defiance of all international condemnations and the United Nations decisions and resolutions. The international community and the Human Rights Council in particular should take all necessary measures, as a matter of priority, to force the Israeli regime to stop its human rights violations, and to put an immediate end to occupation as the main root cause of all those violations and atrocities.
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AHARON LESHNO-YAAR (Israel), speaking in a right of reply, said since the advent of Iran, the struggle against Zionism and Israel had captured a central place in the regime's ideology. Throughout the Middle East and the entire world, Iran stood out as the only country to make deliberate, intensive use of the weapon of anti-Semitism, combined with a genocidal policy which sought to destroy Israel. Iran used hate speech in this forum, spewing propaganda like it was truth. Iran was well known as a main source of evil and terror in the Middle East, sparing no effort to support Islamic terrorist groups operating within Gaza, Lebanon, and Iraq, among others. If indeed Iran truly had the interests of the Palestinian people at heart, these efforts would have been better well spent on helping the Gazan people create a self-sustaining and efficient economy, donating funds to build necessary infrastructure, and taking the initiative to participate in peace talks on a two-state solution. Iran, together with Hezbollah and Hamas, shared the responsibility of the destabilisation of the Middle East, and the Council should in future take a strong stance against the incitement of hatred and anti-Semitic propaganda within the walls of the Council.
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ASADOLLAH ESHRAGH JAHROMI (Iran), speaking in a second right of reply, said Iran strongly rejected the baseless allegations and fabricated distortions just made by the representative of the Israeli regime. The attention of the Council was drawn to the outcome of the ninth Special Session of the body on the Israeli aggressions in the Gaza Strip, and Iran requested its immediate and urgent implementation.
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Interactive Dialogue with High Commissioner |
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AMR ROSHDY HASSAN (Egypt), speaking on behalf of the African Group, … /… … Furthermore, the African Group would have wished to see the issue of the situation in the Arab Occupied Territories, including Jerusalem and Golan, addressed in the introduction of the High Commissioner. /… IBRAHIM SAIED MOHAMED AL-ADOOFI (Yemen), speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, … /… … The Arab Group stated with concern the fact that the serious violations of human rights suffered by the Palestinian people and which was imposed on the Palestinian population by the recent invasion in Gaza were not mentioned in the High Commissioner's report. The Arab Group said it looked forward to future cooperation with the Council. /… SADIQ MARAFI (Kuwait) … Kuwait expressed its disappointment that the High Commissioner's statement did not make any reference to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Jerusalem and the Golan. The tragic situation there required immediate international action, which would be in line with international humanitarian law. Kuwait hoped that this failure to mention the situation would be remedied in a dialogue of the High Commissioner and the Arab Group. |
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IDRISS JAZAIRY (Algeria) … /… Further, Algeria regretted the absence of reference in the High Commissioner's statement to the alarming human rights situation in the Occupied Arab Territories, in particular Gaza and the Syrian Golan. Therefore, Algeria attached great importance to the outcome of the fact-finding commission that the Council had asked to be sent to the region. … /… ______________
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Document Type: Press Release
Document Sources: Human Rights Council, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Subject: Gaza Strip, Human rights and international humanitarian law, Incursions
Publication Date: 05/03/2009