Human Rights Watch calls on Ahmadinejad to announce an end to repression of Bahá'ís at UN conference

Edited from iranpresswatch.org.

Excerpts:

"It's clear Iran stood isolated when it tried to reintroduce the concept of defamation of religion in negotiations last week," de Rivero said. "If Ahmadinejad tries to reopen issues that states have taken off the table, delegations should react firmly to uphold the current consensus."

"Human Rights Watch called on Ahmadinejad to use his presence at the UN racism conference to announce an end to repression of the Baha'i people in Iran and a commitment to allow freedom of expression - an essential protection in the fight against racism worldwide."

Don't Let Any Nations Derail UN Racism Conference

Posted: 17 Apr 2009

Editor's Note: Human Rights Watch published the following article yesterday, reporting on UN's upcoming conference on racism. They call on President Ahmadinejad to 'use his presence at the conference to announce an end to repression of the Baha'i people.' While no one expects this to happen, the conference puts human rights abuses in Iran in the spotlight, increasing attention given to the Baha'i case.

(HRW-Geneva) - The likely presence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the UN's upcoming conference on racism should strengthen the resolve of governments to attend the talks and ensure the adoption of a strong declaration against racism, Human Rights Watch said today. Ahmadinejad has announced he will attend the Durban Review Conference to be held on April 21-24, 2009 in Geneva, while the United States has said it will not participate because of continuing concerns about the proposed text.

"We've made enormous progress to overcome the problems surrounding the preparatory process of this conference and produce a declaration to unite the world against the scourge of racism," said Juliette de Rivero, Geneva advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Governments should stand firm in Geneva to ensure that Ahmadinejad's presence isn't used to undermine a process that's now backed by so many nations, or to undercut the constructive spirit of the negotiations." ...

On April 15, the Russian chair of the preparatory negotiations produced a new, revised version of the draft declaration for the conference which provides a basis for a broad global agreement. The document takes stock of efforts to end racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance and paves the way for future UN action. On April 21, the representatives of nearly every member state of the UN will meet to finalize this text and pledge themselves to a renewed commitment to defeat racism.

Ahmadinejad's past statements on Israel and the Holocaust have made him a divisive figure. Some fear that during his appearance at the conference he could make controversial comments on the two issues that the other countries agreed to keep out.

"It's clear Iran stood isolated when it tried to reintroduce the concept of defamation of religion in negotiations last week," de Rivero said. "If Ahmadinejad tries to reopen issues that states have taken off the table, delegations should react firmly to uphold the current consensus." ...

"The issue of fighting racism and discrimination is too important to be derailed by anyone," de Rivero said.

Human Rights Watch called on Ahmadinejad to use his presence at the UN racism conference to announce an end to repression of the Baha'i people in Iran and a commitment to allow freedom of expression - an essential protection in the fight against racism worldwide.

Ahmadinejad's government routinely represses dissent and has continued the decades-old repression of Iran's religious and ethnic minorities, including the Baha'i religious minority (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2006/06/04/iran-scores-arrested-anti-baha-i-campaign), Human Rights Watch said. Iran's record of repressing peaceful dissent does great injustice to the struggle against racism and discrimination.

Human Rights Watch criticized the continued failure of the Obama administration to commit to participate in the racism conference....

[Source: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/16/dont-let-any-nations-derail-un-racism-conference]

Source is here.