POLITICS: Iran Hits Back at U.N. Chief Over Racism Meet

• by Thalif Deen (united nations)
• Wednesday, April 22, 2009
• Inter Press Service

The statements, made by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, have been dismissed by the Iranian government as 'deplorable, irresponsible and unwarranted.'

The government of Iran has asked the 119-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the largest single political body of developing nations, to formally convey its protest to both officials.

The United States, Israel and seven other Western countries have boycotted the event over concerns that Israel would be singled out for condemnation of its policies toward Palestinians and recent assault on the Gaza Strip.

The public lashing of the Iranian president by two senior U.N. officials is as exceptional as the harsh rejoinder by a member state.

The attacks and counter-attacks have violated longstanding diplomatic protocol in the world body.

In its protest letter, Iran says both statements 'utterly contradict U.N. well-established norms and practices to the effect that civil servants of the United Nations should at all times abide by the principles of impartiality and refrain from any judgmental remarks about the positions and statements made by the representatives of any member states, specifically if they are heads of state.'

The secretary-general, who is designated the organisation's chief administrative officer, is appointed by the 192-member General Assembly on the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council.

And the High Commissioner for Human Rights is appointed by the secretary-general with the blessings of the General Assembly.

Both Ban and Pillay lambasted Ahmadinejad who, among other things, equated Zionism with racism during his address to the anti-racism conference in Geneva Monday.

Ahmadinejad also said that following World War II, 'they [powerful countries] resorted to military aggressions to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering' resulting in the creation of Israel and rendering the Palestinians to the status of refugees.

The weeklong meeting in Geneva, which concludes Friday, is an international conference to take stock of the successes and failures of the 2001 Durban conference on racism.

In his attack on the Iranian president, Ban said he 'deplored' the use of the Geneva meeting as a platform 'to accuse, divide and even incite'.

'This is the opposite of what this conference seeks to achieve,' he said. Furthermore, he said, 'this makes it significantly more difficult to build constructive solutions to the very real problem of racism.'

'It is deeply regrettable that my plea to look to the future of unity was not heeded by the Iranian president,' Ban continued.

Pillay, who was equally critical of Ahmadinejad, said: 'I condemn the use of a U.N. forum for political grandstanding. I find this totally objectionable.'

She also pointed out that much of Ahmadinejad's speech was beyond the scope of the conference.

'It also clearly went against the long-standing U.N. position adopted by the General Assembly with respect to equating Zionism with racism,' Pillay added.

Asked for an official reaction, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told IPS: 'The secretary-general and Ms. Pillay stand by their statements.'

In its letter, Iran also said 'the status and dignity of the heads of states of U.N. member states should be respected and safeguarded at all times by the other member states, and in particular by the U.N. Secretariat.'

On the substantive issue of Ahamdinejad's statement, the Iranian government said: 'There was neither any accusation nor any incitement as alleged in Mr. Ban Ki-moon's statement.'

As a general rule, the secretary-general rarely, if ever, lashes out at world leaders - at least not in public - because he is a perceived as a political servant who owes his existence to member states.

Nor do world leaders lambaste the Secretariat or its chief administrative officer.

Last year, the president of Zimbabwe broke tradition by implicitly accusing the secretary-general of playing politics.

'We are of the view that international civil servants should discharge their noble duties with sensitivity and neutrality,' Robert Mugabe told the 192-member General Assembly in late September.

At no time, Mugabe said, 'should they seek to pander to the whims of the mighty against the weak.'

'It is our firm belief that the secretary-general and his staff should be allowed to serve all member states without fear or favour,' he added.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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