The Farce of the United Nations and its Human Rights Council

Enough is enough. There are countries that suffer all types of gross human rights violations by their governments; such as Iran, Zimbabwe, China etc... The United Nations sought to 'protect and promote' human rights by having their Human Rights Council monitor the human rights situations worldwide.

So what becomes of the human rights of Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh, and the recently executed Delara Darabi? These two girls have been grossly let down by the international powers. Delara was accused of committing a murder when she was 17 years old. It later came to light that there was new evidence to suggest she could not have committed the crime. Many campaigns, including Stop Child Executions, were launched in order to give Delara a fighting chance for truth. The judiciary and government of Iran were constantly appealed to, and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights were pressured to intervene and enforce their laws; however, the IRI judiciary were not interested and refused to permit a retrial and had Delara covertly executed in order to avoid international pressure and national protests.

Article 37(a) Convention on the Rights of the Child protects anyone being executed for a crime they were charged with having committed whilst under the age of 18. Iran has ratified this binding law, and have added the following lamentable reservation:

"The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the right not to apply any provisions or articles of the Convention that are incompatible with Islamic Laws and the international legislation in effect."

What use is such a law whereby any country can deviate away from its aims? The Islamic Government of Iran claims to follow Shari'a, which permits the execution of anyone as young as the commencement of puberty. As a result, this reservation acts as a green card for the government to do as they wish.

It is one thing to be let down by one's own government (as nothing less can be expected from IRI); however, it is quite another thing to be let down by the paper tigers of the international community - the United Nations. All these laws and written communications to offending countries; yet no robust action taken against persistent offenders who demonstrate a blatant disregard for international law and human rights. Ultimately, the Islamic authorities in Iran have violated every relevant and applicable international legal instrument, rendering them criminals of international law. They have proven to be higher than any peremptory norm of customary international law due to the fact that for all of their violations, they have managed to continue their practices without having to succumb to the principles of accountability. The powers of the international community have not yet managed to disrupt and end their heinous and barbaric practices. The worst threat the Islamic Republic of Iran has faced so far has been a growl from the mighty paper tigers sitting in the cages that form the United Nations; it is no wonder that Iran continues to conduct herself defiantly of international laws, when all she has to fear is a resonating roar from the international community, and no bite.

If the United Nations do not enforce international laws upon such offenders, then the very same set of laws merely become products of paper tigers, growling the worthless words printed on papers that have no binding force. A tiger may growl all day long at its target, but eventually the target will realise that there is nothing to fear from a growl and will, thus, not become deterred by it. In order to enforce international human rights laws against those governments responsible for their breaches, such as the Islamic government of Iran, the tiger needs to sharpen its teeth and bite.

At present, an international court of human rights enforcing international human rights law does not exist; only regional human rights instruments are enforced within their relevant courts. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction only over the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The International powers, such as the United Nations, need to work towards establishing a court of enforcement for international human rights instruments. It is high time the U.N. did something effective for a change; one should not have to keep campaigning the U.N. in hope that a chance to save a life materialises. The U.N. should be active effectively, rather than have one exhaust their efforts in campaigning to enforcing the U.N.'s human rights instruments, and for it all to end in vain. The U.N. must perform their duties; laws are not to be campaigned for; they are to be enforced.