The United Nations overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to adopt an Iranian and Syrian authored resolution that calls on nations across the globe to denounce violence and extremism.
The U.N.’s General Assembly voted by consensus to approve the “World Against Violent Extremism” (WAVE) Act, which critics lambasted as hypocritical, given Iran’s designation as one of the global leaders in executions and state-sponsored terrorism.
Iran’s WAVE Act urges member nations to take “appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace and to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character,” according to text of the resolution.
It also encourages “respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of any kind such as to race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.”
Iran also asks that member states refrain “from the threat or use of force.”
Israel was one of the lone voices to raise objections to the measure and call out Iran for attempting to paper over its poor human rights record and ongoing support for terror groups such as Hezbollah.
The resolution was co-sponsored by these notable human rights champions: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Syria and Venezuela. And, for some reason, Italy.
The divergence between how Iran acts and what the resolution says is remarkable. For example, while Iran heavily limits Internet access for its people, the resolution
Recognizes the positive contribution that the exercise of the right to freedom of expression, particularly by the media and new technologies, including the Internet, and full respect for the freedom to seek, receive and impart information can make to the fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and reiterates the need to respect the editorial independence and autonomy of the media in this regard;While Iran's state media recently published a call for the world to declare war against all the world's Jews, this resolution
Strongly condemns any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence;Israel's ambassador Ron Prosor, using is usual mix of humor and facts, pointed out the stunning hypocrisy to a General Assembly that will never listen:
The Iranian theocracy has presented a resolution that is riddled with hypocrisy. By putting forward this resolution, Iran seeks to ride the WAVE towards international legitimacy. But Iran’s aspirations cannot be allowed to drown out the cries of its people who are victims of a regime that pretends to be progressive, but is in truth tragically regressive.
Iran calling for nations to denounce violence and extremism could easily fill the pages an absurdist fiction. I would suggest that Iranians borrow a phrase from the London Tube and caution readers of this resolution to “Mind the Gap” between the document’s aspirations and the situation in Iran.
Not long ago the Washington Post published an article written by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner. She wrote about Iran’s use of torture, media censorship, and the persecution of religious minorities.
While world leaders congratulated themselves on the interim deal reached in Geneva, Ebadi described the scene in Tehran where (and I quote), “the lifeless body of a young man hung from a crane in a bleak public square...spreading fear among Iranians, who suffer the world’s highest per capita rate of executions.”
Today’s resolution implores nations to ensure a life free of violence for their people, while fully respecting their human rights. Yet Iran is one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. This is a regime that hangs gays, stones women, imprisons journalists, and executes political opponents.
Reading through the document before us, it wasn’t clear to me if I was reading a UN resolution or President Rouhani’s New Year’s resolution.
After all, Iran is the world’s primary sponsor of terror responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent civilians from Bangkok to Burgas and Buenos Aires. It is also the principal supplier of weapons in the Middle East, igniting conflicts and inflaming sectarian divides.
Iran continues to lend its financial, military and political support to murderous groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. These terrorist organizations have dispatched hundreds of suicide bombers, planted thousands of bombs, and fired tens of thousands of missiles on innocent civilians.
Just this weekend, President Rouhani provided another example of Iranian hypocrisy, when he tweeted (and I quote): "Countries that provide arms and training to terrorists have created crisis in the region and will eventually be caught up in this support for terrorism."
Can you believe this? When read this at my phone, I thought I was reading pages from Alice in Wonderland, not Rouhani's twitter feed. It reminded me of a serial killer lecturing all of us on the sanctity of life.
Today’s resolution also calls on nations to recognize one another in a display of tolerance. Iran demonstrated this so-called ‘tolerance’ last week when it took the floor in the General Assembly and refused to recognize Israel, a fellow member state in the UN.
Nonetheless, Israel has joined the consensus to demonstrate its support for the ideals in this resolution and for the Iranian people. In doing so, Israel is putting people before politics in the hope that others will follow our example. This resolution sets the bar high – now it is up to the international community to ensure that Iran measures up.