noticias - Commission holds informal session to discuss human rights sections of report of Secretary-General on reform

noticias - Commission holds informal session to discuss human rights sections of report of Secretary-General on reform: "MOSTAFA ALAEI (Iran) said Iran believed that the international community should further intensify its efforts to allow the United Nations human rights machinery to rise to the challenges ahead to fulfil its daunting task. The delegation of Iran concurred with the Secretary-General's view that the human rights machinery suffered from a credible deficiency and lacked of professionalism in enforcing the universally agreed standards throughout the globe. However, Iran firmly believed that that state of affairs had little correlation with the existing structure of the machinery per se, nor the membership of the Commission and the final shape of the relevant human rights bodies. Rather, based on past experiences, the failure of the Commission to live up to the promises undertaken under the Charter was more characterized by the political manipulation of the human rights agenda by some major powers, the lack of objectivity and the exercise of double standards in the Commission and other relevant bodies than its current status in the existing hierarchy within the world organization or the insufficient frequency of its sessions.

The Secretary-General's proposed reforms in the human rights arena, namely the establishment of an Human Rights Council might not necessarily lead to an increase in the credibility and professionalism of the system. Instead, it might further marginalize the developing countries, leaving the ground wide open for further polarization and even more politicization in the proceedings of the Commission. Furthermore, the proposed reforms were clearly a departure from the principle of the indivisibility and interrelatedness of human rights and the longstanding consensus that the civil and political rights as well as the right "