Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Secretary-General Ban Goes to Tehran

On February 17, 2012 the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/175 on the "Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran."  It expressed deep concern at the ongoing and recurring human rights violations in Iran related to, among many things, torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, including flogging and amputations.  The resolution called on the government of Iran to address the substantive concerns expressed and to respect fully its human rights obligations.
Few could seriously believe that Iran was likely to do what the resolution requested, but at least the international community had publicly expressed concern about the misdeeds of the country.  It therefore comes as a surprise that Ban Ki-moon, U.N. secretary-general, plans to attend the 16th summit meeting of the non-aligned nations in Tehran, Iran on August 29-31, 2012.  
The non-aligned group consists of 120 member-states and 21 observer countries, though only 31 heads of state and ten foreign ministers are scheduled to attend the conference.  Curiously, Ban Ki-moon, the diplomatically experienced South Korean national, partly educated at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, comes from a country that is not a member-state of the non-aligned group.  In Tehran he will meet the head of state of North Korea, who is attending the conference.

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