At
UN,
Rights Groups Grilled in NGO Committee by Iran, Morocco,
Cuba
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 4 -- Iran trashed, and the US spring to the defense
of, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center in the UN's Committee
on NGOs on February 3.
Ignoring admonishments that it was taking too
much time, Iran's representative read into the record a 2006 Boston
Globe article that the IHRDC received $1 million of the US's $3.5
million for democratization in Iran. The US representative broke in
with a point of order. And then it was over.
In the abruptly cut off session, Iran
didn't mention a
2009 article that the Obama Administration was cutting
the funding. As of 2011, the IHRDC is said to receive 40% of its
funding from the US and Canada. An Inner City Press correspondent's
summary of the Q&A, different from the UN's more diplomatic and
air-brushed version, is below.
Earlier
in the
week, Morocco opposed a Swiss-based Western Sahara human rights
group, using procedural tactics concerning the law of NGOs in
Switzerland, and a rule that an applicant must have a certificate
more than two years old in order to apply for consultative status
with the UN. But in Switzerland, as Cuba pointed out, NGOs do not
have to register.
When
a group for
the disappeared in Algeria appeared to answer questions, Burundi
asked why the representative why focus on the disappeared? Because
my child was disappeared in 1997, came the answer. There was silence.
Then Cuba asked for a delay, noting that the group's submissions were
only in French. The Cuban delegate apologized for not knowing this
language of diplomacy, while noting that he does speak Hungarian.
A
group for the
indigenous in Asia mentioned that it was working with refugees from
Myanmar -- one wondered if this would block the group. The
Association of War Affected Women of Sri Lanka was grilled by Cuba
regarding whether its funding is “sustainable.”
The
new way of
opposing NGOs in the UN is on procedural grounds, by asking more and
more questions, challenging certificates. Iran came right out and
said that the IHRDC is a US-funded group trying for regime change in
Iran. The group, in the 30 seconds given it, denied it, saying "We
don't hold seminars to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Iran rights per Amnesty Int'l, IHRDC not shown
Here
is an Inner City
Press correspondent's summary of the February 3, 2011 Q&A on
the
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center --
China-
thanks
for sharing your work and projects, please explain your work
and how you will contribute to ECOSOC?
Cuba-
I
don't know to what point all the questions can be answered, one of
them is…we don't see how they are independent because they receive
government financing to conduct certain research so there seems to be
apparent lack of accord…since it receives government
funding…furthermore, we wish to know what the sources of
information on which the work of the organization is based, and how
they check the veracity of this information
Venezuela-
I
thank the NGO for being here…we raised a number of questions that
I will repeat. We wish to see our questions answered in writing. We
asked, because of the fact it says its working on a report on
supposed human rights violations after the presidential elections in
2009, could it include more information on this project, what are its
motivations and that of the government behind it?
A:
I
have not seen the questions because of the computer problems…my
NGO only concentrates on one country, this fiscal year we will
receive most of our funding (40%) from governments mostly US and
Canada…although we receive grants from governments they don't
review our work or provide input…our evidence is what evidence
normally is, witness testimony, and we do a lot of analysis to come
to our conclusions. The report the Venezuelan referred to was after
the presidential election….we decided to take up the report because
we received reports of human rights abuse...you'll have to ask the
government that funded it…Canada what their motivations were…I
don't know
India-
what
were the motives of starting this organization, why Iran, why
not somebody else?
Pakistan-
I
don't know if she was present when we were making specific
questions, may or may not have been posted on the website…one of
these questions was the motivation and the element that you are
starting this investigation only after 27 years of this revolution,
what was so important in that particular year…and this may or may
not be pertinent…if you wished to reflect on it, it some places it
mentions 85% of the funding is coming from the government, leaving
aside the percentage, it is a substantial amount, if you did a
different topic, do you think you would still receive funding from
these two governments?
A:
the
organization was founded to document human rights abuses in the
Islamic republic of Iran, in an effort to preserve the memory and
make the evidence available…abuses should be made public so
everyone can be made aware of it…I wasn't here yesterday and wasn't
able to attend…why we have started the investigation only after 27
years…that was the decision of the founders of the organization. We
receive funds from governments on project basis…other organizations
receive funding to do other things…
Nicaragua-
many
of the questions asked here, we would like to see in writing…the
purposes of monitoring the human rights situation in Iran, we would
like to know your sources and the research activities you conduct…?
Cuba-
work
of the organization is peculiar in the context of current
geopolitical situation between the funding states and Islamic
Republic of Iran…its quite odd the work it does and funding it
receives in this context, the representative noted 40% of the funding
it receives comes from 2 member states, but in the application form 1
member state is mentioned…could she clarify the discrepancy since
the time they gave in the form and the present date. Also, why are
the founders of the organization not interested in the human rights
of Iran before 1979, there were interventions by foreign powers
during that period so why is the focus of interest on 1979 onwards
Venezuela-
we
have the same concerns, but we want to go back to 2006 to the
founding of the organization, it seems there is a lack of
compatibility between the application form and what she is saying, so
how did it start receiving funding from 2004 onwards if they were
founded in 2006. In 2004 it received $1 million dollars…question
is, did the government which provided that considerable money find
research before it was established?
Pakistan-
that
answers my question, that if they were to do something in a
different area, the same funding would not be available…in certain
places they say human rights violations by Iran and in certain areas
in Iran…its understandable there are human rights violations in
every country, but what do you mean by this?
A:
I
think in the application it was a shorthand way it was to document
the human rights abuses by the government and by forces that it
doesn't hold accountable. The registration from 2006 is an IRS
registration, the organization did operate before that. The question
of why not before 1979, we don't have enough money so we have to
limit the scope of our work somehow. We filed this application in
2009, so the 40% I'm mentioning is this year, and it has been
dropping over the last couple of years. Our sources generally are
witnesses, we interview a variety of witnesses, people of different
religions, sexes, minority groups, and that way we can
cross-reference and figure out who is telling the truth, human rights
work can be very difficult in that we cant interview the people
accused of committing the atrocities and our main purpose is
preserving the evidence
Iran
(observer)-
I think it would be only fair for the Iran delegation to
be given the opportunity given Iran is the target of this
organization and thanks for the organization for trying to promote
human rights in Iran. In the presence of the representative I would
like to share some thoughts…as my delegation has pointed out, one
of the main ambiguities relate to its financial resources, which is
governments with certain political attitudes towards Iran. It isn't a
matter of simple innocent government financing that could be
explained away…one question I heard frequently by some
colleagues…why after 26 or 27 years after the revolution. I think
I can give a clue. The Iran democracy fund was founded in 2004, in
line with the policy of regime change of president bush. I would like
to give a very short session on this fund. The founders of the center
were very smart to be the very first to benefit from the Iran
democracy fund, it received about 1/3 of the 3.5 million the state
department gave out…the English version of their website is 2004,
but Persian version is 2003…the point is I don't think there is
simple mistake…I would receive some excerpts from Boston globe…"
Point
of
Order(USA)-if this is a general statement, shouldn't this be at
the point when the representative is removed from the stage, because
observers cant ask questions
Cuba-
I
cant understand why the US delegate is acting like that, let the
delegation of Iran act transparently
Sec-
please
speed up
Iran-
it
seems that this NGO is being treated differently from other NGOs,
Secretary Rice announced…the initiative could be a boon to Iran
Human Rights Documentation center which received a third of the money
state department gave towards democracy in Iran…I would like to
raise one point, in 2005 there was a seminar in a neighboring Persian
gulf country human rights defenders point the documentation centers
activities though it was to train Iranian human rights defenders to
overthrow the Iranian government
A:
we
don't hold seminars to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran…we
document
Peru-
the
representative of Iran made was a general comment…appropriate
procedure should be followed here, would like clarification whether
this is within normal practice and resolutions…the interaction is
for questions and answers, when it comes to more general issues this
comes afterward…the US delegation was correct to some degree
And
then it was called to a close.
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