Canadian FM Pettigrew targets Iran rights record

TORONTO STAR:

Canada's foreign affairs minister will today demand that Iran take action to improve its record on human rights.

"The human rights violations in Iran are serious and they must stop," Pierre Pettigrew will say in a speech to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

The country has failed to implement many of its international obligations with respect to human rights, the foreign minister will say, according to a text of his speech obtained by the Toronto Star.

And the time has come for Iran to "show its willingness" to address its record. READ MORE

Pettigrew's tough words come just more than a week after Prime Minister Paul Martin and U.S. President George W. Bush discussed Iran during a Saturday morning phone call that covered topics including missile defence, trade issues and the Middle East.

For almost two years, Canada has been protesting Iran's response to the murder of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died in Iranian custody after she was arrested in June 2003 for taking photographs outside Tehran's Evin prison during student-led protests.

Last July, Iran acquitted the Iranian intelligence agent charged with killing Kazemi, claiming instead the 54-year-old from Montreal died from a fall after her blood pressure dropped because of a hunger strike.

Foreign Affairs officials threw their support behind the Kazemi family's efforts to convince Iranian officials to reopen the investigation.

And they hinted that further action might be taken to protest Iran's handling of the case.

Canada sponsored resolutions at the U.N. condemning Iran's actions, and temporarily recalled its ambassador to Iran in protest.

Today, Pettigrew is taking another step and calling for what he terms "a coherent, complete plan" to promote and protect human rights — and he's urging the U.N. commission to consider the human rights situation in each U.N. member state.

"First of all, the promotion and protection of human rights must be integrated into all U.N. activities," Pettigrew will say, congratulating Canada's Louise Arbour, the U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights, for her work with humanitarian agencies in Darfur region in Sudan. ...