Repeating its errors

Brazil abstains in UN resolution on human rights in Iran

Contrasting with previous positions taken by Foreign Minister José Serra, Brazil abstained in an annual vote in the United Nations on the human rights situation in Iran. The resolution was passed by 85 votes in favor, 35 against and 63 abstentions. The debate occurred in New York yesterday, November 15, in the Third Committee of the General Assembly, which addresses human rights issues and social and humanitarian affairs.

Brazil has abstained in this vote since 2001 (with the exception of 2003), despite repeated requests by Brazilian and Iranian organizations for its position to be changed.

In 2010, when he was a candidate for the presidency of Brazil, the current minister José Serra described Iran as a “fascist and brutal dictatorship” and urged his then opponent Dilma Rousseff to make a statement on the bilateral relations of the government of President Lula da Silva ­­­with the country.

Criticisms have also been expressed by CREDN (the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate), which in May 2015 summoned the then foreign minister Mauro Vieira to explain why Brazil abstained on another resolution on Iran proposed in the UN Human Rights Council.

On that occasion, like now, the federal government justified the vote by claiming it had information that indicated progress on the human rights situation in the country.

Yesterday, Minister Alex Giacomelli, the representative of Brazil in the Third Committee, said the Foreign Ministry “recognizes the efforts” of the government of Iran, such as the enactment of laws on the rights of citizens and the greater participation of women in the Parliament. “We hope that the strategy of the Iranian government for a constructive engagement paves the way to a greater participation by Iran in the human rights system,” he said.

According to Iranian human rights organizations, however, the promises have yet to be realized and the situation remains alarming, with no substantive improvements.

The latest report by the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, published in September, estimates that between 966 and 1054 people were executed in the country in 2015 – the highest number of the past 20 years. There are no accurate numbers because no United Nations special rapporteur has been able to visit Iran since 2005, despite the standing invitation to UN experts it issued in 2002.

According to Camila Asano, coordinator of the Foreign Policy program at Conectas, “the abstention ignored some important facts and illustrates that, under Serra’s Foreign Ministry, economic pragmatism seems more valuable than the commitment to human rights”. She also called for explanations “that justify the vote with facts”.

“In October, the highest Iranian human rights official, Mohammad Larijani, was received by the Brazilian Minister of Justice but the commitments that were signed were not made public. At the time, we said the lack of transparency surrounding the meeting raised doubts about Brazil’s position in the UN. We regret, today, that these doubts have been confirmed and that the federal government decided to abstain, even despite the serious abuses that the Brazilian diplomat himself recognized in his statement yesterday,” said Asano.

She also stressed the importance for the Brazilian Senate to not be selective and, repeating its initiative from 2015, to demand explanations from Minister José Serra.

Closer trade relations

In June, the then director of the Foreign Ministry’s Trade Promotion and Investment Department, Rodrigo de Azeredo Santos, led an official trade mission to strengthen ties with Iran. In October, Santos was appointed to head up the embassy in Tehran and he participated in the meeting with Larijani organized by the Ministry of Justice. The appointment was approved by CREDN in October, but still needs to be confirmed by a full session of the Senate.

According to Camila Asano, “it is serious that the statement by the Foreign Ministry on the mission did not mention Brazil’s concern with the violations that occur in the country. It’s another indication that the diplomacy of the new government is exemplary in its inconsistency.”