Activists urge diplomats to walkout at Iran foreign minister's UNHRC address on 27 February

GENEVA: Days before Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is to address the annual opening of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on 27 February, human rights activists have called on the diplomats to walk out as soon as he takes the stage to speak.

“This is a regime that beats, blinds, jails, tortures and kills innocent women for the crime of protesting for their basic human rights and dignity,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the independent non-governmental human rights group UN Watch, in a statement.

“In the past few months, hundreds of protesters in Iran have been killed, scores wounded, and 18,000 taken away and thrown behind bars.”

Neuer said that it cannot be business as usual at the UN’s top human rights body when the representative of this murderous regime is invited to the podium.

“We are calling on all democracies to show solidarity with the oppressed people of Iran by walking out of the room when he is given the floor, just as they did when Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov spoke at the same assembly last year,” added Neuer.

Also speaking that day will be the foreign ministers from France, Germany, the UK, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, and some 30 other countries, as well as UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres and UN human rights chief Volker Türk.

In a Twitter post, Neuer called on all countries to walk out — including foreign ministers from France, Germany, UK — as they did for Lavrov last year.

“NO JOKE: The foreign minister of the murderous Islamic Republic of Iran will be in Geneva on Feb. 27 to address the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council. We are calling on all countries to walk out — including FMs from France, Germany, UK — as they did for Lavrov last year,” he wrote.

In another tweet, he posted the video of diplomats of different countries walking out on Lavrov last year.

“Dear @ABaerbock @MinColonna @JamesCleverly @AHuitfeldt @a_schallenberg @hadjalahbib On Feb. 27, you will be at the UNHRC when the Iran regime’s mouthpiece speaks. This how democracies walked out on Lavrov last year. Please show solidarity with the people of Iran and do the same,” he said.

Dear @ABaerbock @MinColonna @JamesCleverly @AHuitfeldt @a_schallenberg @hadjalahbib: On Feb. 27, you will be at the UNHRC when the Iran regime’s mouthpiece speaks. This how democracies walked out on Lavrov last year. Please show solidarity with the people of Iran and do the same. pic.twitter.com/Vf7MgRYwaQ

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) February 6, 2023

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