The United States does not rate or rank countries on their human rights performance. But in its summary of this year’s collection of 194 country reports, the State Department mentioned Iran among 24 countries with major violations.
The Islamic Republic routinely dismisses the reports as political documents that only criticize countries with which the United State is at odds. But among the countries the United States cited this year were Bahrain, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.
It did not single out Saudi Arabia, however, although the report itself was bitingly critical. The failure to highlight Saudi Arabia in the announcement might be because Washington and Riyadh are going through a difficult patch right now and the department may have wanted to avoid making matters worse. Altogether, the reports totaled 7,000 pages, making the average report 36 pages long. But Iran’s chapter was more than twice the average at 69 pages. That was the second longest report for the Middle East. The longest was 102 pages and covered Israel and the Occupied Territories.
Each country chapter included a summary paragraph. Some were very short. For example, here is the summary on Canada: “Human rights problems included harassment of religious minorities, violence against women, and trafficking in persons.” The term “human rights problems” means the issues are societal, not caused by the government.
The full summary paragraph on Iran was much longer and spoke only of issues laid at the feet of the government: “The government severely limited citizens’ right to peacefully change their government through free and fair elections, and it continued a campaign of post-election violence and intimidation. The government committed extra-judicial killings and executed persons for criminal convictions as juveniles and through unfair trials, sometimes in group executions. Security forces under the government’s control committed acts of politically motivated violence and repression, including torture, beatings, and rape. The government administered severe officially sanctioned punishments, including amputation and flogging. Vigilante groups with ties to the government, such as Basij militia, also committed acts of violence. Prison conditions remained poor. Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained individuals, often holding them incommunicado. Authorities held political prisoners and continued to crack down on women’s rights activists, ethnic minority rights activists, student activists, and religious minorities. There was little judicial independence and few fair public trials. The government severely restricted the right to privacy and civil liberties including freedoms of speech and the press, assembly, association, and movement; it placed severe restrictions on freedom of religion. Authorities denied admission to or expelled hundreds of university students and professors whose views were deemed unacceptable by the regime. Official corruption and a lack of government transparency persisted. Violence and legal and societal discrimination against women, children, ethnic and religious minorities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons were extant. Trafficking in persons and incitement to anti-Semitism remained problems. The government severely restricted workers’ rights and arrested numerous union leaders. Child labor remained a serious problem.”