May 20, 2022
The first UN human rights rapporteur allowed into Iran this century has told a news conference in Tehran that US sanctions have badly pummeled the country’s economy and worsened the humanitarian situation.
Alena Douhan is the UN special rapporteur on “unilateral coercive measures” or sanctions. She was allowed into Iran by the Islamic Republic in hopes that she would condemn the US sanctions on Iran, which she did. The regime has barred all other UN rapporteurs on such issues as torture and unjust trials from entering the country.
Many in the Iranian expatriate community were appalled at Douhan’s visit and the propaganda bonus it provided the Islamic Republic. Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace laureate, had made a personal appeal to Douhan not to go to Iran until it admitted Javaid Rehman, the UN main rapporteur on human rights issues.
Douhan said May 18 the US sanctions have led to inflation and growing poverty, and depleted state resources for dealing with the basic needs of the people. She singled out those suffering from “severe diseases, disabled people, Afghan refugees, women-led households and children” as being badly affected by the sanctions.
“I call on the sanctioning states, particularly the US, to abandon the illegal unilateral sanctions. I also remind the US that no good intention will justify the violation of human rights. I urge the states that have frozen the assets of the Iranian Central Bank to immediately unfreeze Iran’s funds based on international law and humanitarian issues.”
She also lauded the Islamic Republic for its care of Afghan refugees, although that is not within her remit. She had no criticism of the Islamic Republic.
Douhan is a Belarusian who was appointed in 2020 and reports to the UN Human Rights Council. She is not a paid UN staffer, but a volunteer.
She urged countries that imposed unilateral sanctions against Iran, especially the United States, to remove them. But she also spoke at length about the over-zealous enforcement of the sanctions by some businesses that go far beyond the US sanctions out of fear that they might accidentally trigger some sanctions on themselves.
She estimated the total sum of Iranian assets that are frozen around the world as a result of the sanctions at between $100 billion and $120 billion, double other estimates that have been published.
She said her full report will be released in September.