Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-06-14-Speech-4-420-000"
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"en.20120614.29.4-420-000"2
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"Mr President, as has been said, Iran is a mosaic of ethnicities, with ethnic minorities accounting for up to at least 40 % of the country’s population. The main ethno-linguistic minority groups are Azeris, Kurds, Balochs, Arabs, Turkmens, Pashtuns, Armenians, Georgians, Assyrians and Jews. They are largely located in the periphery and far from the power base, Tehran.
Despite constitutional guarantees of equality, persons belonging to minorities are subject to an array of discriminatory laws and practices. These include land and property confiscations, denial of state and para-statal employment, and restrictions on social, cultural, linguistic and religious freedoms resulting in human rights violations. Common practices include imprisonment for conscience, unfair trial of political prisoners, corporal punishment and use of the death penalty, as well as systematic restrictions on movement and denial of certain civil rights.
Very often, ethnic minorities in Iran do not get a fair share of the benefits of natural resources present in their region, for example the water of the Lake Urmia basin in the Azerbaijan provinces, or oil revenue in the Arab-populated province of Ahwaz.
The EU has raised these concerns at the level of the United Nations and they are included in the General Assembly Resolution on Human Rights in Iran, adopted on 20 November 2011. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has also underlined discriminatory practices in that country.
The EU does not take a selective approach to this question. The EU acts on the basis of its principled position and it has a keen interest in the preservation and protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities across the world. Iran remains a case of grave concern. As in other countries, we are constantly monitoring all examples of repression and discrimination based on sex, thought, conscience, religious belief or ethnic identity. In recent Council conclusions, the EU has deplored the widespread repression of Iranian citizens, including persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities.
We have used, and are using, all the available tools to raise awareness and call on Iran to respect principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination. This is no different from the way we act in other cases. The Vice-President/High Representative personally, and the EU, have issued statements and declarations on ethnic and religious intolerance in Iran and have undertaken démarches on individual cases. For example, in June 2011, the EU carried out a démarche in Tehran on the death sentence on four Iranians of Kurdish origin. The EU is deeply concerned at the discrimination and massive oppression of the rights of religious minorities. Vice-President/High Representative Ashton has issued a large number of statements on the precarious situation of the Baha’i minority.
While the EU remains open to discussing human rights issues with Iran, including the status of persons belonging to minorities, it has decided on targeted restrictive measures against individuals deemed to bear direct or indirect responsibility for repression. Some 78 individuals are now on the EU human rights sanctions list for violations in Iran."@en1
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