The Islamic Republic of Iran assumes the presidency of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament on Monday, a rotating position that will keep Iran in control over the international body from March 18 to March 29, and from May 13 to May 24.
The 2024 session of the body, which is the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, is divided into three successive parts: from January 22 to March 28, from May 13 to June 28, and from July 29 to September 13.
In addition to Iran, Israel, India, Iraq and Ireland are also set to preside over the conference this year.
The irony of Iran leading this body becomes amazingly clear when considering the agenda of this year’s conference, as announced by the UN Office at Geneva and quoted by Iran’s Nour News:
1. cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament;
2. prevention of nuclear war;
3. formation of a comprehensive program of disarmament; and
4. transparency in armaments, among other issues.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran holding this position while developing a nuclear bomb and being found to have committed serious human rights breaches is an embarrassment for the UN system,” the Liberal Senator for Tasmania and Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Claire Chandler wrote in a post Monday on the X social media platform.
“We urge all world leaders to STOP legitimizing a radical regime that sponsors terrorism around the globe, kills its own people for protesting for their human rights, and is racing to build a nuclear bomb to threaten the world,” UN Watch director Hillel Neuer wrote on a petition seeking 12,800 signatures.
“We call on all Ambassadors to walk out of the UN chamber when the Islamic Republic takes over as president.”
At the UN Human Rights Council, @HillelNeuer took the floor to ask: "Why is it, in this very building on Monday, the Islamic Republic of Iran will become President of the UN Conference on Disarmament?"
?️ Sign the petition to demand ambassadors walk out: https://t.co/sc78Q51RDx pic.twitter.com/TcvzZkarQj
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) March 17, 2024
In advance of the appointment, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian condemned in a speech to the conference last month what he called “double standard approaches by international organizations” applied to Israel, claiming them as an “imminent threat” to the whole world, and particularly to people in the Palestinian Authority, Gaza and the West Asia region.
“The international community should take this threat seriously and make a decisive decision over the unprecedented threat which this occupying, apartheid and warlike regime is posing to global peace”, Abdollahian urged.
The Iranian diplomat called on the international community to “stop the Israeli genocide and war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza” and hold Israel “accountable over its atrocities.”
Abdollahian also called for the elimination of Israel’s nuclear weapons and placement of the country’s nuclear facilities under the supervision of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
