Bernard Kouchner’s statement on behalf of the Presidency of the EU Council concerning the closing of the offices of the Circle for the Defenders of Human Rights in Iran
At a time when the world is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Presidency of the Council of the European Union condemns in the strongest possible terms the Iranian police’s closure of the offices of the Circle for the Defenders of Human Rights led by Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for 2003.
The Presidency of the Council of the European Union calls on the Iranian authorities :
to respect their international commitments on human rights and more specifically, the right of peaceful assembly enshrined by the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran signed and ratified;
to authorize the reopening of the offices of the Circle for the Defenders of Human Rights;
and to grant it the legal status it has been requesting for several years.
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