{"id":5880,"date":"2016-10-14T08:01:12","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T13:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/?p=5880"},"modified":"2016-10-14T08:01:12","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T13:01:12","slug":"liberals-face-more-criticism-for-engaging-countries-with-poor-human-rights-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/5880\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberals face more criticism for engaging countries with poor human rights records"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"jtb0299x-2-t57f7ed06-m8000-x54d4fec8\"
Conservative MP Michael Cooper talks with Shahram Golestaneh before a press conference on Parliament Hill last Thursday urging the federal government to disengage from Iran. Photo courtesy of Justin Tang<\/strong><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By: The Hill Times<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A group of Iranian-Canadians last week demanded the Liberal government include mention of a 1988 Iranian massacre in Canada\u2019s annual resolution at the UN on Iranian human rights, and only re-establish relations with the country conditional on the improvement of its human rights record.<\/p>\n

Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran called on the government to take a stronger stance towards Iran in a press conference Thursday, even as the Liberals look to strengthening ties with the country.<\/p>\n

The Liberals have been performing what some say is a balancing act with economic opportunity and human rights issues, as they attempt to reopen and broaden relations\u00a0with countries that have poor human rights records. The government\u2019s commitment to re-establishing diplomatic relations with Iran, after Canada closed its embassy in Tehran in 2012, is drawing fresh criticism.<\/p>\n

The 1988 massacre, in which it is alleged that\u00a0thousands of\u00a0people were killed for political dissidence, has been brought back into the spotlight due to an audio recording that became public this past August. The recording, according to a briefing paper distributed at the press conference, is 40 minutes long, and features the voice of the late Iranian cleric, Hossein-Ali Montazeri. At the time, Mr. Montazeri was the designated successor to then-leader Ayatollah Khomeini.<\/p>\n

According to Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran and other reports, the recording\u00a0depicts Mr. Montazeri in a 1988 meeting with judges, and judiciary officials involved in the mass executions. In it, he is said to berate those in the room for the large-scale executions, warning that history would condemn them as criminals.<\/p>\n

Liberal MP Wayne Easter (Malpeque, P.E.I.) who said he is sympathetic to the cause of the Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran, said interacting with countries like Iran, which have historic and ongoing human rights abuses, is a tough sell domestically.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no question about that. People would say well, \u2018why would you do business with a country with a poor human rights record?\u2019 I understand where people are coming from there, and sometimes we put in place economic sanctions. But I\u2019ve always believed, and still do, that in many cases, having a relationship\u2026gives you an easier opportunity to open a door than just having a door closed. You\u2019ve got to find that balance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Easter said having relations with a country like Iran is okay, as long as there\u2019s no hesitation in voicing concerns over human rights issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think we need to deal with the human rights issues, but I\u2019m one who believes that establishing economic relations increases your ability to give input to government. I think we would be very forceful on the human rights side, but that doesn\u2019t mean we shouldn\u2019t be involved in some economic issues, which I think gives us more reach, not less,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Liberal government made the same argument when defending its decision to open to the door to having diplomatic relations with Iran.<\/p>\n

Chantal Gagnon, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion (Saint-Laurent, Que.), wrote in an email that \u201cengagement is not about agreement.\u201d She said the government is \u201ccommitted to a step-by-step re-engagement with Iran because isolation helped no one\u2014not Canadians, not our allies, not the Iranian people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Gagnon said that engaging with countries allows the government to hold them to account, \u201cincluding on their inexcusable human rights record.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the group\u2019s request that the Canadian government include mention of the 1988 massacre as a \u201ccrime against humanity\u201d in its yearly resolution at the UN General Assembly, which is currently being drafted, Ms. Gagnon said \u201cCanada intends to lead again this year the resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran at the UN General Assembly\u2019s 71st session.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada supported a November 2015 resolution\u00a0in the UN calling on Iran to improve its human rights record alongside 44 other co-sponsors. The resolution\u00a0did not specifically mention the massacre.<\/p>\n

The Conservatives who attended the press conference, and gave remarks in support of the organization\u2019s request that the federal government take a \u201cconditional\u201d approach to relations with Iran dependent on their behaviour towards human rights, included\u00a0MPs Candice Bergen (Portage-Lisgar, Man.), James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman, Man.), and Michael Cooper (St. Albert-Edmonton, Alta.).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current regime\u2026is a brutal one that needs to be stopped. If we want to stand up for women\u2019s rights in Canada, we need to start with standing up for women\u2019s rights in Iran, and not normalizing relations, and the kind of behaviour they exhibit,\u201d Ms. Bergen said at the press conference in the Centre Block of Parliament.<\/p>\n

Mr. Cooper stuck to the same message: \u201cIn the current, present context, I will, and my colleagues in the Conservative opposition, will continue to call on the prime minister to re-evaluate his ill-advised policy of normalizing relations with the Islamic regime. If the lessons of the summer of 1988 teach us anything, it\u2019s that the Iranian regime is anything but normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Liberal MP David Kilgour, who serves as co-chair of Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran, \u00a0was also present, though the conference ran out of time for him to deliver remarks.<\/p>\n

Shahram Golestaneh, who was at the press conference on behalf of the Iran Democratic Association, said in a later conversation that he did not intend for the press conference to be a partisan event. He said it was only due to scheduling conflicts\u00a0that Liberal supporters of his organization, including Mr. Easter, and Liberal MP Judy Sgro (Humber River-Black Creek, Ont.), could not make it. That said, he agreed with\u00a0the Conservative position of not engaging with Iran until those responsible for the massacre and ensuing human rights abuses are held accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, at least from our perspective, and even my personal preference, we try to make it as non-partisan an issue as possible. That said, let\u2019s also be very clear: I believe the decision the Conservatives had made was the right decision in the right direction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Golestaneh said he is \u201cnot saying we should cut off relations with every country in the world. There are many human rights abusers. When I say Iran, I am not saying this because I am from that country\u2026I\u2019m saying this because Iran is perhaps unique, in the sense that it\u2019s not only human rights issues within the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

He alleged that Iran \u201cexports fundamentalism and terrorism\u201d, and that doing business with Iran would only be funding the agenda of Iran in the Middle East. He said in the long run it would be \u201ccounter-productive\u201d to do business with the country.<\/p>\n

Thomas Juneau, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa\u2019s International Affairs faculty, said opposition to the Liberals\u2019 re-engagement, and further engagement with countries such as\u00a0Saudi Arabia, China, and Iran, was unsurprising, but that the government was doing \u201cthe right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Juneau said the economic benefits of re-engaging with a country like Iran far outweigh any potential consequences of sanctioning, or cutting off ties with Iran.<\/p>\n

In addition, he said there is political strategy to being involved with Iran, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as we disagree with its human rights, it\u2019s an important regional player. There are many reasons to be there, on\u00a0the eyes and ears on the ground. The information they were sending back was very useful,\u201d he said, speaking of the information Canada\u2019s embassy was able to send back to headquarters before it was shut down.<\/p>\n

Mr. Juneau also agreed that re-engaging with countries that have poor human rights records is a tough political sell.<\/p>\n

\u201cForeign policy is about calibrating,\u201d he said. \u201cYou never have harmony of all of your interests,\u201d particularly when it comes to evaluating economic interests, human rights, and international defence strategies.<\/p>\n

Conservative\u00a0criticism of\u00a0the Liberals for re-engaging countries that have poor human rights records is \u201ca bit rich,\u201d he said. He pointed to the former Conservative government\u2019s close ties to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and its eventual attempt to pivot towards strengthening relations with China.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a case-by-case basis, you always have to be ready to evolve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: The Hill Times A group of Iranian-Canadians last week demanded the Liberal government include mention of a 1988 Iranian massacre in Canada\u2019s annual resolution […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-human-rights","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5882,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880\/revisions\/5882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irandemocratic.org\/public_html\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}