by Israel Hayom Staff
Conference aims to create binding multilateral treaty regulating global arms trade • Iranian news agency says country was elected to senior role of "deputy head" during the talks • U.N. Watch: After U.N. found Iran guilty of illegally transferring weapons to Syria "it defies logic, morality and common sense" for U.N. to elect same regime to the conference.
Iran has been named to a top post at the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty Conference, which opened last week in Geneva, U.N. Watch reported on Sunday.
Although the conference's website fails to name the 15 members who were elected to serve on the conference earlier this month, U.N. Watch, a nongovernmental organization that monitors U.N. activities, revealed that Iran was elected as a representative of the Asian working group, together with Japan and South Korea, and deputy head of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty Conference earlier in the week
The conference, which continues until July 27, aims to formulate a binding multilateral treaty regulating the global arms trade.
On Saturday, IRNA, Iran's official news agency, confirmed the country's election to the conference, saying that Iran was selected for the senior role of deputy head during the talks.
"Some 193 participating countries unanimously voted in favor of Iran during the 4th day of the meeting underway in the United Nations headquarters to draft a bill on regulating arms trade in the world," IRNA reported.
In response to Iran's election, U.N. Watch has called on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who spoke to the conference last week, to condemn the move.
“Right after a U.N. Security Council report found Iran guilty of illegally transferring guns and bombs to Syria, which is now murdering thousands of its own people, it defies logic, morality and common sense for the U.N. to now elect this same regime to a global post in the regulation of arms transfers,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch.
"This is like choosing Bernie Madoff to police fraud on the stock market. And the U.N.'s scandalous choice of Iran is exactly why we fear that Syria's declared bid for a U.N. Human Rights Council seat is not impossible," he added.
Last week, U.N. Watch revealed that Syria is a candidate for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, saying that the country would likely win a seat on the council "due to the prevalent system of fixed slates, whereby regional groups orchestrate uncontested elections, naming only as many candidates as allotted seats."
Neuer said the U.N. secretary-general, "should remind the conference that the Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its prohibited nuclear program, and that Iran continues to defy the international community through illegal arms shipments to the murderous Assad regime."The recent U.N. Security Council report on Iran said, "Syria continues to be the central party to illicit Iranian arms transfers." It cited the discovery of Iranian shipments to Damascus containing assault rifles, machine guns, explosives, detonators, 60-mm and 120-mm mortal shells and other weapons.
According to a U.N. Watch statement, Neuer has expressed concern that Iran's election to the conference, "injects ambiguity about the U.N.'s position on illicit Iranian arms transfers, fuels Iranian propaganda, and grants international legitimacy to a regime that tortures student activists, hangs gays and subjugates women."
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=4978
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