At UN NGO Committee Meeting, Iran Tries to Censor U.S. Delegation

At a meeting of the UN committee charged with allowing NGOs to gain greater access to the UN, but whose members include states infamous for denying freedom of speech and association, Iran tried to censor the speech of the United States delegate regarding an NGO dedicated to monitoring Iranian human rights violations. The censorship attempt occurred on June 12, 2017, during the final meeting of the 2017 session of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations held to adopt the 2017 report.

The draft report being considered included a summary of the statements made by Iran and the U.S. during consideration of the application of the U.S. NGO "Iran Human Rights Documentation Center" back on May 30, 2017. May 30th marked the 15th time over a period of 7 years that the NGO's application had been blocked. Iran blocked the NGO's application for UN accreditation at the May 30 meeting by asking what legal documents they intend to translate and distribute in Persian/Farsi and the amount of resources allocated to this activity. During the consideration, the U.S. strongly objected to Iran's question, noted that the NGO had responded to each unnecessary question asked of it, and asked that Iran withdraw its question and that the U.S.'s statement be reflected in the record of the meeting.

According to the summary of the meeting in the report of the 2017 session, the U.S. noted that the NGO had "dutifully" responded to the NGO Committee's requests for information. At the June 12 meeting to adopt the committee report, Iran objected to the word "dutifully" appearing in the report, arguing that the U.S. had not used that word when it issued its statement during the May 30 meeting. The U.S. responded that Iran had no right to edit another member state's statement and that "dutifully" accurately reflected what the U.S. had said.

After Iran again objected that the report should be accurate and not include a word the U.S. had not said in its original statement, the U.S. said that it was stating now, on the record, that the NGO had answered all questions asked of it "dutifully." Iran argued that the U.S. was not entitled to reopen its original statement.

After an hour's debate, the committee adopted without a vote the report as introduced, including the word "dutifully."

But when it was all over, Iran still succeeded in derailing the NGO's application for accreditation.