By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 24 --
When Ahmed
Shaheed came
to the UN on
Wednesday
it was, at
least
initially, to
speak about
his mandate of
Special
Rapporteur on
human rights
in Iran.
Inner City
Press asked
him
questions on
that -- on the
effect of
sanctions and
Iran's
position
atop the
Non-Aligned
Movement --
and then asked
Shaheed what
the UN
should be
doing in his
native
Maldives,
where he
previously
served as
foreign
minister.
Shaheed
said
it would not
be appropriate
to answer the
question
during his
Iran press
conference --
all of the
other
questions
seemed to come
from Iranian
journalists --
but said he'd
be happy to
answer
afterward.
Once
the press
conference
ended, Inner
City Press
asked him, as
it asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman,
what the UN
would or
should do
about for
example the
recent arrest
of the
Maldives'
former
president.
Shaheed
gave
the following
answer to
Inner City
Press: "Well,
I think
the UN should
draw certain
red lines to
what a country
can or cannot
do. We are
party to the
ICCPR
[International
Covenant on
Civil and
Political
Rights] and
other
conventions we
seem to be
backsliding on
a number of
these things,
at the behest
of emerging
radical
Islamic
groups."
He continued,
"The UN should
play a far
more active
role.
The UN is very
discredited as
being too soft
on whoever is
in power.
They need to
stand up for
the principles
the UN
believes in."
This
is rare at the
UN, a
country's
former foreign
minister
saying the UN
should be more
active in his
country, which
he says is
"backsliding...
at the behest
of emerging
radical
Islamic
groups."
In
fact, other
sources say
that some such
groups may be
seeking to
undermine Mr.
Shaheed's
mandate. But
that's another
story. Watch
this
site.
