Iran Highlights US, Canada’s Shameful Record in Harassing Indigenous People

Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations Zahra Ershadi delivered a speech to the 21st Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on Thursday.

“Indigenous peoples around the world continue to gravely suffer from the consequences of the historical legacies of colonization in their territories. They face discrimination due to their distinct cultures, identities as well as ways of life and are disproportionately affected by poverty and marginalization. The biggest threat to human rights comes from hypocrisy, politicization and double standards. It is very ironic that those whose human rights records are in shambles, are yet to lose face and are covering up each other’s crimes. Canada and the United States are the usual suspects whenever there is news circulating in the media about human rights violations, especially the rights of indigenous and people of African descent,” she said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its concern regarding the history of discrimination by Canadian authorities against the indigenous peoples in Canada wherein they were killed and buried secretly, robbed of their land and eradicated of their culture. These facts have been well documented in the study of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples presented to the 48th session of Human Rights Council last September,” the Iranian envoy added.

“The international community as a whole expressed utter shock regarding the revealing discovery of hundreds of indigenous peoples’ bodies, including children, at the sites of several former residential schools in Canada which clearly and explicitly reflects Canada’s past role in the attempted cultural genocide of its indigenous people. Furthermore, most recently, according to the report of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on violence against indigenous children, poverty among indigenous children in Canada stands at 69 percent compared with 13 percent for children in general,” she deplored.

“It is unfortunate that the world we are living in today is disrupted by rogue actors who exert maximum pressure not only on sovereign governments through implying unilateral coercive measures, but also on their OWN Native-American and African-American citizens by depriving them of their inalienable rights. Structural racism in law enforcement and the judiciary system in the United States has left the global community concerned for the fate of indigenous communities. In this Country, indigenous children were forced to move to residential schools far from their families where they were made to feel that their way of life was ‘primitive’ or ‘sinful’,” Ershadi added.

“In conclusion, the Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that the rights of indigenous peoples must be respected in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and reiterates that such atrocities regarding the indigenous peoples and responsibility of their perpetrators should never be forgotten, nor shall the realization of justice be ignored,” she concluded.