IV 111th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1181 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 12, 2010 Mr. McCotter (for himself and Mr. Poe of Texas) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Calling on the United Nations General Assembly to reject the Islamic Republic of Iran’s bid to join the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Whereas the Islamic Republic of Iran is broadly considered one of the world’s worst human rights violators; Whereas Iran routinely discriminates against and persecutes its Sunni and Sufi religious minorities as well as Iranian Shi’ite religious dissenters; Whereas, since 1979, the Iranian regime officials have executed over 200 Baha’i leaders and imposed numerous discriminatory policies to disenfranchise its Baha’i citizens; Whereas the Iranian regime continues to officially incite anti-Semitic hatred, promote Holocaust denial through its state-controlled media, require Jewish schools remain open on the Sabbath, and create a climate of hostility and intimidation for Iranian Jews; Whereas the Iranian regime regularly harasses, physically attacks, arrests, and imprisons its Christian citizens; Whereas the Iranian regime uses intimidation, physical attacks, arbitrary arrests, and prolonged detainment to ensure its Arab, Azeri, Baluchi, Kurdish, and Turkmen minorities remain politically and economically marginalized; Whereas the Iranian regime specially singles out Iranian human rights defenders for arrest, imprisonment, and execution; Whereas the Iranian regime continues to repress dissent by restricting access to the Internet, banning newspapers and journals, expelling pro-reform students from universities, and prosecuting critical journalists; Whereas the Iranian regime uses government-controlled Islamic Labor Councils to discourage Iranian workers from forming free and independent labor unions and to prevent Iranian workers from engaging in independent collective bargaining; Whereas the Iranian regime has repeatedly resorted to forced retirement, physical violence, and arbitrary arrest to respond to striking Iranian workers; Whereas Iranian Revolutionary Courts conduct secret and summary trials, some lasting only five minutes in duration; Whereas the Iranian regime subjects its citizens to degrading and cruel punishments such as flogging and amputation of limbs; Whereas the Iranian regime uses the charges of “waging war against God” and “spreading corruption on earth” as a pretense for executing Iranian dissidents and prisoners of conscience; Whereas Iranian regime officials routinely engage in tortures such as beatings, long confinement in contorted positions, cigarette burns, hanging detainees by their arms or legs, striking the soles of feet, rape, and smearing prisoners with feces; Whereas, during the protests following the disputed June 12, 2009, Iranian Presidential election, the Iranian regime and its paramilitary units fired upon and killed Iranian citizens with live ammunition; Whereas, during one of these protests on June 20, 2009, the pro-democracy demonstrator Neda Agha-Soltan was shot and killed by a member of the government paramilitary; Whereas the young Iranian woman, Taraneh Mousavi, was thrown in prison without a warrant, raped, tortured, and burned, with her remains being discarded on the side of the road; Whereas, in June 2009, at least 40 Iranian civilians were murdered by the Iranian regime’s post-election crackdown; Whereas, after the disputed June 12, 2009, Iranian Presidential election, the Iranian regime carried out a campaign of repression with mass arrests of at least 4,000 protestors and dissidents which produced numerous torture-induced confessions; Whereas, in January 2010, two of these dissidents, Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, were executed by hanging for their opposition activism; Whereas, in Iran’s November 18, 2009, National Report submitted for the Seventh Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Iran admitted it is unable to uphold human rights standards because its legal structures are based on principles of Islam; Whereas, in this same report, Iran affirmed its inability to function as an international human rights promoter in stating, “Pressure or demands by other countries to accept and adopt certain Western standards of human rights will practically have[sic] negative impact on the promotion of human rights.”; Whereas Iran is a 2010 candidate for United Nations Human Rights Council membership; and Whereas Iran’s election to the United Nations Human Rights Council would send a demoralizing message of indifference to Iranian citizens that have endured repression, arbitrary arrest, physical assault, and torture in their struggle to obtain their God-given human rights: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1)calls on the United Nations General Assembly to reject the Islamic Republic of Iran’s bid to join the United Nations Human Rights Council; and (2)urges the President to direct the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the United Nations to ensure Iran does not gain membership on the United Nations Human Rights Council.