UANI Calls on UN to Suspend Iran's Rights and Privileges

   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 14, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296   UANI Calls on UN to Suspend Iran's Rights and Privileges Ambassadors Bolton, Silverberg, & Wallace: "Tehran should be Held Accountable for its Defiance of International Law." New York, NY - On Tuesday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) launched its United Nations campaign, calling for the UN to suspend Iran's rights and privileges given its continued defiance of the UN's Charter and international law.  In an Op-Ed in today's Wall Street Journal, "Iran Doesn't Belong in the U.N. or IMF," UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, and UANI President, Ambassador Kristen Silverberg, joined Ambassador John Bolton in calling on the UN to enforce provisions of its charter allowing for the removal of a member that consistently violates the charter's principles. Wrote the three co-authors: ... One step short of force that the "international community" has been unwilling to take is ostracizing Iran from international organizations, such as the U.N. and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This needs to change. Iran's participation in these organizations undermines their foundational principles. The U.N. Charter provides that membership is open to "peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and . . . are able and willing to carry out these obligations." The Islamic Republic clearly doesn't fit this bill. Iran has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction, using anti-Semitic, anti-Israel rhetoric in violation of the Genocide Convention. It has been repeatedly sanctioned by the Security Council and condemned by the International Atomic Energy Agency for violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has also been cited for aiding the Assad regime's slaughter of Syrian citizens. Tehran regularly hosts Holocaust-denial conferences. Yet the UN has embraced Iranian leaders. Iran was elected unanimously to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2010. ... Just this past year, Iran was elected to a leadership role in the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty negotiations-despite its history of arming state sponsors of terror and terrorist groups. Iran undermines other international organizations, too. Currently, the IMF holds an account with Bank Markazi, Iran's central bank, totaling some $1 billion. Both the U.S. and the European Union have sanctioned that bank for its money-laundering activities, including funneling money to Iran's military and nuclear weapons-related facilities. Iran's participation in these organizations is unacceptable. Tehran should be held accountable for its defiance of international law. Article 6 of the U.N. Charter explicitly provides for the expulsion of any member "which has persistently violated the Principles contained" therein. That certainly sounds like Iran. A lesser penalty, under Article 5, is suspension "from the exercise of the rights and privileges of membership." The U.N. also has the power to reject the credentials of a delegation, as it did in 1974 with regard to the South African delegation, citing its "constant violation of the Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." **** Iran's continued participation in the U.N. and the IMF affords it international legitimacy and platforms to advance its agenda-gutting economic sanctions, among them-and undermines important Western foreign-policy interests. This September, New York will be forced once again to host Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who will undoubtedly use his speech before the U.N. General Assembly to spew anti-U.S. and anti-Semitic rhetoric. It is time for individual countries to prohibit international institutions from ignoring their own principles. ... UANI's UN campaign follows UANI's 2012 IMF campaign, where UANI called on the International Monetary Fund to either close the accounts it holds with Iran's sanctioned Central Bank, Bank Markazi, or suspend Iran's membership in the IMF. UANI's campaign was covered by The New York Times, Bloomberg, and AFP. Since 2008, UANI has led a campaign in New York City during the UN General Assembly to highlight Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's record, and to demand that all area hotels and venues refuse to host him and the Iranian delegation. Click here to read the full piece. Click here to send a message to the UN. Click here to learn more about UANI's Hotels Campaign. ###                                                                        United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons. The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad; Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world; Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran; Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies; Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and; Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures. UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

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