TEHRAN – Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary of the High Council for Human Rights in Iran, said on Monday that the notion of human rights have become a tool in the hands of Western countries to use against other states.

Larijani said more than 66 items are listed as basic rights of individuals in the United Nations human rights charter but none of them are afforded to the Palestinians or the Yemenis, the Iran Press reported.

“Western countries, which often champion human rights, don’t seem bothered at all,” he said.

He added, “The United Nations looks upon human rights from a secular perspective, and encourages all countries to adopt them irrespective of their culture or religion.”

Referring to the approval and adoption of an Islamic Human rights charter in Cairo in 1990, Larijani said, “Over two billion Muslims wanted to have an Islamic human rights charter, but Western countries opposed this and a number of Arab countries, which are subservient to the West, abandoned their quest for an Islamic human rights charter.”

“We must end Western colonialism and domination in Islamic countries and revive the idea of Islamic human rights in the world,” he said, adding, “Islam is the standard-bearer of human rights. Western hegemony over some Islamic countries has ensured that these countries remain backward and underdeveloped.”

MH/PA