Cases of intolerance in Iran and Armenia heavily criticised at UN session

The 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council continues in Geneva, Switzerland.

Azer Hasret, a human rights activist and expert at the "Legal Analysis and Research" Public Association, spoke at the session about the infringement of the rights of Azerbaijanis in Iran and the policy of ethnic cleansing carried out by Armenia, Report says.

It was noted with regret that although Iran is officially an Islamic state, it uses religion as a pretext to oppress non-Persian nations. According to some estimates, up to 40 million Azerbaijani Turks live in Iran. However, they still do not have the right to use their mother tongue. Iran has fallen far behind in providing mother-tongue education for ethnic Turks. Moreover, children of school age who do not know Farsi are not admitted to school at all.

It was emphasised that Armenia also has an intolerant attitude towards other peoples, showing indifference to the rights of ethnic groups. Since 1988, some 230 thousand Azerbaijanis were ethnically cleansed in Armenia. As a result, Armenia has become one of the few mono-ethnic countries in the world.

The 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council began on February 27 and will end on April 4.