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13
Annual
Repor t
2014
ODVV
25th Session of the Human Rights Council
The 25th Session of the Human Rights Council was held from 2-28 March 2014 in Geneva Switzerland.
The Session began, just as the previous sessions, the ODVV began its work six months before the
session. The activities included, the writing of written statements for submission to the Council, writing of
oral statements to be read during the session, organization of activities related to the holding of 3 sidelines
panels, links with NGOs in consultative status to ECOSOC for participation in the session, preparation
of medial products to distribute at the session, designing a programme for increasing the capabilities of
participating NGOS in the 25th Session.
The result of the activities of these six months came into fruition in this session and they are as follows:
- Empowerment and Increasing Capacity of NGOs
Towards the empowerment and increasing capacity of NGOs at the international level, the ODVV facilitated
the presence of 11 Iranian NGOsin the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council, four of them having
consultative status at ECOSOC.The presence of these NGOs in the 25th Session took place with two
separate objectives. The first: with aimof increasing capacity, NGOs in consultative status through practical
introduction, were introduced to statement writing, statement registration, interaction with rapporteurs
and NGOs at the Council. And second: with aim of increasing capacity, NGOs not in consultative status
through practical introduction to the Human Rights Council and the UPR mechanism, participation in the
main hall where the session is held, participation in sidelines sittings, introduction to the benefits of having
consultative status, introduction to how to acquire consultative status, how to write and read statements.
The achievement of these two objectives has been one of the most important achievements and initiatives
of the ODVV with regards to the empowerment and increasing capacity of Iranian NGOs.
- Writing and Submission of Statements
Two weeks prior to the start of the Session, the ODVV submitted 11 written statements which were:
Item 3: Right to Development, Item 4: the Role of the West in the Violation of Human Rights as a
Result of Sanctions, Item 6: A Review of the UPR Mechanism, Item 7: Violation of Human Rights in
the Occupied Territories, and Item 9: Islamophobia. All the submitted statements are documented
in the Human Rights Council website. The selection of the focal points and the contents of the
statements had begun six months previously in scientific sessions at the ODVV, the outcome of which
was the preparation of statements with stronger and up-to-date content. The titles of the statements
were as follows: Negative effects of sanctions against Iran, obstacle in the way of achieving the
MDG, women; development and prevention causes; necessity for further attention to international
mechanisms for the rights of Shia minorities; review of the UPR mechanism; necessity for respect
for cultural diversity of Muslims in the fight against the spread of Xenophobia.