UN speaks, nobody listens

Mar 13, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – The UN summoned the strength and will to commission an independent probe into rights violations in Iran. The report that came out of that probe painted with a broad brush, with none spared. From Iran to the U.S. to Israel, all came in for a good daubing, left all three countries looking sick and disgraceful before the world. Their insensitivity to the human element involved, and not caring, as they barge ahead with fists raised and a stomach full of rage. The report speaks of many human rights violations, but there is a crisis: none of the three countries is listening, with both sides now fully committed to inflicting as much crushing force on the other, and even neighbours pounced upon and bruised.

Article 2(4) of the UN Charter states: “All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.” There is no denying that the U.S. and Israel struck massive blows at Iran, blows which have not stopped but expanded across a wider theater of war. Identically, there is no denying that Iran, for reasons of its own, unleashed its own weapons of destructive force on uninvolved noncombatant sovereign states. It seems that the UN’s Article 2(4) is now nothing but a toy to be played with and cast about according to the whims of decisionmakers in Washington, Tel Aviv, and Teheran trapped in the blind red rage of war.

For decades Iran has been a bone stuck in the throat of the U.S. and Israel, one not easily removable. Now a concerted effort is made under the umbrella of a joint U.S.-Israel effort to remove that bone once and for all. Like the U.S. response to that ‘Day of Infamy’ Pearl Harbor, there is a drive going on to flatten Iran into dust. There is little left to the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school but the ruins from a bombing that went terribly wrong, and 160 girls between the ages of 7 and 12 dead. It is a human rights violation of unimaginable proportions, and a rallying cause for besieged Iran. That devastation has occurred, but no side is pulling back, all willing to slug it out in what could be a long and costly battle.

We at this paper take the position that the U.S. and Israel have been more than adventurous, gone past the reckless. The same also applies to Iran which has liberally sprayed targets in different countries across the Middle East with a hail of missiles. Reports are of thousands of casualties in Iran, and it is surprising that more victims have not been reported from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other countries in the arc of the Gulf States. In war life is cheapened, and already there is much of this on display.

Inside of Iran itself, there are tens of thousands of protestors imprisoned in torturous conditions, with the death penalty hanging over the heads of many of them. Reports coming from detainees speak of an intensifying of their fears in the form of explosions around the Evin prison. In fact, a wing of the prison has been damaged, adding more dread to those held captive there. Iran is not expected to do anything that changes that dangerous situation. It is practically inviting the U.S. and Israel to attack the prison, and create a public relations nightmare for themselves. A blown-up prison with many mangled bodies to exhibit globally would be a boon for Iran. Whether a school for young girls, or a prison holding protestors, or other civilian victims in Iran and other countries ranging from Israel to other neighbouring states, the bottom line is that human rights violations have multiplied across the board. There is little hope at this point that these violations will stop.

The human toll in war is never heroic, always reflective of the dark side of man. Even among winners, there are no real winners. Without a doubt, there are bragging rights and the spoils of war to the victors. The other side of that deformed coin is the damage to civilians, the count of human rights violations. The UN speaks, nobody listens.

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Iran, nobody listens, rights violations, UN, UN speaks

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