Canada to designate Iranian regime as serial human rights violator: ministers
Global News
The Canadian government is using a 'powerful and sparingly' used provision to designate the entirety of the Iranian regime as an entity that is a 'serial violator of human rights.'
The government of Canada is using a “powerful and sparingly” used provision to designate the entirety of the Iranian regime as an entity that is a “serial violator of human rights” and one that commits acts of terror, federal cabinet ministers announced Thursday.
“Over the last couple of weeks the world has witnessed the Iranian regime killing, injuring and attacking its own citizens for simply standing up for their own human rights,” said Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth Marci Ien, speaking from Berlin, Germany at the G7 gender equality ministers meeting.
“These brave women are not only fighting for their rights and freedoms but they are fighting for a better future for their daughters, their sisters, their aunts, their mothers.”
Ministers provided an update on Canada’s efforts to hold the Iranian regime accountable on Thursday amid unrest over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September and of numerous protesters since then.
Amini died while in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” on Sept. 16 while being held for “inappropriate attire.”
Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino said the Iranian regime must be held accountable, noting the Canadian government is ensuring that anyone responsible for “these egregious human rights violations” will never be allowed to come to Canada again.
A provision under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) used “only a handful of times” by the government will be put into place to designate the entirety of the Iranian regime as an entity that is a serial violator of human rights and one that commits acts of terror, according to Mendicino.
Senior officials of the regime will be deemed inadmissible, he said.