TEHRAN (Iran News) Zolfaghari highlighted Iran’s robust anti-narcotics efforts, noting that over the past five years (2019–2024), Iranian authorities have seized approximately 5,000 tons of various illicit drugs. He credited intelligence-based operations for increasing the risks for traffickers, forcing international smuggling networks to shift their routes to maritime pathways in pursuit of profits. However, these efforts have come at a steep cost, with around 60 personnel from Iran’s anti-narcotics agencies losing their lives in the line of duty over the same period.

Discussing legislative reforms, Zolfaghari pointed to amendments in Iran’s anti-narcotics laws aimed at rehabilitation and reducing harm. “Articles 15 and 16 of the Law on Combating Narcotic Drugs focus on reforming and rescuing individuals from the scourge of addiction, providing treatment frameworks,” he said. He further explained that under Article 45, individuals convicted of drug-related crimes—such as transportation, production, distribution, or cultivation—are no longer subject to the death penalty unless specific conditions are met, including armed involvement, leadership in trafficking networks, prior convictions, or exceeding legal thresholds.

Zolfaghari outlined Iran’s comprehensive strategies, which encompass demand reduction, harm reduction, treatment, rehabilitation, and societal reintegration of recovering addicts. A key initiative, the Comprehensive Primary Addiction Prevention Document, has been developed and implemented, targeting 40% of Iran’s population to reduce the incidence of addiction. Prevention programs focus on families, educational institutions, workplaces, and local communities.

“Ensuring access to narcotics for medical and scientific purposes, in line with the three international conventions, while preventing their diversion to illegal markets, is an integral part of Iran’s balanced strategy,” Zolfaghari emphasized. This approach aims to minimize the negative consequences of drug abuse and enhance public health.

Iran’s harm reduction efforts include mobile teams and centers providing sterile needles, food, hygiene kits, bathing facilities, overnight shelters, and low-threshold methadone access to homeless addicts, the impoverished, and those with sexually transmitted diseases. These initiatives have successfully curbed the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users, Zolfaghari noted.

The country has also expanded treatment options, with the Comprehensive Treatment Program Document promoting diverse modalities such as methadone, buprenorphine, opium tincture, and psychosocial interventions, offered through outpatient and residential facilities. Currently, 7,200 addiction treatment centers—ranging from residential to outpatient and inpatient—employ around 42,000 specialists. Additionally, 276 psychiatric hospitals, including specialized pediatric and general facilities, have been equipped with over 10,000 beds to treat patients addicted to methamphetamine and other stimulants, ensuring broader access to care.

Zolfaghari underscored that over 80% of harm reduction and treatment programs are managed by the private sector and non-governmental organizations. In recognition of these scientific advancements, Iran established the Regional Center for Addiction Treatment Studies in Tehran in 2021, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

He credited initiatives like the “Life Supporters” scheme with controlling the transmission rates of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and other bloodborne diseases linked to drug use, including injection, over the past five years, alongside stabilizing the prevalence of drug use nationwide.

Despite these accomplishments, Zolfaghari lamented the lack of international support. “According to well-documented UNODC reports, Iran has made significant strides in all dimensions of the global drug problem and remains a steadfast partner to the international community,” he said. “Yet, Iran faces selective, political, and unfair treatment from some countries, especially in the West.” He accused these nations of imposing unilateral sanctions instead of providing technical or material assistance, as mandated by the principle of shared responsibility, while others withhold aid in areas like demand reduction under baseless pretexts.

Zolfaghari argued that the West, particularly Europe, must collaborate constructively with Iran to reduce its own drug-related costs stemming from Afghanistan, the primary source of narcotics in the region. He extended an invitation to the Swiss delegation to visit Tehran and observe Iran’s efforts firsthand.

In response, Barbara Schedler acknowledged the strong bilateral ties between Switzerland and Iran, noting recent ministerial meetings at the World Health Assembly. She praised Iran’s anti-trafficking efforts, stating, “We understand Iran’s geographical challenges and the resulting difficulties.” Schedler highlighted Switzerland’s appreciation for Iran’s harm reduction programs, which align with her country’s focus on keeping addicts alive and treating them, and expressed readiness to exchange experiences.

The meeting underscored Iran’s call for greater global cooperation and recognition of its sacrifices in the fight against narcotics, amid ongoing tensions with Western nations.

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With the collapse of many moral values in the West, Western intellectuals by justifying and normalizing all kinds of corruptions and deviations such as homosexuality, cohabitation without marriage, and irregular sexual behavior caused the collapse of all the moral infrastructure of their society.

This moral collapse affected more on the most important social institution, i.e., the family.

The family is the first link in the formation of human society and the first center of education for the future generation of society.

Based on ethical culture, the formation of a family is due to the union of male and female [marriage], with the aim of self-improvement and the increase of the human race.

But the whole world did not remain faithful to this moral definition so the family in the West is currently collapsing. In fact, under the pressure of intellectual illusions, feminist definitions justifying promiscuity, and strengthening the lust-oriented animal nature of Western man, the family has lost its past value in Western societies.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in this regard said, “Unfortunately, the West has lost the family institution, a center that is a safe and peaceful environment for men, and especially for women. Many families have broken up. Many women live alone till the end of their lives. Many men cannot find the wife they are looking for. And, many marriages are dissolved in the first years.” (October 22, 1997)

As the traditional ethical values of the family in the West are collapsing, the increase in divorce, illegitimate children, sexual infidelity, etc. can be seen in these societies.

Western societies (the US and Europe) traditionally have higher divorce rates than Asia and Latin America. For instance, the crude divorce rates (meaning a rate calculated by dividing the total number of cases in a given period by the total number of persons in the population) in the US for 2019 and 2020 were 2.7 and 2.3, respectively; in Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, it was 1.6.

The United States has the 6th highest divorce rate in the world. In 2021, a total of 689,308 divorces occurred across the 45 US states that report these statistics. During that same year, 1,985,072 marriages occurred, making the US marriage rate 6 per 1,000 people.

The divorce rate per 1,000 married women is nearly double that of 1960. Almost 50 percent of all marriages in the United States will end in divorce or separation. Researchers estimate that 41 percent of all first marriages end in divorce.  60 and 73 percent of second and third marriages end in divorce respectively.

“One of the factors that has undermined the Western ideological system and its spiritual domination is the increasing moral and spiritual crisis in the West. A clear sign of this crisis is that a feeling of absurdity, nothingness, desperation, and psychological insecurity has been engendered in all Western people, particularly in youth. The foundation of the family has shaken in the West. And these are the consequences,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. (September 4, 2014

The most common reasons for divorce in these countries include lack of commitment 75%, infidelity 59.6%, irreconcilable differences 57.7%, marrying too young 45.1%, financial hardship 36.7%, substance abuse 34.6%, and domestic violence 23.5%.

Divorce rates in European countries have traditionally been higher compared to other parts of the world. According to the reports, Gov.uk, and World Population Review, the divorce rates are higher in Northern Europe and lower in other parts. The EU countries with the highest divorce rates are Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Luxembourg. [divorce.com]

Some researchers believe that the more religious the society, the more stable the family units. For instance, Ireland and Italy, having conservative Roman Catholic beliefs, have the least divorces in Europe.

“Western culture made the family collapse. Today one of the great problems of the Western world is the breakup of the family and the increase in the number of abandoned children. The West will suffer from the consequences. Social developments build up over time. The West will be harmed most by this problem and the flashy materialistic civilization of the West will collapse along the fault lines of this problem,” the Leader noted. (July 11, 2012)

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So what is now going in Ukraine is the best example for the excessive demands of the West and especially the NATO members, and Ukrainian people are paying for it and the U.S. and allies will benefit it.

Although in recent months and because of the economic hardship in the world many countries have called for an end in war between Ukraine and Russia but the U.S. and its European allies do not like any end to the war unless Ukraine wins it because the victory of Ukraine will be an end to resistance against the excessive demands of the West and every day we see that the NATO members announce sending weapons and munitions to Ukraine to help Kyiv resist against Russia and in between Ukrainian people are paying for this war.

In the latest move, the UK has announced plans to spend billions of dollars to replenish its military stockpiles, which have been depleted as a result of the country’s assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The British government is to roll out the plans as early as Tuesday, which include spending 2.5 billion pounds ($3.3 billion) on replenishing the country’s stockpiles of military hardware and munitions.

The announcement came as experts believe that the Ukraine war has laid bare weaknesses of the British military, including the dwindling reserves of some munitions and a lack of necessary industrial capacity to ramp up production quickly as the country continues to supply Ukraine with weapons.

The UK ranks second to the United States in terms of military assistance to Ukraine, which has been engaged in a war with the neighboring Russia since last February. Last year, London provided Kiev with 2.3 billion pounds ($3 billion) worth of military aid.

During past years, Britain has been also among first countries to supply more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine. It gave the first shoulder-launched anti-air and anti-tank weapons to Kiev even before the war started and also announced in February that it would be the first country to begin training Ukrainian pilots on NATO’s fighter jets.

As the war in Ukraine its taking its toll on military stocks of Kiev’s Western allies, British defense secretary said earlier in July that the West is not an Amazon delivery service for weapons shipment to Ukraine. Ben Wallace’s comments were seen as an extraordinary snub of Ukraine’s repeated requests for more arms to fight against Russia.

He added that Kiev needed to show gratitude for Western weapons donations and persuade some doubting politicians in Washington and other capitals that the tens of billions of dollars they were spending on military aid to the country were worthwhile.

Although the British defense secretary said that the West is not an Amazon delivery but they act as an Amazon delivery to save Ukraine because the West badly needs the victory in this war and they will not spare any aid to Ukraine to encourage Ukrainian forces to fight against Russia.

As means of recovering the damage it has suffered from the war, Britain announced earlier this year that it would boost its defense spending by an extra five billion pounds ($6.5 billion) to take it to about 2.25 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) during this year and the next. The previous defense budget accounted for only 2 percent of the UK’s GDP.

As the war goes on, the pressure on the U.S. and UK governments are increased by their own people and even by other nations and everybody wants an end to this war but the arrogance of the U.S. and its ally UK does not let the war end, and of course weapon suppliers and manufacturing companies make most of the war because their existence hinges on war in any part of the world, and Ukraine because of its importance for the West is a good option and customer for arms dealers.

So the world should not expect at this moment any end to the war in Ukraine because this is the war between the NATO and Russia and the NATO under the guise of Ukraine is fighting with Russia and unfortunately both Russia and Ukraine have fallen into the trap of the U.S. and allies, one fighting for its pride and the other for its land and the third party the U.S. enjoys watching the war and  as we have seen in the past the U.S. and the West have been behind most of wars in any part of the world for their benefit and unfortunately many people worldwide have lost and are still losing their lives because of the unipolarism policy of the West which one day the world should put a full stop to it.

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Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with a group of seminary students, religious scholars, and preachers at Imam Khomeini’s Hosseinieh (RA) on Wednesday.

“We need propagation, we need preaching, we also need research (in seminaries),” the Leader said, noting that the seminaries should prioritize religious propagation and then pursue research and preaching.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei touched upon the confrontation between the Islamic front and the fake Liberal democrat front.

“One front is the front of the Islamic system. The other front is a lying front that calls itself liberal democracy while it is neither a liberal nor a democrat,” Leader noted.

They can’t name themselves a liberal, a libertarian, or a free thinker when they’ve colonized a country like India for many years and taken away the Indian nations’ assets, he added.

“The French committed crimes and killed people in Algeria for more than a hundred years. Maybe tens of thousands were killed over a few years. They are not Democrats, they are lying because they impose reigns in some places. They are not in favor of democracy, they are 100% against democracy that does not serve them,” the Leader stressed.

Today, they are putting a nation like the poor nation of Ukraine in trouble in order to make the American arms manufacturing companies rich; the Ukrainians would fight, and they would be killed for the sale of U.S. weapons, he further said.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution also slammed the United States’ obvious theft of Syrian oil.

He also stressed that “If the importance of propagation is neglected in the Islamic seminaries, we will undergo cultural degeneration.

Ayatollah Khamenei said: “The capacity of propagation in this country is so massive and dense that even if we work several times as much as we do, I don’t think this capacity will be filled.

He said: “We need propagation, we need preaching, we also need research. Today, the common view in seminaries is that preaching is in the second place, the first place is other things, scientific degrees, and some other matters; the second level is propagation and we must pass this view; propagation is ranked first.”

He went on to say: Today, the level of public awareness of young and all walks of life cannot be compared with the past. Almost all my life, my missionary life of around sixty years, was mostly spent with young people. That day, the children’s thoughts were good, and the young people were thoughtful, but it was not comparable to today. The level of thinking has increased.”

The Leader stated: In addition to the fact that the level of thinking of our youth, our teenagers, and our audience has increased, there is also a problem, and that is that in this chaotic market of different voices in the virtual space and the plurality of media that exists, one voice is isolated and that voice is the transmission of generational and family knowledge. Fathers and mothers taught many things to their children. In this chaos of media pluralism, this voice has weakened.”

He emphasized: “Propagation is not just removing doubts, it is not a defensive position. This work is necessary. But that’s not all. The enemy has intellectual bases, he should be undermined. It is necessary to promote offensively.”

Ayatollah Khamenei stated: It is necessary to know the scene, that is, you must know whose side you are on when you are faced with a lot of doubts in the minds of young people, whose side are we on?

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Addressing the opening ceremony of a meeting of the permanent budget and planning committee of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly in Tehran on Tuesday, Qalibaf said that the meeting will have a significant impact on the identification of strengths and weaknesses of a campaign to return Asia to its deserved global status.

What we are witnessing today in the form of the rotation of power in the international system, can become a basis for Asia’s call to revise and renew the structure of international bodies such as the United Nations, especially in areas of economy, trade, and the international financial system, he said.

The way forward to achieve this goal and to manage this historical turning point is to institutionalize multilateral cooperation in the framework of regional integration, he stated.

Convergence between different religions of the world is one of the important factors for the survival of humanity and for strengthening peace, security, and tolerance, elsewhere in his remarks, he said.

The interaction between different religions plays a fundamental role in strengthening convergence and mutual cooperation among the nations of the world, he said.

In accordance with international conventions and treaties such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, any kind of religious insult and desecration and any illegal behavior against individuals and groups due to religion are prohibited, he noted.

Referring to a recent move to desecrate the Holy Quran in Sweden, Qalibaf said that the move is in contradiction to the principle of respect for religious values ​, adding that the Islamic Republic of Iran and Islamic countries strongly condemn such actions.

Insulting the holy books, religious sanctities, and the Holy Quran under any pretext by the Swedish government is not acceptable, he said, adding that disguising such actions as freedom of speech will hurt the feelings of more than one billion Muslims living around the world.

Meanwhile on the sidelines of the event Qalibaf met Arab Parliament Speaker as well as Palestinian counterpart. Qalibaf met and talked with Arab Parliament Speaker Adel al-Asoumi  and in the meeting, the Speaker of the Arab Parliament stated that he is visiting Tehran for the first time, expressed his hope that these meetings will be focused on serving the nations and in line with the realization of the interests of the countries.

In this meeting, Qalibaf emphasized the expansion of parliamentary relations between Iran’s Parliament and the member countries of the APA and also the Arab Parliament.

Also, the head of the delegation of the Palestinian National Council met and talked with Iran’s Parliament Speaker.

In this meeting, Baqer Qalibaf and Ali Faisal, the Deputy Chairman of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), stressed the expansion of cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries.

The annual meeting of the Standing Committee on Budget and Planning as well as the Basic Documents Working Group of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) with the participation of 20 countries commenced today on Tuesday morning, hosted by Tehran.

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In recent r and especially during the Ukraine-Russia war, it was proved to the world that how the world is weak when it comes to the energy shortages and when some countries stop energy supply, how the nations will suffer.

In recent months, the Western countries have tried to show that they have overcome the energy shortage because of halt in Russia’s energy supply to Europe but the truth is otherwise and they know it better than anyone that it is difficult to stop dependence on fossil energy at least for a decade in order to find some proper replacement.

The halt in energy supply by Russia unbalanced the economies of many countries in any part of the world and it also led to high inflation rates and unemployment rate but the Western countries have tried to deceive their nations by making the role of energy cut insignificant in their economic conditions.

An expert study recently concludes energy poverty killed more people in Europe last winter than COVID-19. EU sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine have pushed up energy prices and created a cost of living crisis across the 27-country bloc.

Official data shows 59,700 people died with COVID 19 in 28 European nations last winter, however, a larger number, 68,000, died because they could not heat their homes.

This is just the amount of casualty which has been officially announced and the figure may stand higher than this but the Western governments have remained silent on this issue and they still continue their support for the Ukraine-Russia war.

This data once again shows the important role of energy in the daily life of the people and even their daily work and shortage in energy supply will have serious effects on the life of people.

Of course this data once again showed that those countries which are rich in energy can use it as a defensive weapon against arrogant countries and governments as we have seen it recent that many OPEC oil producers have resisted in increasing production to keep the oil price in the level that they one and not in the level that the U.S. and Western countries want.

On Saturday, President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran has warned against a Western plot to sow discord among the member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

“Certain Western countries are after disunity within OPEC. The member states need to prevent the realization of such goals by strengthening unity,” Raisi said in a meeting with OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais in Tehran on Saturday.

He said constructive interaction among the members is an important factor in OPEC’s success.

Referring to Iran’s constant “constructive” cooperation with OPEC, Raisi said the Islamic Republic was determined to improve interaction with the organization.

The Iranian president said OPEC has been established to “support the rights of oil producers and prevent discrimination against them.”

Iran’s crude oil production has remained at relatively low levels in recent years due in large part to U.S. sanctions.

As it was said earlier, the OPEC members have become wiser in recent months and they do not follow the policy of the arrogant states and they try to defend their rights and they determine the amount of oil or gas production and supply and not the big powers who uses to milk oil and gas producing countries and forcing then to increase or decrease the production.

Of course, countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia play important role in energy supply in the world and Saudis have shown their determination not to bow down to the U.S. pressure for its oil production because Riyadh has now come to its senses that it can play a better and stronger role in the world with its weapon of oil and it does not want to follow blindly what Washington says.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has triggered awakening among the nations in the world and this awakening is on the rise and it may be a great threat to the hegemony of the West and this is what the U.S. and its allies do not like and they will do anything to create a change in this current condition in the energy market and countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran are winners of this unanimous decision of the OPEC members that it does not want to please the West but it does only think of their own nations and they can use their energy as an effective weapon in confrontation with enemies.

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On Thursday the Islamic Republic of Iran once again unveiled another achievement and better to say showed another winning card in the game with the world hegemony and especially with the West and above all the U.S., and as usual, the Western countries started criticizing and accusing Iran of not abiding by the international laws whilee they are themselves main violators of the international laws.

Iran on Thursday successfully tested its most advanced Khorramshahr-class ballistic missile named Kheibar, a medium-range missile that can deliver a 1,500 kg warhead with high accuracy.

The missile was revealed in the presence of Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani during an event commemorating the 41st anniversary of the liberation of the southwestern city of Khorramshahr.

Developed by the Ministry of Defense’s Aerospace Industries Organization, Kheibar is a liquid-fueled missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers. Its enhanced range, advanced guidance and control system, and improved structural features further strengthen Iran’s position as a formidable missile power.

Immediately after this success, Washington and Paris released statements to show their anger about this achievement.

“These activities are all the more worrying in the context of the continuing escalation of Iran’s nuclear program,” French foreign ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre told reporters on Thursday.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also claimed that “Iran’s development and proliferation of ballistic missiles poses a serious threat to regional and international security,” as he addressed a Thursday briefing in Washington.

Western countries claim that Iran’s missile tests and rocket launches violate UN Resolution 2231, adopted in July 2015 to endorse the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

Reacting to these statements, Iran slammed the reaction of some Western countries to its successful launch of a new medium-range precision-guided ballistic missile, saying they are opposed to the enhancement of the Islamic Republic’s “defensive power.”

Iran has strongly rejected the US allegations that it has violated the UN resolution, insisting that its missile tests and rocket launches are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Iran has always said that the nuclear deal does not affect its right to build and have a strong national defense, especially after facing international sanctions preventing it from buying weapons to defend itself against the eight-year war that Iraq started in 1980.

In a tweet on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani referred to the history of the Western countries’ arming of Saddam Hussein’s regime during the eight-year imposed war on Iran in the 1980s.

“The same Western governments, especially the US and France, that played a big role in provoking and arming Saddam’s Baathist regime to attack Iran and showering Iranian cities and people with missiles, those are the main suppliers of weapons to the region, are now worried about Iran’s defensive power,” the spokesman wrote.

Of course this is not the first and will not also be the last time that the Western states react angrily to Iran’s achievement and Tehran will pay no heed to such bullies and accusations and continue its defensive programs because Tehran is well aware that the world has turned into a jungle by the world hegemonic states and only might will be right in this jungle and for this reason Tehran is working to strengthen its military especially in defense and improving the missile technology, and increasing the range of missile is one way for becoming might and it will push the West back and they do not dare to take any offensive action against Iran because they know that the slogan of the Islamic Republic of Iran is that the era of hit-and-run has ended and if anyone tries to hit Iran, he should wait for a strong retaliatory hit and for this reason the West and above all the U.S. has just resorted to verbal bully and financial sanctions and this is just because of Iran’s military power especially its defensive sector and its missile and drone progresses which have safeguarded the security of the country from any possible foreign attack.

So, every day we wait for announcement of a new achievement in any field in the country and Iran’s progresses are not limited only to its military section and the country is marching ahead with full speed for progress in all fields especially in the industrial and Nano technology and each of those achievements will turn into a thorn in the eyes of the enemies especially the West.

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What is a hate crime? A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demographic.

Examples of such groups can include, and are almost exclusively limited to ethnicity, disability, language, nationality, physical appearance, political views and/or affiliation, age, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Non-criminal actions that are motivated by these reasons are often called “bias incidents”.

“Hate crime” generally refers to criminal acts which are seen to have been motivated by bias against one or more of the social groups listed above, or by bias against their derivatives. Incidents may involve physical assault, homicide, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse (which includes slurs) or insults, mate crime, or offensive graffiti or letters (hate mail).

This type of crime is mostly common in the Western countries and of course one can see it in other countries but not in the level of the U.S. and West European countries because of the number of immigrants.

According to a new report by a civil rights organization, hate crimes in the United States are likely to spike ahead of the 2024 election.

The Leadership Conference Education Fund said on Thursday that FBI data shows an unmistakable pattern of a rise in hate crimes during general elections, Yahoo News reported.

“From the mainstreaming of hate and the failure of social media platforms to adequately address disinformation, the current climate is rife with opportunities for the trend of increased hate to continue into the 2024 election — unless action is taken,” stated the report by the Leadership Conference Education Fund, the research arm of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

The report charts “an unmistakable pattern that has emerged during the last four presidential campaign cycles” showing “reported hate crimes increase during elections.”

The data, which draws on findings from 230 national human rights organizations, suggests that from 2008, when Barack Obama, the first Black American president in US history, took office, hate crimes have been on the rise.

“Research has shown that the 2008 election cycle served as a ‘rebirth’ of the anti-government militia movement from the 1990s. The final weeks of the 2008 election saw an increase in hate crimes targeting racial and ethnic minorities as the United States elected its first Black president,” the report stated.

The report says hate crimes have nearly doubled since 2015. It says a staggering spike came during and after Donald Trump’s election campaign and it has not returned to the levels before the Trump period.

The civil rights group suggests that Black people and Muslims are the main targets of hate crimes.

The Muslim population of the United States has increasingly been the target of Islamophobia and hate crimes in the years following the September 11, 2001 attacks, which unleashed a new era of racism and discrimination against Muslims.

“I think that’s a responsibility for anybody in a leadership role, anybody who’s running for president or office or anybody who’s currently in government, to use their pulpit to speak out against hate,” Steven Freeman, vice president of civil rights at the Anti-Defamation League, told Yahoo News.

Anti-hate groups have urged the US government to make sure that tech giants like Meta, YouTube and Twitter increase transparency and “invest in de-platforming hate for the upcoming local, state, and national elections” to address hate incidents.

Last year the UK announced the number of hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales had risen by 26% – to 155,841 in the year to March 2022.

More than two-thirds – 109,843 – were racist hate crimes.

But crimes against transgender people saw the biggest rise, with 4,355 reports, up 56% from the previous year.

The Home Office said the overall rise could be due to better recording by police – and fewer had been recorded under Covid restrictions in 2020-21.

The rise in crimes against transgender people could also be because “transgender issues have been heavily discussed on social media over the last year”, it said.

Hate crimes targeting people’s sexual orientation also increased – by 42%, to 26,152.

France and even Germany are other countries which are suffering from the hate crimes and every now and then we see some murders or shooting sprees which are considered as hate crime.

Of course, one should blame the West itself for the rise in the number of hate crimes, and also extremism no matter religious or racial should also be blamed for it.

As long as the world does not move towards equality and social justice and coexistence, we will never see drop in the number of hate crimes and Western statesmen should correct their policies for eradication of hate crimes especially against the minorities either racial or religious.

The U.S. with the current policies should not expect a drop in the number of hate crimes and as it is expected, elections in this country create more rift and hatred than unity and coexistence in the country which considers itself land of freedom but one can see only the Liberty Statue in this country instead of liberty itself.

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The West especially its leading countries like the U.S., UK and France have been major violators of the human rights in recent decades and unfortunately other Western counties have copied their lords and have gone the same path that the big Western countries have gone.

Unfortunately the West has a double standard view regarding the human rights issue and it is an ardent defender of human rights issue when it comes to other countries but it ignores what is going in their own countries.

We have not yet forgotten the reaction of Western countries regarding to the riots in countries like Iran, Venezuela and some other independent countries and at the same time they acted indifferently to what has happened in Israel and France that protesters have been confronted with force.

On Saturday Iran’s vice-president of the judiciary for international affairs criticized international mechanisms for failing to take a position regarding the deteriorating human rights situation in Western countries, saying international rights bodies are duty-bound to support and promote the key issue across the world.

In a Saturday letter to Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kazem Gharibabadi said the world suffers from fundamental challenges and dilemmas regarding human rights which are mainly caused by those countries that “claim to be defending human rights and see themselves in the position of making demands from others and being immune from any criticism and responsibility.”

“The responsibility of the international human rights mechanisms in such conditions is fundamental to support and promote human rights, which must be fulfilled by respecting independence, impartiality, professionalism, and non-selectivity,” said Gharibabadi, who also served as the Secretary General of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights.

He warned of adopting “politically-motivated and selective” approaches that does a great disservice and is detrimental to human rights, and erodes public trust in human rights mechanisms.

He drew the commissioner’s attention to situations in several countries, including France, Britain and Germany, over the last six months regarding the “right to freedom of assembly and of association.”

Pointing to massive public demonstrations in France in protest against the government’s policies, the Iranian rights official said, “Instead of listening to the protesters’ demands and trying to improve the situation, the French government resorts to large-scale violence to deal with the gatherings.”

Gharibabadi censured the French government for using anti-riot equipment, assaulting people, and arresting thousands of protesters as only part of the countermeasures.

Referring to Britain’s introduction of amendments to the Public Order Bill to increase police powers to deal with protesters at rallies, he said the “repression bill” leads to a “significant and unprecedented increase in the powers of the police force to impose undue restrictions on peaceful protests and … it criminalizes assemblies under the pretext of deprivation of public comfort and provides a sentence of up to 10 years of imprisonment.”

Gharibabdi pointed to a sit-in protest in Germany. He said over 3,000 German police and security forces arrested hundreds of political opponents under the pretext of plotting to stage a coup d’état.

“In yet another move, the German government seeks to pass a law that will expel its opponents from all government jobs under the pretext of extremism.” The top Iranian rights official said most European countries have been the scene of peaceful protests over the past months which were “suppressed and dispersed with the most severe attacks by law enforcement forces.”

Referring to the recent riots in Iran, Gharibabadi said,” Egged on by incitement and backing of particular states, media outlets and terrorist groups, the recent gatherings in the Islamic Republic of Iran deviated from their peaceful nature and morphed into riots, causing violations of the fundamental rights of citizens.”

The Iranian vice-president also slammed the West and the United States for pursuing a politically-motivated approach and exploiting the Human Rights Council by establishing a so-called mechanism to investigate the riots in the country.

“The same countries that consider themselves supporters of the rioters in Iran are – both in law and in practice – committing the most heinous crimes to systematically violate the right to peaceful assembly.”

These were just few examples for what is going in the Western countries and one can see that human rights issue has turned into a game to be played by the West when Western states need it to use as a tool to exercise pressure on the independent countries.

Many international bodies have been formed to defend human rights in the world but they remain silent and passive when violation of human rights happen in the Western countries and they are just active against those countries which do not bow to the pressure of the West.

If the international bodies continue the current trend of response to the human rights violation, they will turn into a useless body and human rights will lose its meaning and importance. So the international human rights body are better to take fair and equal action regarding human rights violation if they really are defenders of it because as long as these bodies remain indifferent, human rights violation will continue in the West and only other countries will be the target of these bodies.

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