European official: Iran cradle of human rights

“The world should know that 2,500 years ago, slavery and abuse against prisoners were forbidden in Shiraz, and women, as half part of society, enjoyed the equal social rights as men did, said Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights Morten Kjaerum.

“I must acknowledge that human rights is not a Western product, but that of a global attempt, to which every part of the world has contributed,' he added in an specialized meeting on world cultural heritage protection and human rights in Shiraz, capital city of Fars Province.

Emphasizing the necessity of protecting the ancient Persepolis complex, Kjaerum added that unfortunately in armed conflicts, cultural heritage is targeted.

The ruins of Perspolis, as the capital of the Achaemaneid Empire founded in 518 B.C., are one of the four sites in Fars Province included in World Cultural Heritage list in published by UNESCO in 1979. The site is about 60 kilometers north of Shiraz.

“If the issue of war impacts on cultural heritage is not considered in long term, the sites would gradually be disappeared,' according to the European official.

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