Academic Paper from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Public International Law and Human Rights, , course: Human Rights, language: English, abstract: This paper seeks to examine the complicated aspects of Iranian human rights politics in various periods and to explore the Iran exceptionalism in human rights discourse in the light of competing paradigms from receptionism to rejectionism. The first part of the paper deals with the Iran human rights policy from the lens of receptionism, while the second part of the paper discusses the rejectionist policy which was adopted following the Islamic Revolution. The third part shall focus on the paradigm shift to reservationism in the course of second and third decades after the Islamic Revolution. Then, the next paradigm shift resulting from the dichotomy is scrutinized in view of the political changes in the country. Finally, the paper concludes that the paradoxical Iranian policies towards human rights might be explained through understanding the specific characteristics of the legal system of Iran.

Dr. Mohammad Hossein Mozaffari is an Iranian scholar whose academic background connects international law with Islamic studies. Given his academic background, he has established research experience which concentrated on interdisciplinary subjects of international law, human rights and Islamic studies. His research works are chiefly aimed at indigenization of human rights notions in Muslim societies and reconciliation of conflicting areas between the two distinct disciplines of international law and Islamic studies, ranging from philosophical concepts such as human dignity to religious liberty, religious intolerance, peaceful coexistence, war and peace and sustainable development.
His career also focuses on interreligious dialogue and he was able to utilize his academic and research background in his career for narrowing the cultural divide between Muslim and Western civilizations through intercultural and interreligious dialogue. He also succeeded to employ his research experience to enrich his career in the field of inter-religious relations, aiming at the promotion of peace and reconciliation among religions and nations.