Knut Ostby made the remark at a press conference to mark the UN Day 2008 in United Nations Information Center in Tehran.
"Iran has acted successfully in the areas of poverty reduction, education and health," Ostby said.
Ostby underlined that some disparities and gap exist in Iran, in particular between some geographical areas, adding that in some other areas including gender equality, women empowerment, HIV/AIDS and environment it lags behind some other countries.
He cited this year as the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and UN's peacekeeping operations as well as for the Convention on Genocide.
"UDHR remains the first pillar of the 20th century human right law," the UN Resident Coordinator said.
"Today, UDHR is relevant more than ever because we live in a world threatened by racial, economic and religious divides," he said, adding "In this situation, we must defend and proclaim the universal principles enshrined in UDHR such as universities, interdependence, indivisibility, equality and non-discrimination are crucial in achieving justice.
Referring to the UN's main goals in Iran, Ostby stated that the goals help the Islamic Republic of Iran reach the MDGs set by world leaders at the 2000 Millennium Summit.
Referring to the presence of UN in Iran, he underlined that the UN has been presented in the country since 1950.
"Currently 17 UN organizations are active in Iran including FAO, UNAIDS, UNAMA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIC, OCHA, UNODC, UNFPA, WFP, WHO, LOM, IOM, UNDSS and World Bank," he said.
Ostby termed control of drug and crime, assistance of refugees, strengthening capacities and capabilities for achieving the MDGs, strengthening good governance, improving economic performance, management and generating employment, sustainable development, disaster management and energy, facilitating the transfer of science and technology for development in all areas of cooperation, gender equality and so on as the main objective of this center. --IRNA
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