UN Human Rights Council – 52nd Session
Item 4: Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran
20 March 2023
Madam Vice-President, Mister Special Rapporteur,
FIDH and LDDHI thank the Special Rapporteur for his report. We remain extremely concerned over the repression of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression in Iran.
The authorities’ disproportionate response to the nationwide protests, including through the use of the death penalty, confirms that the Iranian government has utter disregard for its international human rights obligations.
Since September 2022, more than 600 protesters, including 86 children, have been killed, and thousands more have been injured. At least 37 protesters have been sentenced to death and four of them have been executed. Another 171 could face capital punishment.
More recently, authorities have exerted other types of pressure on protest participants and supporters. For example, they closed down businesses that admitted women without hijab and forced the retirement of university professors and teachers who supported the protesting students.
In a troubling development, poison gas attacks have targeted schools in at least 25 provinces of Iran, with most of the educational institutions being girls’ schools.
To date, no one has been held accountable for the serious human rights violations committed as part of the crackdown on the protests. The Council must ensure that impunity does not prevail.
We urge the Council to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and ensure that the Fact-Finding Mission is adequately resourced to carry out its mandate.
We continue to stand by the Iranian people in their quest for freedom, democracy, and human rights and we reiterate our calls for the respect of women’s rights in Iran.
Thank you.