International Federation
for Human Rights

Mr. President,

FIDH condemns in the strongest possible terms the ongoing repression of protests in Iran, triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, on 16 September.

According to data collected by our member organization LDDHI, as of 22 November 2022, Iranian authorities have killed at least 481 people, including many women and children, and detained thousands of civilians in their relentless crackdown on the predominantly peaceful protests and other acts of civil disobedience. At least 28 demonstrators have been charged with crimes that are punishable by death.

We urge the authorities to end their violent crackdown on protesters, respect women’s rights, and respond to the population’s demands for the fulfillment of all their political, social, economic, and cultural rights.

Like in other large-scale street protests that occurred in previous years in Iran, there has been no accountability for the authorities’ unnecessary and disproportionate use of force and for the deaths, injuries, and arbitrary detentions of protesters. Attacks and detentions of journalists, lawyers, students, and civil society and women’s rights activists have also been carried out with impunity.

This is why we call upon the Council to establish without delay an independent international fact-finding mission tasked with investigating the death of Mahsa Amini and the serious human rights violations committed by the authorities in response to the ongoing protests, with a view to holding the perpetrators accountable.

We stand in solidarity with all Iranians who have been courageously reclaiming their rights in the face of oppression.

We join them in shouting: WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM!

Thank you.