On Thursday, March 17, Javaid Rehman, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, presented his report during the 49th session of the Human Rights Council. Mr. Rehman highlighted widespread human rights abuses and drew attention to the system-wide lack of accountability for human rights failures:
“I reiterate the fundamental responsibility of the State to take serious steps to ensure accountability. In the absence of such steps and the unavailability of domestic channels for accountability, I stress the role and responsibility of the international community, including this Council.”
The rapporteur’s presentation elicited responses from numerous member states, including Iran, who excoriated Mr. Rehman’s report, calling it “not factual let alone professional, let alone being reasonably fair and fairly-balanced”.
Several NGO representatives contributed to the dialogue, including Taimoor Aliassi, who spoke on behalf of coalition members ECPM, Kurdistan Human Rights-Geneva, Iran Human Rights, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, and Impact Iran:
“We call on the Iranian authorities to put in place an immediate moratorium on the application of the death penalty. We also call on States to put human rights at the heart of diplomatic relations with Iran.”
Mahsa Alimardani, speaking on behalf of coalition member Article19, criticized the recently-introduced User Protection Bill, warning that its passing would “further erode the right to privacy and freedom of expression”. See the most recent joint statement (signed by 50+ organizations including Impact Iran) for more information on this bill.
Watch the full interactive dialogue on UN Web TV.