11/10/2022 Advocacy, English, Joint Initiatives

Joint Letter to POTUS Biden: Fulfill Your Promise to Confront Authoritarianism

Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States

White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Cc: Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State

Jake Sullivan, National Security Council Advisor

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Representative to the United Nations

Dear President Biden:

The death of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini in state custody in Iran on September 13 has set in motion massive nationwide protests and strikes in at least 103 cities and towns across all 31 of Iran’s provinces, with scores of protesters killed and many more injured.

Thousands of people have been arrested, including journalists, activists and artists. A number of recent detainees are facing grave custodial abuse and torture. On September 30, Islamic Republic security forces cracked down violently on protesters in Zahedan in Sistan and Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran, killing dozens of Baluch-Iranians. On October 2, students at the prestigious Sharif University were under siege for hours, with security forces shooting at them and detaining them en masse. On October 4, it was reported that 16-year-old protester Nika Shakarami was killed by Iranian state security forces and forcibly disappeared. Many more deaths, injuries and arrests may be obscured by the government’s internet black out.

The U.S. government’s actions to date—expanding sanctions exemptions to allow Iranians to use cloud computing and circumvention technologies, sanctions on Iran’s “morality” police, support for a joint statement at UNHRC 51, and expressions of solidarity with the women and people of Iran—are significant and positive. But more urgently needs to be done by the world’s leading democratic power to support the people of Iran, discourage further state violence, and address the long history of atrocities and impunity in that country.

The Iranian people need the support of the United States and the entire international community to attain their rights and freedoms. We call on you as president of the United States and your administration to:

  • Continue to forcefully and publicly condemn, at the highest levels, the Iranian government for violence against women, protesters, and civil society activists; and call on the authorities to end the internet black out, call off the violent crackdown, allow for peaceful protests, and release all wrongfully detained individuals;
  • Lead in concert with democratic allies at the United Nations in Geneva diplomatic efforts to establish an urgent special session immediately after the conclusion of UNHRC’s 51st regular session to bring governments into a debate about addressing the current violent crackdown and Iran’s ongoing human rights crisis;
  • Lead in concert with democratic allies the establishment of an independent, impartial investigative mechanism at the UNHRC that investigates crimes committed against the Iranian people by their government and documented by UN human rights mechanisms over decades;
  • Call on the Iranian government to respect the basic rights of its people and end state sanctioned discrimination against women;
  • Continue to work with private technology companies to ensure unfettered and cost-free access to the internet and communications technologies by the Iranian people, which continues to be hindered despite U.S. sanctions exemptions.

The Iranian people have a long history of protest against the systematic human rights abuses of their government. Protests have increased in intensity since the 2009 Green Movement, when Iranians demanding their political rights were violently suppressed. Between 2017-2021, nationwide protests were repeatedly responded to by lethal force while Iranians were disconnected from the global internet. There has been no accountability for atrocities by the Islamic Republic as far back as the 1980s, when thousands of political prisoners were executed.

President Biden, after you took office in January 2021, you traveled to Europe and told your democratic allies that “America was back” on the global stage and you vowed to wield American leadership to confront this “new moment of advancing authoritarianism.” The Iranian people need you to fulfill that promise now before a new generation is subjected to the oppression and suffering of previous generations.

Sincerely,

Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran

ARTICLE 19

Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran (AHARZ)

Baloch Activists Campaign 

Center for Human Rights in Iran

Committee to Protect Journalists

Human Rights Activists (in Iran)

Human Rights First

Human Rights Foundation

Impact Iran

Iran Human Rights Documentation Center

Justice for Iran

Kurdistan Human Rights Association-Geneva (KMMK-G)

Kurdpa Human Rights Organization

PEN America

Project on Middle East Democracy

Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights

Rasank

Siamak Pourzand Foundation

United for Iran

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO)

UPCOMING EVENTS

(all times in EST)

02 04 23
  • World Autism Awareness Day

    02 04 23

03 04 23
  • HRC52: Iran Resolution Vote / Appt. of Mandate Holders

    03 04 23  6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

04 04 23
  • 52nd Session of the Human Rights Council: Closing

    04 04 23
    Geneva Switzerland

06 04 23
  • International Day of Sport for Development and Peace

    06 04 23

07 04 23
  • International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda

    07 04 23

  • World Health Day

    07 04 23

12 04 23
  • International Day of Human Space Flight

    12 04 23

20 04 23
  • Chinese Language Day

    20 04 23

21 04 23
  • World Creativity and Innovation Day

    21 04 23

22 04 23
  • International Mother Earth Day

    22 04 23

23 04 23
  • English Language Day

    23 04 23

  • Spanish Language Day

    23 04 23

    http://www.un.org/es/events/spanishlanguageday/

  • World Book and Copyright Day

    23 04 23

25 04 23
  • World Malaria Day

    25 04 23

26 04 23
  • International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day

    26 04 23

  • World Intellectual Property Day

    26 04 23

28 04 23
  • World Day for Safety and Health at Work

    28 04 23

29 04 23
  • Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare

    29 04 23

30 04 23
  • International Jazz Day

    30 04 23

02 05 23
  • World Tuna Day

    02 05 23

03 05 23
  • World Press Freedom Day

    03 05 23

04 05 23
  • Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives During the Second World War

    04 05 23 - 05 05 23  

05 05 23
  • Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives During the Second World War

    04 05 23 - 05 05 23  

10 05 23
  • "Vesak", the Day of the Full Moon

    10 05 23

  • World Migratory Bird Day

    10 05 23

15 05 23
  • International Day of Families

    15 05 23

17 05 23
  • World Telecommunication and Information Society Day

    17 05 23

21 05 23
  • World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development

    21 05 23

22 05 23
  • International Day for Biological Diversity

    22 05 23

23 05 23
  • International Day to End Obstetric Fistula

    23 05 23

29 05 23
  • International Day of UN Peacekeepers

    29 05 23

31 05 23
  • World No-Tobacco Day

    31 05 23

01 06 23
  • Global Day of Parents

    01 06 23

04 06 23
  • International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression

    04 06 23

05 06 23
  • World Environment Day

    05 06 23

06 06 23
  • Russian Language Day

    06 06 23

08 06 23
  • World Oceans Day

    08 06 23

12 06 23
  • World Day Against Child Labour

    12 06 23

13 06 23
  • International Albinism Awareness Day

    13 06 23

14 06 23
  • World Blood Donor Day

    14 06 23

15 06 23
  • World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

    15 06 23

16 06 23
  • International Day of Family Remittances

    16 06 23

17 06 23
  • World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

    17 06 23

18 06 23
  • Sustainable Gastronomy Day

    18 06 23

19 06 23
  • International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict

    19 06 23

20 06 23
  • World Refugee Day

    20 06 23

21 06 23
  • International Day of Yoga

    21 06 23

23 06 23
  • International Widows' Day

    23 06 23

  • United Nations Public Service Day

    23 06 23

25 06 23
  • Day of the Seafarer

    25 06 23

26 06 23
  • International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

    26 06 23

  • United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

    26 06 23

27 06 23
  • Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day

    27 06 23

29 06 23
  • International Day of the Tropics

    29 06 23

30 06 23
  • International Asteroid Day

    30 06 23

01 07 23
  • International Day of Cooperatives

    01 07 23

11 07 23
  • World Population Day

    11 07 23

15 07 23
  • World Youth Skills Day

    15 07 23

18 07 23
  • Nelson Mandela International Day

    18 07 23

28 07 23
  • World Hepatitis Day

    28 07 23

30 07 23
  • International Day of Friendship

    30 07 23

  • World Day against Trafficking in Persons

    30 07 23