The Human Rights Council must renew the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran
| Publisher | International Federation for Human Rights |
| Publication Date | 27 February 2015 |
| Cite as | International Federation for Human Rights, The Human Rights Council must renew the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, 27 February 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5506d9b2c.html [accessed 7 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Saman Naseem, recently secretly executed for an ambiguously defined religious crime he allegedly committed when he was 17. Such violations of human rights in Iran are systemic, widespread and systematic.
Against this backdrop, at the Human Rights Council's 28th session (HRC 28), a "procedural" resolution (i.e., aiming to extend the mandate of the existing Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran to allow him to continue to carry out his work) will be presented. FIDH calls on the Human Rights Council (HRC) to adopt it. At the very minimum, the resolution should urge Iran to cooperate with the United Nations, in particular by allowing the Special Rapporteur to visit the country (which it has failed to do since the Special Rapporteur's mandate was created, four years ago).
Iran's appalling human rights record must continue to be monitored, discussed and publicly reported upon within the HRC, the UN body explicitly charged with promoting and protecting human rights. In recent years, the HRC has simply adopted "procedural" resolutions extending the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, leaving it to the General Assembly's Third Committee to adopt substantial resolutions on the situation of human rights the country. Given its mandate, the HRC should go beyond adopting procedural resolutions, which bears the risk of appearing as a routine exercise.
At HRC 28, in order to keep the attention of the Council high on Iran, FIDH will organize a side event on the systematic repression of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists and religious minorities in the country, in cooperation with the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), a member organization of FIDH, and the Baha'i International Community (BIC). On this occasion, FIDH President Karim Lahidji will chair a panel composed of Dr. Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of DHRC), and Ms. Diane Ala'i (BIC's Representative to the United Nations).
Last Update 2 March
