The convening of a special session of the Human Rights Council

Written by ACI in 17 November 22

The people of Iran are asking for change clearly, loudly and with their lives. They are demanding what has been denied them equity, equality, justice, and freedom. They would like to be a positive constructive member of the international community where they can prosper and benefit from all the riches Iran has to offer its people and the international community.

To: Ambassador Federico Villegas,

President of the Human Rights Council

The convening of a special session of the Human Rights Council to address the deteriorating situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially with respect to women and children – November 24, 2022

The deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been happening for forty-three years. From summary executions of the first days of the Revolution in 1979 to the violence of June 1981 to horrific acts of torture and executions during the 1980s culminating in the mass execution of thousands in 1988, to the first time we saw the violence openly on the streets in response to the student uprising of July 1999, the repeated acts of violence and use of lethal force against unarmed peaceful protestors of 2009, 2017/18 and horrors of 2019 when reportedly 1500 people were killed to today when the world is witnessing the arrests of young school girls from schools, and the horrific acts of violence against peaceful protesters that I am sure you are well aware of.

In view of the emphasis on the rights of women and children for the special session, suffice to say where women are concerned from December 3, 1979, when the Islamic Constitution came into effect women and religious minorities are legally discriminated against. The Islamic Republic is refusing to ratify CEDAW and as a state party to CRC, we still do not have a clear definition of a child’s age.

Without a doubt, as has been seen in the past, the delegation from the Islamic Republic will have female speakers to sing the praise of equal opportunities for women in Iran. However, the same women could not travel with the delegation without their husbands’ expressed permission for their employment, passport application or travel – the same husbands who could legally engage in polygamy and have other temporary or permanent wives.

If the special session is successful in setting up an investigative and accountability mechanism, we would like to draw your attention to the following:

  • Whether the Islamic Republic cooperates openly with the mechanism or not it will engage in a serious campaign of misinformation and disinformation to damage the credibility of the investigations and undermine its findings;
  • The mechanism is likely to assess historic accounts since September 16, 2022; however, the situation is live and ongoing with reports of violence and violation of rights on an hourly basis coming from Iran. It is crucial that measures are taken now
    • to stop the state from kidnapping, arresting, detaining, seriously injuring and killing its people,
    • observe its international obligations and adhere to its own national laws albeit with the limited and conditional safeguards it holds in articles of the 1979 Constitution and its amendments in 1989
  • Mindful of the fact that Internet access is restricted, filtered and censored safe practical methods must be found for receiving information from victims or their families.
  • A coordination centre is needed to receive, collate and correlate accounts from national and international human rights organisations, NGOs, journalists and news agencies to arrive at a clear and documented picture of what has and is happening;
  • Cooperation of all the special procedures mandate holders with the investigative and accountability mechanism.

The people of Iran are asking for change clearly, loudly and with their lives. They are demanding what has been denied them equity, equality, justice, and freedom. They would like to be a positive constructive member of the international community where they can prosper and benefit from all the riches Iran has to offer its people and the international community.

We look forward to November 24th with hope and optimism. We believe that the Human Rights Council will perform its duty and that it will vote for an investigative and accountability mechanism on the deteriorating situation of human rights in Iran and that the Islamic Republic will be held to account.