A tool of the UN's serious concern about the human rights situation in Iran

In his new report presented to the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations, the UN Secretary-General expressed serious concern about the human rights situation in Iran.

In his latest report, which was prepared based on reports from government and non-governmental organizations, the media, and interviews with individuals, Antonio Guterres said that the human rights situation in Iran over the past year (between June 2019 and June 2021) is of "serious concern" due to the "lack of serious efforts by the government to comply more with international law," the "intensification of the economic crisis due to increased sanctions," and the "coronavirus pandemic."

The report, the text of which was prepared on August 4, has now been submitted to the 76th UN General Assembly.

Mr. Guterres also stated in this report that internal factors that impede the rule of law and weaken justice and accountability mechanisms have brought impunity to some, leading to continued human rights violations in Iran and the possibility of their increasing in the future.

In this report, the UN Secretary-General cited "the failure to provide medical services to victims" and "widespread violations in the suppression of the November 2019 protests" as the most important cases of disregard for human rights in Iran.

Mr. Guterres also considered the intimidation, arbitrary detention, and criminal prosecution of protesters, human rights defenders, lawyers, and civil society activists, sometimes leading to the death penalty, as well as deep-rooted discrimination against women and minorities, among the most important human rights violations in Iran.

The UN Secretary-General's report also criticized the severe repression of peaceful public protests by military and security forces, as well as the high number of torture and mistreatment of women, men, and children, as well as physical and psychological pressure to extract forced confessions, solitary confinement, and long detentions.

In his report, Mr. Guterres also referred to the continued detention of environmental activists and called for the government to pay greater attention to the rights of foreign and dual-national prisoners, women, minorities, the right to freedom of expression, the right to peaceful assembly, the right to access to living standards and medical and preventive facilities in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another part of the UN Secretary-General's report criticized the Islamic Republic for having one of the highest execution rates in the world, stating that at least four children were executed in Iran last year.

At the end of his report, the UN Secretary-General called on the government of the Islamic Republic to abolish the death penalty and declare a ban on the execution of child offenders in all circumstances.

Mr. Guterres has called on the Islamic Republic to comply with international fair trial standards and grant access to legal counsel to all defendants, including those accused of crimes "against national security."

In another part of the report, the government of the Islamic Republic is called upon to allow a prompt, thorough, and transparent investigation by an independent and impartial body into the use of excessive and lethal force during the protests, deaths in custody, and reports of torture and other ill-treatment.

The text makes numerous other human rights-related demands on the Islamic Republic, including "further measures" to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and girls, minorities, and migrant workers and their family members.

Earlier this July, the UN Secretary-General, in a report to the Human Rights Council, referred to the case of political prisoners and minorities in Iran, and called for an end to security pressures and the policy of "silencing" the government's opponents.

The report criticized the approaches of the Iranian judiciary and called for Iran to stop executing people who committed crimes as children and to join the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The Human Rights Headquarters affiliated with the Islamic Republic's judiciary called the report "politically motivated" and "discredited" and accused Antonio Guterres of relying on fake sources and exaggerating the statistics.

Source: Radio Farda