Unjust and disproportionate repression of Christians and other minorities in Iran
The Truth and Reconciliation Committee reported on the arbitrary and disproportionate repression of Christians and other minorities in Iran.
On August 5, the UN Fact-Finding Commission released a report on the government’s disproportionate and arbitrary repression of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, including the Kurdish and Baluch minorities, during the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement. The report states that “crimes against humanity in gender-based persecution and harassment are intertwined with ethnic and religious-based persecution and harassment.”
The UN Fact-Finding Commission provided explanations regarding the widespread repression of religious and ethnic minorities, especially in the Kurdish regions and Baluchistan, and wrote about these repressions: “Security forces carried out mass arrests and detained members of ethnic and religious minorities who joined the protesters or expressed solidarity with the movement. In detention, security forces subjected the victims to inhumane conditions, torture, ill-treatment, and sexual assault and other forms of sexual and physical violence. These acts were often accompanied by ethnic and religious themes. The situation that has arisen is a direct result of the long-standing discrimination that the Iranian government practices against minorities, which must end immediately.”
The fact-finding committee also cited numerous other cases of structural discrimination and state repression in the report, including the expulsion of Baha’i students and the denial of adoption rights to a Christian couple because of their religious beliefs. The report cited harms including killings, maiming, arrests, enforced disappearances, detention, torture, sexual assault and other forms of violence, including against children protesting during the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement.
The fact-finding committee noted in its report that the government of the Islamic Republic has not complied with its obligations under the "International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination," to which Iran is a signatory, and that the government's laws and judicial system violate the principles of this global convention, which was ratified by the United Nations.
The committee stated that half of the interviews were conducted with victims and witnesses who were members of minority groups and that a large number of the incidents investigated occurred in provinces with minority populations.
At the end of its report, the UN Fact-Finding Committee called for accountability from the Islamic Republic's officials at the national and international levels, so that the rights of the victims, especially women and children of ethnic and religious minorities, can be compensated.
