TO: Member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned organizations, representing the human rights of national minorities in Iran, urge the United Nations Organization to support the above resolution by renewing the mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, as above.
The renewal of the above mandate is of fundamental importance for, the so-called, minority nations and ethnic groups in Iran, who make up two-thirds of the population of the country. By and large, there is no checks-and-balance to safeguard the minority nations as well as a spectrum of other minorities, including ethnic, religious and cultural ones in Iran on a whole range of grounds including: their cultures, languages, economy, employment, education, health, the environment, energy. There is also no legal provision in Iran to ensure institutional developments for the minority nations. The systemic nature of discrimination and racism against minority nations persist in all shades and grades and these are transformed into more intense violations of a full range of other violations of human rights inflicted by the Iranian government and various Iranian institutions. The roots of these violations stem from a race-aware outlook of the country embedded in its restrictive laws, many of which are state policies and practices. Resolution A/C.3/76/L.28 makes the only instrument available to the minority nations to register their grievances and demand accountability from the Iranian authorities. If this direct approach is taken away from minority nations and other minority groups, their fate is sealed, and the aggression in Iran against them will not even be recorded in any official way.
A catalogue of the offences committed by the Iranian governments in violating the human rights of the minority nations and other minority groups are unfortunately very long and often unnoticed and unrecorded. The order imposed by the Iranian authorities in the territories of minority nations and other minority entities, can all be characterized as arbitrary, ad hoc or hegemonic but not governing the citizens. This applies to the judicial system, economy, employment, education, health, the environment, energy and other sectors of their social life, be it budget allocation, planning, management, provision of institutions, or development and promotion of innovations. For instance, the behavior of the Iranian authorities in the judicial system against the minority nations and other minority groups is ruthless and arbitrary. This is possible because Iranian authorities act as a network of colluding departments together with the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Intelligence. These arbitrary acts are inflicted on minority nations and their likes by targeting their coherence and resilience with the intention of their destruction. Diaspora organizations defending the minority nations and their likes regard the resolution as vital to expose the violations of their rights by the Iranian authorities, without which almost no channels are available to them.
On the above grounds, we urge the UN to support the renewal of the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran by the Human Rights Council at the 49th Session of the Human Rights Council. We also urge you to demand Iran give full access to the Special Rapporteur. Once again, we remind that the dire situation of the so-called minority nations as well as other minority groups in Iran are at the brink of catastrophe and without your frequent expression of concern, the Iranian authorities will feel appeased and will have a free hand for the exercise of their arbitrary acts.
Undersigned by:
NGOs in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC):
- Zagros pour les Droits de l’Homme (Zagros Human Rights Center)
- Arc Association for the Defence of Human Rights of Azerbaijanis of Iran – “ArcDH “
- The Center for Racism in Iran
