12 November 2018- Justice for Iran and 39 other civil society organizations have written a letter to the members of the United Nation General Assembly, urging all missions to support resolution A/C.3/73/L.42 on the promotion and protection of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The joint letter expresses the signatories’ concerns over the past year’s trends of intensifying violence and suppression against a number of groups within the country. Human rights defenders, various activists, trade unionists, lawyers, and ethnic and religious minorities are named among others as being targets of the Iranian government’s force, amid protests that have been continuing in the country since last year.
Signatories are concerned that Iran’s government is trampling their citizens’ rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, using national security charges as a cover to suppress dissent, and repressing seekers of truth, justice, and reparation for the mass executions and enforced disappearances of the 1980s.
The organizations also raise their concerns about the use of the death penalty, noting that it is retained as a punishment for “vaguely worded offenses” which have no equivalences in internationally recognized crimes, for “acts that should not even be considered crimes,” and to execute “those who were under the age of 18 at the time of the crime.”
In the letter, the member states are asked to continue providing attention to and support for resolution A/C.3/73/L.42, to ensure that Iran’s government upholds its statutory and customary international human rights obligations.
Click here to read the full letter (PDF).
Signatories:
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights
All human rights for all in Iran
Amnesty International
Arseh Sevom
Article 18
ARTICLE 19
ASL19
Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran – Geneva
AHRAZ – Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani people in Iran
Balochistan Human Rights Group
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights
Center for Human Rights in Iran
Centre for Supporters of Human Rights
Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
CIVICUS : World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Conectas Direitos Humanos
Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM)
Gulf Centre for Human Rights
Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI)
Human Rights Watch
Impact Iran
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)
International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism
International Service for Human Rights
Iran Human Rights
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO)
Justice for Iran
Kurdistan Human Rights Network
Minority Rights Group International
OutRight Action International
Reprieve
Siamak Pourzand Foundation
Small Media
The Advocates for Human Rights
United for Iran
World Coalition Against the Death Penalty
6Rang (Iranian Lesbian & Transgender Network)
