Iceland leads a call for a Special Session of the Human Rights Council on Iran
The United Nations Human Rights Council will convene a Special Session on Friday 23 January at 14:00 to address an unprecedented escalation of violence, arbitrary arrests and mass unlawful killings of protesters in Iran.
Iceland leads the call for a Special Session through a joint request by the core group of countries in the Human Rights Council made up of the Federal Republic of Germany, Iceland, North-Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The request was supported by 22 out of the 47 Member States of the Human Rights Council, well above the required minimum of 16 states. In addition, 30 Observer States also support this request.
The Special Session was requested due to the importance and urgency of the deteriorating situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, in particular due to credible reports of alarming violence, crackdowns on protesters and violations of international human rights law across the country. Furthermore, nationwide internet and communications shutdowns are of extreme concern. Last Friday a group of civil society organizations made a public appeal for the Human Rights Council to address the matter urgently.
Iceland is of firm belief that the Human Rights Council must respond with a strong message that the grave human rights violations by the Iranian authorities and potential crimes under international law must end and those who have committed them must be held to account.
“I am deeply concerned about the grave situation in Iran and strongly condemn the killing of protesters by authorities,” says Minister for Foreign Affairs Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir. “This Special Session of the Human Rights Council sends a clear message to Iran’s authorities that the international community unequivocally rejects the brutal violence inflicted on ordinary citizens simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression through peaceful protest. This violence must end, immediately.”
Iceland, together with Germany, led a call for a Special Session on Iran in 2022 following large-scale protests that broke out in the country following the death of Jina Masha Amini in police custody where a Fact-Finding Mission to investigate the related violations of human rights was established. The Fact-Finding Mission’s mandate has since been expanded so that it can investigate human rights violations before and after the 2022 protests.
The Special Session on Iran will be the 39th Special Session of the Human Rights Council.