07 November 2023 :
November 6, 2023 - More than 200 Experts Urge United Nations to Protest Iran’s Chairing of UNHRC Social Forum
The recent designation of Iran to chair the UNHRC Social Forum, an important international event dedicated to human rights, has caused a stir in the world of NGOs and human rights organizations, who have addressed, with an open letter, the United Nations summits.
"In a concerning turn of events, Iran’s human rights record, marred by allegations of gross violations and systematic abuses, has prompted an open letter from over 200 international human rights and legal experts, Nobel laureates, and individuals of conscience. These prominent voices have come together to call upon the United Nations (UN) to address the appointment of the Iranian regime as the Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Social Forum. This decision has triggered alarm and condemnation due to Iran’s dubious human rights record and its role in regional instability and conflict. The open letter emphasized the need for a collective response to this unsettling development.
Impact on Global Peace and Human Rights
The signatories stated: “Appointing the representative of such a regime as the Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Social Forum will be seen by the clerical regime as a green light for more torture and killing and assures its suppressive forces that they will not be held accountable for their crimes.”
“This platform is given to the Iranian regime at a time when in addition to the flagrant violation of human rights in Iran, it plays the biggest role in wreaking havoc in the Middle East region causing the death and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people on both sides in recent days.”
This development jeopardizes regional and global peace and egregiously violates the core principles upon which the United Nations was founded.
A Call to Action
The open letter urged representatives of all democratic countries and human rights advocates to stand against the appointment of the Iranian regime as the chairman of the UN Human Rights Council Social Forum. By refraining from attending such a meeting and voicing their dissent, they can send a clear message that the international community will not tolerate the endorsement of a regime notorious for its atrocities.
The appointment of Iran to chair the UNHRC Social Forum should be seen as a call to action, an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of human rights and the principles upon which the United Nations was founded.
Statement to the United Nations
In an undemocratic process, the religious dictatorship ruling Iran, one of the biggest violators of human rights in the world today, has taken over the chairmanship of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Social Forum, which is scheduled to be held on November 2n and 3, 2023 in Geneva.
This platform is given to the Iranian regime at a time when in addition to the flagrant violation of human rights in Iran, it plays the biggest role in wreaking havoc in the Middle East region causing the death and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people on both sides in recent days.
Taking over the United Nations platform by a regime notorious for committing massacre, carrying out executions, and spreading war is a dagger to the heart of human rights, fueling terrorism and endangering regional and global peace. It egregiously violates the very principles upon which the United Nations has been founded and for which millions of people have sacrificed their lives. This represents a dark stain in the history of the United Nations.
The United Nations has condemned this regime in 69 resolutions for gross and systematic violation of human rights. The clerical regime has executed more than 600 people in the first 10 months of 2023, murdered 750 protesters during the 2022 uprising and 1,500 more during the 2019 uprising. On November 24, 2022, the Human Rights Council established an international fact-finding commission to investigate the regime’s blatant violations during the 2022 uprising. On December 15, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly condemned the brutal and systematic violations of human rights in Iran. On April 4, 2023, the Human Rights Council condemned the human rights abuses in Iran and renewed the mission of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran.
Appointing the representative of such a regime as the Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Social Forum will be seen by the clerical regime as a green light for more torture and killing and assures its suppressive forces that they will not be held accountable for their crimes.
We ask the representatives of all democratic countries and all human rights advocates to protest the Iranian regime becoming the chairman of UN human rights body and refrain from attending such a meeting".
