Today, on Thursday, April 5, 2024, the member countries of the United Nations Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the special rapporteur on human rights in Iran and the UN fact finding mission for another year by adopting a resolution.
The Human Rights Council, at its fifty-fifth session in Geneva, voted on a draft resolution on the human rights situation in Iran, ultimately approving it with positive, negative, and abstaining votes from its members.
The resolution calls on the Islamic Republic of Iran to fully cooperate with the special rapporteur and the Truth Finding Committee, emphasizing the importance of the committee’s mission to investigate human rights violations related to the September 2022 protests, especially concerning women and children.
It requires the special rapporteur to present two reports to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, and requests the fact finding mission to present its report at the Council’s March session next year.
Additionally, the resolution requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations to provide necessary resources to the special rapporteur and the fact finding mission .
The US representative in the session started his remarks with “women, life, freedom,” expressing strong support from the United States for extending the mandate of the special rapporteur and the fact finding mission , stating that America stands with the people of Iran.
The representative of Belgium, on behalf of the European Union, deeply expressed concerns about the human rights situation in Iran and urged the Islamic Republic to end “systematic discrimination” against women and girls.
However, the representative of the Islamic Republic highlighted the situation of war in Gaza during the session and then mocked the role of the US and Germany in drafting this resolution, labeling it as “ridiculous,” while Cuba and China were among the countries opposing the resolution.
It is worth mentioning that dozens of human rights organizations, including the”BHRG” Set, in a joint letter last month, requested members of the United Nations Human Rights Council to extend the mandate of the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran and the independent international fact Finding mission on Iran at the fifty-fifth session of the Human Rights Council.
