Joint Coalition StatementIran in Crisis · A Coalition Call for Rights, Justice, andAccountability

In the wake of military strikes that have plunged Iran into armed conflict beginning Saturday,
and in this moment of grave uncertainty, the organizations that constitute the Impact Iran
coalition reaffirm, more than ever, their unwavering commitment to the protection and
promotion of the rights and dignity of all people in Iran.
We are deeply alarmed by the profound human cost this conflict is already imposing on a
civilian population that has long suffered under repression and instability. We call on all
parties to uphold their obligations under international human rights law and international
humanitarian law. The following principles must guide the actions of all stakeholders.

1. IRANIANS HAVE A RIGHT TO BE SAFE
   In the current situation of armed conflict, all warring parties must fully respect and fulfil their
   obligations under international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction
   between civilians and combatants, proportionality, precaution, necessity, and humanity. The
   lives and wellbeing of civilians must be protected without exception. International human
   rights law does not cease to apply in armed conflict — certain rights, including the right to
   life and the prohibition of torture, cannot be suspended under any circumstances, including
   declared states of emergency.
   We are particularly alarmed by the situation of those held in detention. Conflict and political
   transition are especially dangerous moments for people in custody, who are uniquely
   vulnerable to abuse, disappearance, and extrajudicial harm. All prisoners and detainees must
   be treated humanely and in accordance with international standards. The rules of armed
   conflict prohibit in all circumstances murder, torture, cruel treatment, and hostage-taking of
   all persons not actively participating in hostilities. These protections cannot be suspended.
   Beyond the context of armed conflict, Iranians have suffered years of brutal and systematic
   repression. Security forces have unlawfully killed thousands — possibly tens of thousands —

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and are currently arbitrarily detaining even larger numbers who risk torture, ill-treatment,
and the death penalty. The right to be safe requires an immediate end to the use of lethal
and excessive force against peaceful protesters, the fundamental accountability and reform
of security institutions responsible for these abuses, and the immediate release of all those
arbitrarily detained — including protesters, human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists,
media workers, writers, artists, and trade unionists.
We further call on all parties to ensure safe, unimpeded access for humanitarian
organizations, to protect medical facilities and personnel, and to establish and respect
humanitarian corridors to assist affected civilians.
We are also gravely concerned about the safety of groups facing heightened risk, including
women and girls, who face increased exposure to gender-based violence during armed
conflict and political transition; ethnic and religious minorities, including Kurds, Baluch,
Arabs, Baha’is, Christians, and others, who may be targeted or scapegoated amid instability;
and refugees and stateless persons, who are among the most vulnerable and may have no
means of protection or escape.

2. IRANIANS HAVE A RIGHT TO JUSTICE
   We acknowledge that the killing of senior regime figures has been met with expressions of
   relief by many Iranians, reflecting decades of shared trauma rooted in oppression, brutality,
   and the systematic suppression of dissent. We understand this response.
   At the same time, those killings deprive the Iranian people, victims, survivors, and their
   families of the prospect of holding perpetrators accountable through legal processes. Justice
   — real, lasting, legitimate justice — cannot be achieved through death or vengeance. It
   requires independent courts, transparent proceedings, and accountability under law. The
   emphasis must remain firmly on accountability through legal processes, rather than
   vengeance or impunity through death. The legality of any individual killing under
   international humanitarian law is a matter for independent legal review — which is precisely
   why impartial accountability processes are essential.
   We call for the preservation of all documentation of human rights violations — past and
   present — and for the international community to support independent accountability
   mechanisms, including the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, and to lay the groundwork for
   comprehensive transitional justice — including criminal accountability, truth-seeking,
   reparations for victims, and guarantees of non-recurrence. Evidence gathered by civil society
   organizations during this period must be protected as a matter of priority.
3. IRANIANS HAVE A RIGHT TO DECIDE THEIR OWN FUTURE
   The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that the will of the people shall be the
   basis of the authority of government. It is for the Iranian people — and the Iranian people
   alone — to determine their own political future, freely and without exclusion.
   Any transfer or consolidation of political power must be transparent, inclusive, and
   undertaken with the meaningful participation of civil society actors. Iranian civil society
   organizations, women’s groups, minority communities, human rights defenders, and
   diaspora communities must have a genuine seat at the table in any political negotiations or

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post-conflict governance discussions. External actors should support rather than direct
Iranian-led transition processes.
We call on the international community to support — not supplant — Iranian-led processes
for building a future that reflects the will of all Iranians, without distinction based on gender,
ethnicity, religion, belief, or political opinion.

4. IRANIANS HAVE A RIGHT TO LIVE FREE AND EQUAL
   For decades, the people of Iran have lived under a system that has systematically denied
   their fundamental rights — criminalizing dissent, persecuting minorities, and enforcing
   discriminatory laws that have fallen most heavily on women, ethnic communities, religious
   minorities, and those who speak out. Whatever political changes may come, these patterns
   of exclusion and repression must not simply take a new form under new authorities.
   Whatever form Iran’s future takes, it must be rooted in the full respect, protection, and
   fulfilment of human rights for all — without exception, and without compromise. The rights
   to life and security of the person, freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of assembly
   and association, equality before the law, non-discrimination, freedom of religion or belief,
   voting and political participation, due process, and a fair trial — the very rights suppressed in
   Iran today — must be guaranteed for all people tomorrow, including women and girls and all
   of Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities.
   We call on all actors engaged in or influencing Iran’s political future to make an explicit,
   public commitment to these rights as a non-negotiable foundation — not as aspirations, but
   as binding obligations under international human rights law.
5. THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION MUST BE PROTECTED
   Independent and accurate information is essential in times of conflict — and its suppression
   is itself a form of harm. Iran has one of the most extensive digital repression infrastructures in
   the world. Internet shutdowns, throttling, filtering, and surveillance have long been used to
   silence dissent and control the flow of information. In a moment of armed conflict, these
   tools become even more dangerous: they can be used to conceal atrocities, disorient
   civilians, and prevent affected communities from accessing help or communicating their
   situation to the outside world.
   We call for the immediate cessation of any internet shutdowns or communications
   blackouts. The Iranian people have the right to access and share information, including about
   the conflict unfolding around them. We further call for the protection of sources,
   whistleblowers, and those documenting violations on the ground — their work is essential to
   any future accountability process and must not be criminalized or endangered.
   We call for the protection of journalists and media workers — both inside and outside Iran —
   and for safe, unimpeded access for independent press. Under international humanitarian
   law, journalists covering armed conflict are civilians and must be protected as such.
   Deliberately targeting them would constitute a war crime. We also call on technology
   companies and platform providers to take active steps to ensure that communications
   infrastructure serving people in Iran remains accessible, and to resist any pressure to restrict
   or monitor it in ways that endanger users.

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6. OBLIGATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
   States involved in or supporting this conflict bear obligations not only under international
   humanitarian law, but under the full framework of international human rights law. These
   obligations do not diminish because a conflict is politically complex or strategically
   significant. The chaos of armed conflict must not become cover for normalizing impunity or
   for dismantling the international mechanisms that exist precisely for moments like this.
   We call on all states to:
   a. Uphold and strengthen the UN human rights system — including the Human Rights
   Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, and the Independent International Fact-
   Finding Mission on Iran. These mechanisms must be protected, adequately resourced,
   and given full political backing, not undermined or sidelined in the name of geopolitical
   expediency.
   b. Take initiatives to hold perpetrators to account for gross violations of human rights
   and crimes under international law – States must not stop at supporting investigations
   by the Fact-Finding Mission. They must make sure that the body of evidence collected
   through such investigations and otherwise is transmitted to relevant offices of the
   prosecutors that may have jurisdiction for appropriate action, including the opening of
   investigations and the issuance of arrest warrants. For this, States must:
   ● Establish jurisdiction and open investigations at the domestic level, including on the
   basis of universal jurisdiction and other forms of extra-territorial jurisdiction,
   ● Encourage the UN Security Council to refer the situation in the Islamic Republic of
   Iran to the International Criminal Court
   c. Grant protection to victims and survivors: States must grant asylum and humanitarian
   visas as well as medical and psychological care to victims and survivors in need for
   protection, as well as their families.
   d. Protect Iranians in exile by addressing and countering transnational repression
   activities of Iran: States must coordinate strategies to prevent, address and counter
   transnational repression activities of Iran targeting Iranians in exile, including human
   rights defenders, victims and survivors and their families, lawyers, journalists and media
   workers and writers and artists.
   e. Ensure sanctions do not punish civilians — Any sanctions regimes, existing or new,
   must include robust humanitarian carve-outs to ensure that civilians are not deprived of
   food, medicine, financial services, or essential goods. The burden of geopolitical decisions
   must not fall on the Iranian people.
   f. Support civil society and human rights defenders — States and donors must provide
   sustained support to Iranian civil society organizations, human rights defenders,
   journalists, and documentation efforts — both inside Iran and in diaspora communities.
   This includes safe pathways, emergency funding, and protection measures.

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g. Acknowledge and support the demand of Iranians for fundamental change, that have
been repeatedly, widely and forcefully expressed at great cost by Iranian protesters,
including profound reforms of Iran’s constitutional and legislative frameworks. States can
play a role in particular by supporting civil society initiatives aiming at facilitating inclusive
dialogue among Iranians and anticipating a possible orderly transition.
The international community has both the tools and the obligation to act. We call on all
states to use their influence, leverage, and legal obligations to protect the people of Iran —
not to serve their own strategic interests at the expense of human lives.
Impact Iran and its member organizations stand in full solidarity with the people of Iran at
this critical and dangerous moment in their history. We will continue to document, advocate,
and speak out — whatever the circumstances — in defense of the rights and dignity of all
Iranians.
— IMPACT IRAN COALITION
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran
Ahwaz Human Rights Organisation (AHRO)
All Human Rights for All in Iran
ARTICLE 19
Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran (AHRAZ)
Balochistan Human Rights Documentation Network
Balochistan Human Rights Group (BHRG)
Defenders of Human Rights Center
ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty)
Iran Human Rights
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Kurdistan Human Rights Association-Geneva (KMMK-G)
Kurdistan Human Rights Network
Kurdpa Human Rights Organization
Outright International
PEN America
Rasank
Siamak Pourzand Foundation (SPF)
United for Iran (U4I)