Iran: UN body highlights serious violations of civil and political rights

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its member organisation for Iran, the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI), welcome the findings published by a United Nations (UN) body last week, which underscored the grave and systematic violations of civil and political rights by the Iranian authorities. FIDH and LDDHI urge the government to fully implement the recommendations made by the UN body without delay.

Paris, 7 November 2023. On 3 November 2023, the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR) issued its concluding observations following the review of the country’s fourth periodic report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The review was held on 9 and 10 October 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland. The CCPR monitors state parties’ compliance with the legal obligation under the ICCPR. Iran is a state party to this treaty.

The CCPR’s findings echo many of those presented by FIDH and LDDHI in their shadow report, which was published ahead of the CCPR’s review. These include: the lack of implementation of the ICCPR at the national level; the failure of the authorities to establish a national human rights institution in accordance with the Paris Principles; the ongoing criminalisation of same-sex sexual relations; the use of the death penalty against children and for crimes that are not “the most serious;” the widespread use of torture; the denial of fair trial rights; the persecution of, and discrimination against, religious minorities; the criminalisation of human rights defenders (HRDs) and censorship of the media; the violent repression of peaceful assemblies; the absence of genuine, inclusive or participatory elections; and the discrimination against minorities.

The CCPR made more than 80 recommendations to the Iranian authorities, including: to ensure that domestic laws are applied in conformity with the ICCPR; to establish full, impartial and independent investigations into reports of serious human rights violations; to decriminalise same-sex consensual relations; to ensure de jure and de facto equality between women and men; to consider a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to abolishing it; to ensure the use of force is in line with international law and guidelines and investigate all allegations of excessive use of force; and to investigate the death of Jina Mahsa Amini.

The CCPR also requested the Iranian authorities to provide information, by 3 November 2026, regarding the implementation of recommendations related to the following priority issues: 1) violence against women; 2) the death penalty; and 3) the excessive use of force