Your Excellencies,
We, the undersigned organizations, write to you with deep respect for the essential role of the General Assembly in upholding the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, and with profound concern regarding the escalating, widespread, and systematic human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We wish to bring to your attention the grave findings contained in three official reports submitted within the United Nations system: the report of the UN Secretary-General, the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and the report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, all of which have been presented to the relevant UN bodies.
Taken together, these reports, each approaching the situation from a different vantage point yet aligned in their conclusions, provide a deeply disturbing picture of severe and organized patterns of human rights violations. The Independent Fact-Finding Mission has determined that the violations committed by the Iranian authorities, particularly those relating to the violent repression of protests, mass arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, are at the threshold of, or amount to, crimes against humanity. The Special Rapporteur’s report further substantiates these findings, documenting the persistence and systemic nature of state repression. The Secretary-General’s report highlights the structural and institutional dimensions of these violations and underscores the continued failure of domestic mechanisms to ensure accountability.
The realities reflected in these reports fully correspond to what our organizations witness daily through direct engagement with victims, survivors, political prisoners, and their families. Beyond statistics and legal assessments, we confront the lived experiences of individuals who endure profound suffering and isolation, with no access to justice and no voice to make their pleas heard. The testimonies and documentation we receive show clearly that these violations are not isolated incidents but represent systematic, repeated, and deliberate patterns of conduct affecting millions.
The draft resolution on the human rights situation in Iran, already adopted by the Third Committee, is now scheduled to be brought before the General Assembly. We believe that the international community bears both a moral and legal responsibility to ensure that the resolution is not only adopted but strengthened so that it accurately reflects the gravity and scope of the crisis.
Internationally recognized principles, including the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), which highlights the necessity of collective action in the face of grave and systematic human rights violations, as well as the preventive role of the international community in averting the escalation of humanitarian crises, reinforce the imperative for decisive action. The situation in Iran today, marked by pervasive state violence, acute social fragility, and the risk of broader regional instability, clearly represents a circumstance in which the General Assembly must make full use of its available tools to prevent further deterioration.
For these reasons, we respectfully call upon the General Assembly to:
- Adopt, with strong support and strengthened language, the draft resolution concerning the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, ensuring that it reflects the findings of all three UN reports, including the determination that certain violations may constitute crimes against humanity.
- Recommend that the serious human rights violations in Iran be referred to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for examination, investigation, and potential prosecution, drawing upon relevant UN practice in situations involving prolonged cycles of violence and impunity.
- Use the full scope of its mandate to advance international accountability, particularly in circumstances where other mechanisms have been unable to act effectively, in accordance with the UN Charter and the Assembly’s established responsibilities in safeguarding human rights, peace, and security.
- Support the creation or renewal of independent mechanisms for fact-finding and evidence preservation, ensuring that documentation of widespread violations is secured for future accountability processes, including potential transitional justice mechanisms or international judicial proceedings.
- Reaffirm the need to protect Iranian civil society, including human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, journalists, lawyers, labor activists, and members of particularly vulnerable communities, among them ethnic and religious minorities, and call upon the Government of Iran to take meaningful steps to safeguard their rights.
- Call for the immediate release of all political prisoners, an end to executions, and the cessation of violent repression of peaceful protests.
Your Excellencies,
This Joint Statement reflects not only institutional and legal concerns but also the voices of thousands of families who have, for years, been seeking truth, justice, and the support of the international community. We respectfully urge you, ahead of the forthcoming vote, to uphold your collective responsibility to protect human dignity and to ensure that the cycle of violence and impunity does not continue unchecked.
With respect,
Signatory Organizations :
NGOs with ECOSOC Consultative Status :
1. Arc Association for the Defense of Human Rights – ArcDH
Email : arcdh@laposte.net
2. Zagros Human Rights Center (ZHRC)
Email : contact@zagros-centre.org
NGOs without ecosoc consultative status :
3. AFMR – Association for Multicultural Relations
Email: Not provided
4. AIFA – International Association of Physicians & Healthcare Workers
Email: Not provided
5. Ahwazi Center for Human Rights
Email: FMARAMAZI@yahoo.com
6. Ahwazi Source
Email: ahwazisource@gmail.com
7. Alliance for Minority Rights
Email: allminorityrights@gmail.com
8. Alliance for Women, Life, Freedom – Florence
Email: Not provided
9. Alliance for Women, Life, Freedom – Stockholm
Email: Not provided
10. Associazione Donne Libere Iraniane (Association of Free Iranian Women – Italy)
Email: Not provided
11. Association of Injured & Justice Seekers of the Jina Uprising
Email: Not provided
12. Azadaneh Association – Paris
Email: Not provided
13. Balochistan Human Rights Campaign (BHRCampaign)
Email: bhrcampaign@gmail.com
14. Balochistan Human Rights Group (BHRG)
Email: contact@bhrg.info
15. Collaboration Demonstration Council – Netherlands
Email: Not provided
16. Committee for Freedom and Democracy in Iran
Email: Not provided
17. Communist Youth Organization
Email: Not provided
18. Donna Vita Libertà (Italy)
Email: Not provided
19. Esmail Khoi Foundation
Email: Not provided
20. Ex-Muslim Scandinavia (Full name requested not to be shortened)
Email: Not provided
21. Free Iran Campaign
Email: Not provided
22. Free Iran Switzerland
Email: Not provided
23. Global Campaign: No to Executions in Iran
Email: Not provided
24. Hana Human Rights Organization
Email: hana@hanahr.org
25. Human Rights Commission of the Republican & Social Democratic Party of Iran
Email: Not provided
26. ICAE – International Committee Against Executions
Email: Not provided
27. IIPHA – International Iranian Public Health Association
Email: boardmembers@iipha.org
28. International Association of Iranian Legal & Political Advocates
Email: Not provided
29. International Solidarity for Peace – ISIP
Email: asip.paix@gmail.com
30. Iran House
Email: Contact@iran-house.org
31. Iran Protest – Malmö
Email: Not provided
32. Justice Supporters Association
Email: kanonhamiyanedalat@gmail.com
33. Khavaran 1988 – No Torture, No Execution Movement
Email: Not provided
34. Khavaran Committee
Email: Not provided
35. KRF – Women’s Rights Federation (Sweden)
Email: Not provided
36. Kurdistan Human Rights Reporters Center
Email: reporterscenter@gmail.com
37. Mana Association – Milan
Email: Not provided
38. National Women’s Rights Association – Sweden
Email: Not provided
39. Nayer Juristbyra
Email: nayerjuristbyra@gmail.com
40. Network of Iranians for Liberty & Democracy
Email: Not provided
41. NIKA Network – Network of Iranians for Liberty and Democracy
Email: Not provided
42. NIKA Organization (sister network)
Email: Not provided
43. No Execution Coalition
Email: Not provided
44. No to Execution Campaign
Email: Jila555@outlook.com
45. No to Islamic Republic Group – Orange County, California
Email: Not provided
46. Secular Democratic Republicans of Iran
Email: Not provided
47. Shoraye Bargozaari – Anusheh Group
Email: shorayebargozari@gmail.com
48. Solidarity Human Rights Committee of Republican Democrats
Email: Not provided
49. Solidarity Network
Email: shabake.hambastegi@gmail.com
50. Solidarity Network for Human Rights in Iran
Email: Not provided
51. Stop Honor Killings 2020 Campaign
Email: stophonorkillings2020@gmail.com
52. Victims & Justice Seekers of the Jina Uprising
Email: Not provided
53. Voice of Zagros
Email: contact@voziran.org
54. Women, Life, Freedom Association – Germany
Email: Not provided
55. Women Life Freedom – Austria
Email: Not provided
56. Women Life Freedom – Brussels
Email: anushe49@gmail.com
57. Women Life Freedom – Munich
Email: Not provided
58. Women Life Freedom Germany e.V.
Email: Not provided
59. Women Life Freedom Network – Belgium
Email: Not provided
60. Women’s Revolution Collective
Email: Not provided