With 80 votes in favor and 27 against, the UN General Assembly passed its 71st resolution denouncing the Iranian regime’s abuses of human rights. The resolution denounces discrimination against women, minorities, and children, as well as the unlawful application of the death sentence, arbitrary detentions, torture, and the suppression of rallies. It demands that all death sentences be suspended and that executions, many of which are based on coerced confessions, end immediately.
Iran condemned by UN Assembly
It also denounces sexual and gender-based violence against detainees and draws attention to the terrible conditions in Iranian jails, such as the denial of medical care and family contact. In violation of international human rights standards, the resolution highlights the regime’s harsh repression of women and girls. The resolution was praised by Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), who described it as a minor representation of the regime’s larger atrocities. She pointed to the more than 625 executions since the current president took office and the recent death sentences of political detainees as evidence of the regime’s use of executions and harsh repression to quell dissent. Ms. Rajavi emphasized the need to bring the regime’s crimes before the UN Security Council immediately and called for the leaders of Iran to be held accountable for decades of human rights abuses. In a new resolution, the UN General Assembly denounced the Islamic Republic of Iran for violating human rights, including those of the Baha’i community, and stated that the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief was “continually severely limited and increasingly restricted” for Baha’is and others. There were 68 abstentions and 27 votes against the motion, while 80 countries supported it.
Human rights abuses under fire
The yearly resolution, which was approved by the General Assembly with 78 votes in 2023, has gained momentum with this vote. The resolution, which was initially approved by the Third Committee of the General Assembly in November and was co-signed by 49 member states and sponsored by Canada, also urges Iran to change Articles 499 and 500 of its penal code. Both recognized and unrecognized religious minorities, including the Baha’i community, are subject to unfounded criminal prosecutions as a result of the articles’ criminalization of non-Muslim religious expression. Because of these articles, Baha’is have been detained, prosecuted without proof, and imprisoned. According to the resolution, Baha’is have been the focus of hate speech and propaganda, limitations on their access to jobs and education, and the arbitrary seizure and destruction of their property. According to the resolution, the Baha’i community has been “subjected to a continued increase and the cumulative impacts of long-standing persecution, including attacks, harassment, and targeting, who face increasing restrictions and systemic persecution by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on account of their faith and have reportedly been subjected to mass arrests and lengthy prison sentences, as well as the arrest of prominent members and increased confiscation and destruction of property.”
Global outcry over Iran’s violations
“The Baha’i International Community is happy that the UN General Assembly has once again confirmed this important United Nations resolution,” stated Bani Dugal, the Baha’i International Community’s Principal Representative to the UN. “The international community’s obligation to protect human rights must never waver. We can observe the dire consequences of Iran’s government’s failure to respect its own human rights duties under international law and to recognize the legitimacy of these worries. The Iranian government must uphold the rights of the Baha’is and all other vulnerable minorities in Iran to live their lives in freedom and dignity, she continued. “Remains concerned by reports of violations against women, human rights defenders, and religious and ethnic minorities,” Brazil’s Mission to the UN stated during the Third Committee vote in November. We reaffirm our support for Baha’is and other minorities’ rights to practice their religion in a free, non-discriminatory, and peaceful manner. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom described the “increased targeting of Baha’i women” as an “alarming escalation,” considering recent calls for gender equality throughout Iranian society.
UN takes a stand on Iran’s actions
According to the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran’s Multifaceted Violence Against Baha’is in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iran’s systematic persecution of the Baha’i community, with a focus on Baha’i women, was discussed by UN Special Rapporteurs, including Professor Mai Sato, the country’s new Special Rapporteur on human rights, and Professor Nazila Ghanea, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. The report, which was released by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center in collaboration with Eleos Justice at Monash University, detailed 45 years of violence against the Baha’i community. It mentioned three types of violence: structural, which includes the denial of education and employment; cultural, which includes hate speech and state-sanctioned discrimination; and direct, which includes executions, incarceration, and the destruction of homes and businesses.
