The UN Human Rights Council decides to launch an investigation into Iranian human rights violations. Since protests started on September 16, 2022, there have been 14,000 arrests and an estimated 300 fatalities. Voting is a big victory for human rights advocates who are concerned about being charged in foreign courts with 25 votes in favour, six against, and 16 abstentions, the resolution (A/HRC/S-35/L.1) on the declining human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran was approved orally. The violent suppression of peaceful protests that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people, including dozens of children, was strongly condemned by the Council. The mission will support Javaid Rehman’s work as the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Iran. He asserted that broad patterns of unlawful killing were fueled by structural impunity and accused the judiciary of covering up crimes committed by the security services.
Iran has been urged to uphold the fundamental aspects of the international covenant on civil and political rights established by the UN. The vote, according to Germany’s foreign minister, was a test of the human rights council’s bravery. She underlined that
