Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
A/HRC/37/68 para 78
Full recommendation:
The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to demonstrate the political will to end the
impunity of agents of the State who perpetrate violations of the human rights of individuals in the
country.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
The shortcomings of the Iranian legal framework leaves members of minorities in Iran without
legal guarantees to fully enjoy their human rights, which is a guarantee that falls under one of
Iran's international obligations. As such, the Iran legal framework grants wide impunity to agents
of the State who violate the human rights of individuals in the country.2 3
In 2016, the Iranian High Council for Human Rights issued a booklet entitled “Some measures
taken by the Islamic Republic of Iran on demands of ethnic groups, religious minorities and
sects”.4 The same year, President Hassan Rouhani issued a Charter on Citizens’ Rights, a
government-endorsed declaration providing guidance for the implementation of the principles,
norms and laws stipulated in the Constitution. 5 In 2019, despite the Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran noted that measures have been taken to
improve the situation of minorities, he said that they “do not alter the fundamentally
discriminatory nature of the Constitution, legislation and Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic
Republic of Iran, in particular in relation to the country’s unrecognised minority communities.”6
Despite the existence of several mechanisms that ostensibly accept complaints regarding
violations of citizens' rights, such as the Parliament’s Article 90 Commission (established under
Article 90 of the Constitution, offering a mechanism to citizens to file complaint against any of
the three branches of power) and the Oversight Bodies for the exercise of Citizenship Rights in
1
CCPR.7.1.S.1 ; CCPR.14.1.S.2 ; CCPR.9.3.S.2 ; CCPR.9.1.S.3; CCPR.7.1.P.2 ; CCPR.14.1.P.3 ; CCPR.9.5.P.2;
CCPR.7.1.O.2 ; CCPR.7.1.O.3 ; CCPR.14.1.O.5 ; CCPR.14.1.O.6 ; CCPR.14.1.O.8 ; CCPR.9.2.O.4.
2
See more : Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human
Rights in Kurdistan – Geneva, Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran, Iran Human Rights
Documentation Center, OutRight International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, 2020,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf
3
See more : ARTICLE 19, Small Media, Human Rights Activists in Iran, Impact Iran, Human Rights Committee, 129th session
(Geneva) 29 June – 24 July 2020,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_ICS_IRN_42315_E.pdf
4
Ibid.
5
Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Islamic Republic of Iran, 27 December 2019,
https://undocs.org/A/HRC/43/12
6
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 18 July 2019, https://documentsdds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N19/222/62/PDF/N1922262.pdf?OpenElement
1