Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders A/HRC/31/55/Add.1 para
290
Full recommendation:
The Special Rapporteur strongly urges the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to fully
cooperate with the mandates of the Special Rapporteur in the future, particularly due to the
serious allegations addressed, and to provide information on the communications sent.
Assessment
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (HRDs) sent a total of 11
communications over the 2015 reporting period.1 The Government of the Republic of Iran
responded to six of them (to one on 25 November 20152 and to five on 16 March 20163). Replies
from the Iranian Government mostly refuted the alleged facts in the communications of the
Special Rapporteur. In its replies, the Government maintained that charges held against the
HRDs had nothing to do with their ‘lawful activities’ and that legal procedures respected Iranian
due process.
With regards to subsequent cooperation with the mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the
situation of HRDs, as of February 2021, the Government responded to 8 out of the 9
communications sent in 2016, 3 out of the 4 communications sent in 2017, 3 out of the 8
communications sent in 2018, 4 out of the 5 communications sent in 2019, 1 out of the 4
communications sent in 2020.4
1
2015 Annual Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders https://documents-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G16/033/70/PDF/G1603370.pdf?OpenElement an additional communication was sent following
the publication of the annual report IRN 23/2015
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=15694
2
Reply of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to communication, IRN 18/2015,
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=32751
3
Reply of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to communication IRN 1/2015,
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=32484
Reply of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to communication IRN 5/2015,
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=31626
Replies of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to communication IRN 6/2015,
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=32075 and
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=32076
Reply of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to communication IRN 9/2015,
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=32697
Reply of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to communication IRN 20/2015,
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=31864 and
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=31865
4
Communications sent by UN Human Rights Special Procedures and Government’s replies can be found in the following online
database: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/Tmsearch/TMDocuments
1