administrators that the use of Kurdish and Turkish languages inside public schools is forbidden.11
Furthermore, Kurdish language teachers have been facing harassment and persecution.12
Additionally, ethnic minorities are widely under-represented in public affairs. For instance, no
province governor belongs to an ethnic minority. None of the provinces that are populated in
majority by minority groups, like Kurdistan, Sistan-and-Balochistan, Golestan, East and West
Azerbaijan, is run by a person belonging to that minority.13 Furthermore, provinces in Iran that
are predominantly inhabited by ethnic minorities, such as Khuzestan with a majority of Awhazi
Arabs, or Sistan-Baluchestan with a majority of Balochis, are generally undeveloped with a
significant part of their population living under the poverty line.14
Members of ethnic minorities campaigning for greater linguistic and cultural freedom have faced
arrests, detentions and executions.15 16 In 2018, prison data shows that at least three quarters of
Iran’s political prisoners are from ethnic minorities.17 Ethnic minorities, especially Kurds and
Balochis, are over-represented in death penalty statistics. Many of the offenses carrying the death
penalty, in particular drug-related offenses and national security offenses, are among the charges
most commonly used to target and convict minorities. Impoverished and marginalised minorities
have been over-represented among those executed for drug offenses. Additionally, Kurdish
political prisoners charged with national security offences represent almost half of the total
number of political prisoners. Overall, half of those executed for affiliation with a political party
or a banned group between 2010 and 2018 were Kurds, while a quarter were Balochis and over
one-tenth Arabs. Executions targeting members of ethnic minorities continue, notably against
Kurdish dissidents.18 Between mid-December 2020 and early February 2021, at least 21 Balochi
prisoners have been executed in Iran.19 There have also been serious concerns over the secret
11
Minority Groups, https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Rights-Denied-Violations-against-ethnic-andreligious-minorities-in-Iran.pdf
12
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 Documenttion
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
13
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 Documenttion
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
14
Minority Groups, https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Rights-Denied-Violations-against-ethnic-andreligious-minorities-in-Iran.pdf
15
Article 19 and Access Now, https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IRAN-UPR-ARTICLE-19-Access-IranFINAL-English.pdf
16
Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/6446/2017/en/
17
Minority Groups, https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Rights-Denied-Violations-against-ethnic-andreligious-minorities-in-Iran.pdf
18
Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/iran-two-kurds-executed-amid-increasing-use-ofdeath-penalty-as-weapon-of-repression/
19
OHCHR News, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26716&LangID=E
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