UN Secretary-General's Report on Human Rights Violations in Iran

Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, published a report detailing instances of human rights violations in Iran in the organization's annual report. This report was released on Friday, October 25, in connection with UN General Assembly Resolution 69/190. The report criticizes the Islamic Republic of Iran for the multiple executions and what has been termed the execution of minors and the sentencing of individuals before the age of criminal responsibility. According to international laws, which Iran is also committed to implementing, issuing death sentences for minors who committed crimes before reaching the age of 18 is prohibited. The report also mentions public executions in front of observers, especially children, as actions contrary to human rights values. Ban Ki-moon expressed his concerns about the executions in Iran and their increase. Although the first section of this 19-page report states that the Islamic Republic of Iran has cooperated with various UN bodies to provide some periodic and case-specific reports, the UN accused the Islamic Republic of clear violations of women's rights and urged Iran to join the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The Secretary-General also referred to widespread censorship and media restrictions in his latest 2015 report. The annual report explicitly addresses internet filtering in Iran, stating that the Iranian government has failed to fulfill its numerous promises to liberalize information flow. The report includes instances of the detention of activists and human rights defenders, such as the arrest and sentencing of Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist in Iran, noting that these activists are sometimes sentenced to several years in prison by the Iranian judiciary. In this report, the Secretary-General expressed satisfaction with the recent nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic and world powers, hoping that the lifting of economic sanctions and unilateral coercive measures would reduce the negative impacts of sanctions on the Iranian people. The Secretary-General also called on Hassan Rouhani, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and his government to allocate sufficient resources and seriousness to promote human rights in Iran. The 70th session of the UN General Assembly is being held in New York, and leaders and political figures from various countries, including Hassan Rouhani, have traveled to America to participate. In this context, the UN condemned the 'sharp increase' in the number of executions in Iran, expressed concern from the Human Rights Defenders Center regarding the situation of sick prisoners, noted the 'beginning' of a gender segregation plan in the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Organization, reported on Mohammad Ali Taheri's hunger strike in protest against the death sentence, and called for investigations into the causes of Shahrokh Zamani's death in prison.