The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has voted to gather court quality documentation of human rights violations by the Islamic Republic of Iran in order to lay the groundwork for future prosecution of regime officials. It has never done this before for any country.
The UNHRC did this by adopting a landmark resolution extending and expanding the mandate of the its Fact-Finding Mission on Iran (FFMI), which was established in November 2022, but limited to investigating human rights violations committed by the Islamic Republic during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.
With this new action, the FFMI can now investigate all ongoing human rights violations and collect evidence for future legal action. “This resolution is a resounding warning to Iran’s authorities: the era of unchecked brutality is coming to an end,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “Every branch of Iran’s government—from low-level officers to the highest ranks—must know that their crimes are being documented and that justice will catch up with them,” said Ghaemi.
The resolution, which passed with 24 votes in favor, 8 against, and 15 abstentions, also renews the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, Mai Sato, for another year. The FFMI’s new mandate will record and preserve evidence of violations and “ensure that all evidence is accessible for use in any independent legal proceedings.”
Ghaemi said, “For years, the Iranian government has worked to silence independent investigations and conceal its crimes. But now the evidence is being documented, and those who orchestrate killings, torture and sexual violence in Iran will be held accountable.” Only eight countries on the 47-member Human Rights Council voted against the new policy. They were: Algeria, Bolivia, Burundi, China, Cuba, Indonesia, Sudan and Vietnam. Iran, Russia and the United States are not members of the council.
