The UN Human Rights Council has approved a move to establish a research project to investigate mass protests in Iran during the two months following the death in custody of Kurdish Mahsa Amini. of 22 years in Tehran on September 16.
In a vote on 24 November, a solution followed by 25 votes in favour, 6 against and 16 abstentions. Among the countries that voted in favor were the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Lithrougha. Among those who abstained were Iran’s 47-member neighbors — the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
An effort by China to dilute the movement was defeated. Chinese envoy Jiang Yingfeng told the assembly that the move “obviously would not help solve the problem. “
The assembly met at the request of Germany and Iceland to discuss the deteriorating human rights landscape in Iran.
Firstly, it was addressed through UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, who said: “We have noticed waves of protests in recent years, calling for justice, equality, dignity and respect for human rights. They faced violence and repression. The unnecessary and disproportionate use of force will have to stop.
“The old strategies and castle mentality of those in place just don’t work. In fact, they only make the scenario worse. We are now in a real human rights crisis.
Turk said there have reportedly been protests in “more than 150 cities and 140 universities in Iran’s 31 provinces” since mid-September and that “a conservative estimate of the death toll is more than 300, adding at least 40 children. “
He said around 14,000 people, including children, had been arrested in connection with the protests and that at least 21 of them faced the death penalty.
Iran’s representative opposed the move and harshly criticized the European countries that had convened the meeting.
In his address to the council, Iran’s Khadijeh Karimi said that “Germany’s politically motivated resolve to distort the human rights situation in Iran is an orchestrated ploy for ulterior motives that would lead nowhere, even to remove the Human Rights Council from its true mandate. “”
He also criticized the U. S. The U. S. and U. S. -based anti-Iranian TV channels have been used in the U. K. and the U. S. “The U. S. acted as provocateurs of hatred, inciting violence and terrorism in the riots. “