Jan 19, 2021
Open Letter To UN Secretary General
01/20/2021
Secretary General António Guterres
United Nations Headquarters
405 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017 USA
Regarding: Islamic Republic of Iran Human Rights Abuses
Dear Excellency,
We, the undersigned, write to you today with the utmost urgency regarding the Islamic Republic’s continued violation of every article of the United Nations Human Rights’ Charter. The 42 year assault on every article of the UNHRT has been extensively documented by every UN organ, as well as multiple NGO’s, so we will suffice here with only one documented example of each article’s violation. After careful consideration, we hope you’ll agree with us that the continued membership of the Islamic Republic as a member of the United Nations, flies in the face of this most sacrosanct charter.
The Complete Disregard of the Islamic Republic of Iran for EVERY Article of UNHRT
Article I
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
From its onset upon seizing power in 1979, the Islamic Republic has been the epitome of the primary violator of Article 1:
UN Expert Blasts Iran On Rights Violations, Executions Of Children
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Islamic republic of Iran is the leading violator of UNHRT based on all of these categories. For brevity’s sake, we’ll only point out that in the Islamic Republic’s constitution, a woman’s testimony and/or affidavit in their judicial system, is equal to only on third of a man’s testimony/affidavit. Women in the Islamic Republic do not have the right to petition the courts for a divorce from their husbands. A woman has no right of custody for the children in the case of a husband being granted a divorce, and possibly the least important of all, a woman has no right to choose the manner of their clothing.
Discrimination Against Women in Iran’s Job Market
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.
As it is clearly written in the Islamic Republic’s own constitution, UNHRT’s third article, is officially violated. Religious dogma, and the methods used by the regime in silencing dissent, and the mass killings, imprisonments, physical & mental torture, and forced confessions of those Iranians who dare rise in opposition to the regime’s human rights abuses is clear and incontrovertible evidence of the regime’s 42 year history of violation of article 3 of the UNHRT.
Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Along with China, and North Korea, the Islamic Republic is among the top three violators of Article 4 of the UNHRT with regards to human trafficking. Unfortunately, there has never been any repercussion for the regime by the UN, or its organizations in this matter.
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
According to Amnesty International, Iran’s police, intelligence and security forces, and prison officials have committed, with the complicity of judges and prosecutors, a catalogue of shocking human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, against those detained in connection with the nationwide protests of November 2019. However, to the Iranian people, this is nothing new. The Islamic Republic has a 42 year history of these UNHRT abuses, dating back to the first days of Khomeini’s rise to power.
Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
There is a high risk of corruption and political interference when dealing with the judicial system in the Islamic Republic. Iranian executives regularly report that bribes and irregular payments are often exchanged in return for obtaining favorable court decisions (GCR 2015–2016). The Iranian constitution suggests a separation of powers, but in practice, this is not upheld. A powerful system of patronage, under the direct supervision of Ali Khamenei continues to hinder effective prosecution (BTI 2016) to this day.
A powerful system of political patronage, nepotism and cronyism pervade all sectors of the economy
Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Following the 16th century edicts of the Shi’a sect, the constitution of the Islamic Republic, has legitimized the systematic & whole of government violation of UNHRT Article 7. The United Nations has failed to act, or even voice concern in the HRC regarding the regime’s systematic issue of incitement and hatred against minorities, and that the national legal framework does not provide adequate protections to ensure that such individuals do not face discrimination.
Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
The judicial corruption and systematic Human Rights abuses in the Islamic Republic and its leadership are extremely well documented. For 42 years, the UN and its organizations have turned a blind eye to this human tragedy, quite possibly for short term economic benefits derived from the natural wealth of the nation of Iran. This dystopian situation must not stand.
Iran: Serious Rights Violator to Lead Judiciary
Ebrahim Raeesi Oversaw Mass Executions in 1988
Article 9
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
The Islamic Republic is a dual-use violator of UNHRT’s Article 9. From its inception, starting with the hostage taking of US Embassy personnel in Tehran, to its hostage taking of American citizens in Lebanon & Syria in the 1990’s, to its current policy of hostage taking of dual national citizens in Iran & neighboring countries, the Islamic Republic has proven to be a malign entity and a bad actor. However, this is only one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is the regime’s systematic violation of UNHRT Article 9 rights of its own citizens who dare to peacefully protest the regime’s barbaric rule.
IRAN MUST STOP ARBITRARY ARRESTS OF DUAL NATIONALS
Iran: Thousands arbitrarily detained and at risk of torture in chilling post-protest crackdown
Article 10
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
There is NO such thing as an independent or impartial judiciary in the Islamic Republic There never has been.
Following nationwide protests in November 2019 after the Iranian government announced a sudden significant rise in the price of petrol, the Iranian authorities waged a campaign of mass repression that led to the mass arrest and detention of thousands of men, women and children and widespread patterns of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment. Many detainees, including prisoners of conscience, were held incommunicado in prolonged solitary confinement in official “security detention facilities” or unofficial secret detention places run by intelligence and security bodies, sometimes in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance. Others were held in overcrowded detention facilities or prisons in cruel and inhumane conditions.
Article 11
1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.
2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
The Islamic Republic’s own Civil Code describes the laws of the land as those of god’s and not men. Using Sharia, the Islamic Republic’s systematic use of medieval and barbaric punishments should be enough evidence of the regime’s systematic violation of both parts of UNHRT’s Article 11.
How Iran imposes strict adherence to Islamic law with severe, inhuman punishment
THE CIVIL CODE OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
One of the first series of the Islamic Republic’s violations of UNHRT Article 12, began in the first week after Khomeini seized power in 1979. His Islamic committees were instructed by Khomeini, in a nationally televised Friday prayer sermon, to attack the homes of government officials, loot their property, and punish them physically. Within a year, this form of brutality was written into the Islamic Sharia civil code of the Islamic Republic. The EU has just recently made note of this particular form of Human Rights violation, in passing. Truly, there is no justice when it comes to personal property, right to privacy, and regard for any form of human dignity in this regime.
European Parliament resolution of 17 December 2020 on Iran
Article 13
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
With an overall score of 17/100 from Freedom House, that’s 7/40 for political rights, and 10/60 for civil liberties, the Islamic Republic is the epitome of a Non-Free State. Shockingly, in a recent UNHCR paper that was published, this organization applauded Iran as a haven for immigrants. Facts tend to counter this naive assessment on the part of the officials at UNHCR. Iran has accepted 450,000 immigrants on its face, but the truth is far more sinister. The regime is using a temporary residency as bait for poor Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Afghans, to build a terrorist army to commit genocide in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen, just to name a few. This shameful behavior on the part of UN organizations MUST STOP.
Article 14
1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
After Khomeini seized power in 1979, Iran has witnessed a steady brain drain for the past 42 years. Currently, there are nearly 9 million Iranians, including more than one million Jewish Iranians, living abroad, with the undeniable majority of them, not having the right to return to their homeland.
Article 15
1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Marriage of an Iranian woman with a foreign national is dependent, even in cases where there is no legal impediment, upon special permission of the Government, which means, children of an Iranian woman, born of a foreign man have no birthrights, unless a special permission is granted to them by the ultra-radical Guardian Council or the equally primitive-thinking Assembly of Experts.
Article 16
1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
In a report published in October 2014 by Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, it stated that at least 48,580 girls between 10 and 14 years of age were married in 2011, 48,567 of whom were reported to have had at least one child before they reached 15 years of age. Based on the latest statistics, the rate of infant mortality among mothers below the age of 15 remains the highest when compared to other age groups in Iran. Furthermore, 10% of infants born to mothers between 10 and 14 years of age die at birth or soon after.
The Islamic Republic has published limited information on births among mothers below the age of 15.
Article 17
1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
While many Iranians are languishing under a mismanaged and floundering economy, the Iranian regime has attempted to shift the blame for its citizens’ distress to sanctions implemented by the United States. The reality, however, is that the Iranian economy has long been plagued by the regime’s endemic corruption, economic mismanagement, and reckless foreign policy. Iran ranks 164 out of 180 countries listed on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index for 2020.
According to a 2018 investigation by Reuters, Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam, or SETAD for short, is directly controlled by the supreme leader, has personal assets totaling well in excess of $125 billion with his SETAD controlling an additional $200 billion in assets, and it has no external supervisory structure. Per Reuters, “[t]he revenue stream generated by SETAD helps explain why Khamenei has not only held on for 24 years… SETAD gives him the financial means to operate independently of parliament and the national budget, insulating him from Iran’s messy factional infighting.”
In addition to SETAD’s lack of accountability, it has engaged in self-dealing. For example, in 2016, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which the U.S. Treasury Department has dubbed an agent or affiliate of the IRGC, signed its first oil output contract with Persia Oil & Gas Industry Development Company, an Iranian firm that is a subsidiary of SETAD.
It’s within this context that Iran’s protests envelop the country — a country plagued by opacity, unaccountability, and corruption and mismanagement scandals across successive presidential administrations and branches of government.
Corruption and Mismanagement Index for Islamic Republic of Iran
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Since 1999, Iran has been designated as a CPC under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom. On December 18, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo re-designated Iran as a CPC and identified the existing sanctions as ongoing travel restrictions based on serious human rights abuses under section 221(a)(1)© of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, pursuant to section 402(c)(5) of the Act.
Yet UNHRT violations of Article 18, have been largely ignored by the United Nations. The world can no longer keep silent on these basic Human Rights abuses by the Islamic Republic.
2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Iran
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Since Khomeini seized power in 1979, authorities have violently repressed protests across the country, violating international human rights law, and guarantees for the right under Article 27 of the Islamic Republic’s own Constitution. Unlawful and excessive force used against peaceful protesters in 2018 & 2019 made them one of the bloodiest periods in Iran for freedom of assembly since the 1988 massacres. The death toll ranges from verified reports of 1500, to unconfirmed reports of up to 8000 deaths, and the number of those injured by security forces estimated at over 10,000. Over 20,000 persons were arrested and detained, many on an arbitrary basis, with many trials held in secret and without legal representation, and already resulting in draconian prison sentences on vague grounds.
Article 20
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association is violated in both law and practice in Iran. The statutes regulating these freedoms can be considered as facial violations; they are overbroad and lack the precision necessary for defining acceptable limits to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. In practice, the Islamic Republic considers a vast category of activities as un-Islamic, and therefore, illegitimate. Motivated by political or ideological purposes, or perhaps both, harsh sentences await activists, members of unions or trade associations and ordinary citizens.
Iran routinely violates its obligations under Articles 20 and 21 of the ICCPR. Going beyond the acceptable limits on these freedoms under international law, the Iranian government intimidates individuals who seek to address their grievances through civic and political engagement. Recent arrests and prosecutions, such as those of Esmail Abdi and Narges Mohammadi, signal that this trend is not likely to change in foreseeable future
Excluded from the Public Sphere: Freedom of Assembly and Association in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Article 21
1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran have always been such a mockery that even the regime’s apologists have unwittingly decried blatant election-rigging in all past elections. The regime’s Guardian Council, an unelected supervisory board, without exception disqualifies those who are not financially and/or politically aligned with Ali Khamenei. “These elections are a charade,” U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told reporters January 17. The Guardian Council, appointed by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, approves all eligible candidates. This ensures the exclusion of all regime critics.
Even Iran’s president admits Iranian elections are a sham
Article 22
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
An Iranian economist has said that due to the regime’s mismanagement of the economy, some 60 million Iranians now live below the poverty line. A systematic “lack of supervision over the economy” has led to “extreme poverty, widespread unemployment, the inability of many people to pay their rent, and that the rich were getting richer”. This, is the most important threat to Iran. Some 30 million Iranians are unemployed, which is almost a third of the country, and that even those in work are not making enough to live on, with 60 million Iranians living under the poverty line, so the economic situation is “very bad”. Indeed, while the poverty line is 10 million Tomans, those in full-time employment can make as little as 2 million Tomans based on the minimum wage, which means that many Iranians are working for over 40 hours a week at second or third jobs. Each Toman is equivalent to $0.0023 in the black market.
60 Million Iranians Below the Poverty Line
Article 23
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Islamic Republic’s IRGC, Intelligence Ministry Police, and Basij authorities have been punishing teachers and labor activists for exercising their collective bargaining rights and conducting peaceful protests that are essential freedoms for all workers. Regime authorities’ recent talk of ‘national unity and resistance against foreign pressure’ are empty words when they throw educators and labor activists in jail for demanding a fair wage. Yet, the ILO, the only tripartite UN organization has been completely silent in the matter of Islamic Republic’s gross violations of labor, particularly, in the face of forced child labor in Iran by the regime.
Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
During the Pahlavi dynasty, the ILO bestowed the highly prized LMO award to Iran for three straight years in 1976, 1977, and 1978 for best labor relations, most improved nation, and friend of labor. Then Khomeini seized power and the life of the Iranian worker has been in a tail spin ever since. 60 million unemployed or underemployed Iranian workers have no rights under UNHRT’s Article 24.
The Minimum Wage for Workers in Iranian New Year Is Three to Five Times Lower Than the Poverty Line
Article 25
1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Although the Islamic Republic’s own constitution guarantees basic health insurance to all citizens, in practice, there is no validity in the regime’s claims with regards to such a system actually operating in the country. Doctors & nurses within the regime’s health system have not been paid their monthly wages for over a year. There is rampant corruption in the system, leading to over 60 percent of the country who are living under the regime’s own declared poverty line, without access to basic medical care.
As Cost of Living Rises In Iran Millions Fall Under Poverty Line
Article 26
1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
The 42 year history of the Islamic Republic is strife with corruption in all levels of government, and the educational system has not been immune to this malign behavior. The regime’s own constitution guarantees Free education to all citizens up to and including a high school education, but in practice, all parents have to pay an expensive yearly fee in order to register their children in the public school system. At the higher learning level, the Islamic Republic’s university system guarantees that primarily, those who are loyal to the supreme leader, the leadership’s kin, and member of the IRGC & Basij are chosen to attend the universities, regardless of proficiency or talent. In turn, these “graduates”, who receive diplomas through corrupt payments to the university professors, help keep the regime in power.
Seats for sale in Iran’s Faculty of Medicine as corruption reaches universities
Article 27
1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Ever since Khomeini seized power in 1979, successive governments have systematically intimidated, imprisoned, tortured and jailed artists who use different media to share their message with others. This brutalization of artists has worsened since Ali Khamenei became the supreme leader. The Islamic Republic has been one of the world’s worst enemies of artists over the past four decades.
Art in Iran is a dangerous, and often life-threatening, profession
Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
The regime continues to play the UN Security Council. Iran hides behind its assertion of technical compliance with the nuclear deal while it brazenly violates the other limits on its behavior. So, where is the outrage?
On Iran, U.S. asks U.N. Security Council: ‘Where’s the outrage?
Article 29
1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
As most Arabic Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations, are increasingly distancing themselves from Sharia Islamic law, and embracing more democratic & secular means of jurisprudence, the Islamic Republic is insistent on carrying out a form of barbaric system of justice that was forced on Iran after the Arab invasion of 650 AD. So long as this regime is in power, violations of UNHRT Article 29 will be embedded in its DNA.
Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
42 years of this appeasement policy from the UN has brought us to this point. The Islamic Republic has shown itself to be a bad actor in every instance with regards to this body. No amount of guarantees and promises from the ayatollahs in Tehran have resulted in concrete steps to reform their malign activities on multiple fronts. Recently, Ms. Bachelet called on Iran’s government to immediately free all those detained for exercising their human rights, and to immediately halt the use of the death penalty and “vague national security charges” to suppress independent voices and dissent. She said she condemned the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, saying that it was irreconcilable with human dignity, often arbitrarily used, and wrongful executions could be never be rectified.
The time for words has passed. Only action left rescind the Islamic Republic’s membership in this great body, and finally, show the world, the true face of this brutal regime.
UN passes resolution condemning human rights violations in Iran
In conclusion, we the undersigned are asking for the immediate withdrawal of the Islamic Republic’s membership to the United Nations and all its associated organizations, until such time when the regime agrees to a United Nations approved referendum on the legitimacy of its government and its leadership.
Sincerely,
Sia Ayrom, Houston, TX
Shabnam Asadollahi, Ottawa, Canada
