By Maeva Giambrone and Sasha Granelli / GICJ
On Tuesday the 14th of March 2023, a Side Event was organized by the Women’s Human Rights International Association. The topic of this Side Event was the Human Rights situation in Iran.
Panelists with different backgrounds were invited, such as Professor Connie de la Vega, Professor Eric David, Professor Christiane Perregaux, Antonio Stango, human rights expert, Farideh Karimi, Alfred Maurice de Zayas lawyer and activist in the field of human rights, Aysan Jodairi activist for human rights in Iran.
Professor David began by highlighting the continuity of violations of human rights perpetrated in Iran since 1980. He pointed out the importance of the fight against impunity. He highlighted that the repressions against Iranians are crimes against humanity as defined in article 7 of the International Criminal Court statute. Mr.David pointed out that those actions should not go unpunished and these need to be subject to criminal jurisdiction by other willing States utilising universal jurisdiction over those atrocities. He proposed that the International Criminal Court should be seized by referral from the Security Council based on article 13 of its statute.
Mr. Alfred Maurice de Zayas, began by asking all the persons with important information to contact the Fact Finding Mission on Iran in order to help them. He also pointed out the importance of continuing to focus on Iran as it put pressure on the government.
In addition, Ms. De la Vega noted that Iran is a party to many international treaties. She highlighted the need to focus on regional treaties which are more specific and for neighbouring States, especially on the need for a regional convention between Asian countries, including Iran to enhance accountability for human rights violations at the regional level.
Aysan Jodairi provided information about violations suffered by women in Iran. She highlighted that during the religious dictatorship, women “went through hell” as the mollah legalised violence against women. She called on the UN to act quickly and to do everything it can to ensure the Fact Finding Mission on Iran is able to carry out country visits.
Christiane Perregaux ended the panel presentations by offering her support to all Iranians who take back the fight with a lot of courage. She said that today Iranians need the support of the international community and the world in order to be able to choose another way, the one of democracy.
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ), strongly condemn the human rights violations perpetrated by the Iranian authorities with total impunity. We remain deeply concerned about the discrimination against women and girls and the violent repression of demonstrations. We call on the international community to continue its pressure on the Iranian government in order to release all the persons arbitrarily detained. The Fact Finding Mission must visit the country of Iran in order to clearly address and denounce those violations.
Iran WomenRights Fight_Against_Impunity ReleaseDetainees HumanRights Human_Rights_Council Geneva Geneva4Justice Geneva Justice Geneva_International_Centre_for_Justice
