On Monday 18 September, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, called on the EU to do more to protect these rights.
Since the death of Mahsa Amini and the start of the peaceful protests, more than 500 people, including 68 children, have been killed by the Iranian police. In retaliation for human rights violations, the EU has adopted sanctions against 227 individuals and 43 entities.
At a hearing at the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur took the view that the EU had to decide whether human rights were a priority for it or not. “It’s important to be honest with ourselves. Are human rights a priority for us, or should we try to work out some kinds of negotiated settlements, negotiating with an authoritarian regime that has committed serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity?”, he stressed.
He also hoped that the EU would express its “disappointment” to the United Nations Human Rights Council at Iran’s election to the presidency of the Social Forum in November.
Considering that the situation of women in Iran was not simply discrimination or persecution, but “apartheid based on gender”, Mr Rehman called on all men and women, whatever their religion, including Islam, to “say very clearly that this is unacceptable (...), that a policy that aims to force the wearing of the hijab is persecution of women”.
The rapporteur explained that it was important to support the Iranian people in their democratic aspirations in any way possible and that they had the right to determine their own future. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)