نامه شرکت کنندگان در تظاهرات ژنو به کمیسر عالی سازمان ملل برای دفاع از حقوق بشر بمناسبت روز همبستگی جهانی با مردم ایران
Ms. Navanethem Pillay,
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Genève 10, Switzerland
Saturday 25 July 2009
Madame High Commissioner,
As you are no doubt aware, Iranian communities abroad and many concerned world citizens observe the 25th of July, 2009, as the Global Solidarity Day with the Iranian people. The initiative is sponsored by an array of personalities, human rights groups and professional associations worldwide, among them the Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and FIDH. A group of known intellectuals, artists and prominent Iranian citizens are currently on hunger strike in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York. We also note with deep appreciation the support by some 42 Arab human rights organizations which span the Arab world from North Africa to the Persian Gulf. For their part Iranian associations and concerned individual citizens in Switzerland have decided to respond to this call and are gathering at Place des Nations on that date where the content of this letter is expected to be approved by acclamation.
Through their mega assemblies in streets of Tehran and major cities – some estimated in millions – the nation of Iran displayed not just their civic maturity but its utter distrust of a regime that has systematically trampled their rights in the name a perverse understanding of their revered faith, Islam. The Iranian women and youth have been subjected to arbitrariness of medieval canons. Through a landmark turnout in the June presidential elections, Iranians hoped to set in motion a process of gradual and peaceful change. They were rudely awakened by brazen machinations, vote rigging and massive fraud. The attempt to protest, summed up in the simple but poignant phrase “where is my vote” met with savage crack down. The slaying of some 40 of our children by the regime’s militia thugs in the streets of Tehran, while they were peacefully demonstrating has left an indelible mark in the collective memory of Iranians inside and outside the country. By so doing the theocratic regime in Iran has henceforth divested itself of all vestiges of legitimacy. To-day as we gather to mark our solidarity with our compatriots an estimated 2000 students and activists remain in detention in appalling conditions subjected to torture and humiliation.
Madame High Commissioner:
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is mandated to promote and protect the enjoyment and full realization, by all people, of all rights established in the Charter of the United Nations and in international treaties and conventions. We are grateful for declarations that you yourself and the group of six independent experts have made on the situation. We are aware that visits by special rapporteurs are being systematically stonewalled by the Islamic Republic authorities. The last visit of a Special Rapporteurs for a core human right issue dates back to November 2003.
This is the time for OHCHR to stand up and speak out louder especially on behalf of Iranian women and youth, knowing that the world opinion will wholeheartedly support you. The time has come to abandon diplomatic propriety and legal niceties. It is faced with challenges of this nature that the sincerity, worth and effectiveness of international organizations are tested.
We would like, respectfully, to formulate the following, hoping that you will be in a position to organize a special session of the Council immediately to endorse them:
1. The immediate release of all those imprisoned during the recent protests as well as all political prisoners.
2. The arrest and public prosecution of those responsible for violent deaths and atrocities committed during recent protests.
3. Provision of proper medical attention to those wounded during the protests or tortured in prison. Supply of full information on the status of the dead, wounded and arrested to their families. Family members must be allowed to bury their loved ones where they choose.
4. The implementation of a complete ban on torture and adherence by the Islamic Republic of Iran to the international convention on prohibition of torture.
5. The abolition of the death penalty and stoning, especially in respect of juvenile delinquents and women.
6. Unconditional freedom of expression, thought, organization, demonstration, and strike must be strictly observed.
7. The abolition of discriminatory laws against women and the establishment of complete equality between men and women.
8. Full freedom of the press and media in line with world standards and an end to restrictions on communications, including the internet, telephone, mobiles and satellite television programme.
We remain, Madam High Commissioner, at your disposal to provide you and your Office with all supplementary information and documentation that may be required.
On Behalf of Swiss- Iranian cultural associations and concerned citizens having participated in the Global Solidarity Day with the Iranian People.
Respectfully
Jamshid Anvar
Former Director of Asia BureauUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Human Rights Activist
And 3 other signatures
CC: Mr. Ban- Ki Moon, The Secretary General of the United Nations.
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