6Rang urges Human Rights Council to renew the mandates of UN Fact-Finding Mission and Special Rapporteur on Iran

18 March 2024, Geneva – 6Rang has called for renewal of the mandates of the UN Fact-Finding Mission and the Special Rapporteur on Iran as well as developing mechanisms to guarantee justice for victims of crimes against humanity by the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the LGBT+ people who participated in anti-government protests. 

In a joint statement on behalf of Justice for Iran and 6Rang, delivered by 6Rang Director Shadi Amin at the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the two organisations welcomed the Special Rapporteur’s report and his acknowledgment of the situation of women in Iran as gender apartheid. 

Highlighting the worsening plight of minorities, notably ethnic groups and LGBT+ individuals in Iran, Amin said that these communities are subjected to systematic discrimination, official hate speech and punitive measures, merely due to their identities.

“We call upon the UN Member States and UN human rights mechanisms to increase political attention to these issues and prioritise these marginalised groups in all their efforts to stop discrimination and violence against minorities, as a key step to improve the wider situation of human rights in Iran,” she added. 

6Rang is among the dozens of Iranian and international human rights organisations that in a joint letter have urged the UN Human Rights Council Member States to support the renewal of the mandates of the Special Rapporteur and the Fact-Finding Mission. They have also urged the Member States to “publicly voice alarm at grave and persistent violations of human rights in Iran, and to call for the end of these violations and for justice, truth and reparation.” 

Over the past week, 6Rang held meetings with a number of Member States’ permanent missions to the UN in Geneva, including Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as representatives of the Delegation of the European Union and international human rights organisations such as World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). 

During the meetings, 6Rang advocated for the renewal of the mandates of the UN human rights mechanisms on Iran and briefed the interlocutors on the latest status of human rights violations, gender apartheid, and violence and discrimination against LGBT+ people in Iran. 

6Rang also shared a summary of the findings of its latest research on the plight of LGBT+ communities who belong to ethnic groups, experiencing multilayered and intensified discrimination and violence. 

The organisation also urged that the governments use all political tools to put pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran to end the death penalty for same-sex relations and the violation of the rights of the members LGBT+ communities and ethnic groups. 

Read the full statement of Justice for Iran and 6Rang, delivered at the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council here.

Read the summary of finding of 6Rang research on the status of ethnic minority LGBT+ groups here.