The Iranian protests that were triggered by the murder of a young woman in police custody will be the focus of the United Nations next week as the US looks for ways to promote credible, independent investigations into Iranian human rights violations.
A note outlining the event, seen by Reuters, states that the US and Albania will hold a non-formal U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday. Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian campaigner and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and Nazanin Boniadi, an actress, are scheduled to speak.
“The meeting will highlight the ongoing repression of women and girls and members of religious and ethnic minority groups in Iran,” the note said. “It will identify opportunities to promote credible, independent investigations into the Iranian government’s human rights violations and abuses.”
Other U.N. member states and rights organisations are welcome to the meeting, which will also feature independent U.N. investigator Javaid Rehman on the subject of human rights in Iran.
Since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, in police custody last month, Iran has been rocked by protests. One of the most audacious challenges to the clerical regime since the 1979 revolution, the unrest has evolved into a mass uprising by Iranians from all societal strata.
Iran has attributed the turmoil to its foreign adversaries and their agents.
The United States and its allies were accused of abusing their platform “to push their political agenda,” according to Iran’s delegation to the United Nations in New York.
Given its hypocrisy, use of a double standard, and selective application of human rights, we find the U.S.’s claims to support Iranian women to be deceptive and lacking in good faith,” it said.
Rights groups have said at least 250 protesters have been killed and thousands arrested across the country. Women have played a prominent part in the protests, removing and burning veils. The deaths of several teenage girls reportedly killed during protests have fuelled more anger.
“The meeting will underscore ongoing unlawful use of force against protesters and the Iranian regime’s pursuit of human rights defenders and dissidents abroad to abduct or assassinate them in contravention of international law,” read the note about the planned meeting.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Friday urged the Iranian authorities to address the “legitimate grievances of the population, including with respect to women’s rights.”
“We condemn all incidents that have resulted in death or serious injury to protestors and reiterate that security forces must avoid all unnecessary or disproportionate use of force against peaceful protestors,” Dujarric told reporters. “Those responsible must be held to account.”