Ávarp í umræðum um mannréttindaástandið í Íran

HRC43

Mr./Madame President,

Iceland thanks the Special Rapporteur for his latest report. Like him we have found shocking the number of deaths, serious injuries and reports of ill-treatment of persons detained in Iran during the November 2019 protests.

We would also like to express our concern about the continuing restrictions on freedom of expression as well as intimidation and harassment of journalists and their families, as described in the report. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right that all states should respect and can in our opinion only foster a vibrant and healthy society. Stifling freedom of expression amongst its people, and to actually cause injuries and fatalities in an effort to do so, in addition to mass incarceration and enforced disappearances, is wholly unacceptable.

We have previously raised concerns over the use of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran and welcome the report´s focus on that issue. Even though the number of executions has dropped in recent years we call for full moratorium on the use of capital punishment, and in particular that death penalty rulings for child offenders be ended altogether.

Mr./Madame President,

I am happy to note that Iceland has, during this 43th session of the Human Rights Council, joined the core group for the resolution on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran primarily focussing on the Special Rapporteur´s mandate renewal and we call upon the Council to support the renewal of your mandate at this session.

I thank you.