United Nations A/HRC/28/70 General Assembly Distr.: General 28 May 2015 Original: English Human Rights Council Twenty-eighth session Agenda item 4 Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmed Shaheed* ** Summary In the present report, submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to Council resolution 25/24, the Special Rapporteur highlights developments in the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran since his fourth interim report, submitted to the General Assembly in October 2013 (A/68/503). He also examines ongoing concerns and emerging developments in the State’s human rights situation. Although the report is not exhaustive, it provides a picture of the prevailing situation as observed in the reports submitted to and examined by the Special Rapporteur. In particular, the Special Rapporteur analyses those reports in the light of the recommendations included in the report on the State’s second universal periodic review, the adoption of which is forthcoming. * Late submission. ** The annexes to the present report are circulated as received, in the language of submission only. GE.15-10586 (E) A/HRC/28/70 Contents Paragraphs Page I. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1–5 3 II. Methodology ........................................................................................................... 6–7 4 III. Cooperation with the mandate holder ..................................................................... 8–10 4 IV. Reprisals against activists ........................................................................................ 11 5 V. Overview of civil and political rights ...................................................................... 12–53 5 A. Right to life ..................................................................................................... 12–16 5 B. Fair trial standards .......................................................................................... 17–18 6 C. Freedom from arbitrary detention ................................................................... 19–20 7 D. Independence of lawyers ................................................................................ 21–26 7 E. Detention conditions and treatment of prisoners ............................................ 27–29 9 F. Freedom of expression and access to information .......................................... 30–36 9 G. Freedom of peaceful assembly and association .............................................. 37–45 11 H. Freedom of religion or belief .......................................................................... 46–53 13 VI. Economic, social and cultural rights ....................................................................... 54–66 14 A. Economic rights .............................................................................................. 54–58 14 B. Right to health................................................................................................. 59–62 15 C. Landmines ...................................................................................................... 63–66 16 VII. Gender equality and women’s rights ....................................................................... 67–72 17 A. Legislation affecting women .......................................................................... 68–71 18 B. Women in the budget ...................................................................................... 72 18 VIII. Response from the Islamic Republic of Iran ........................................................... 73–84 19 XI. Conclusions and recommendations ......................................................................... 85–98 20 Annexes I. Supplementary and additional information ............................................................. 24 II. List of detained Baha’is and student activists ......................................................... 52 2 A/HRC/28/70 I. Introduction 1. The Islamic Republic of Iran underwent its second-cycle examination under the universal periodic review mechanism in October 2014. A total of 104 delegations presented 291 recommendations relating to the rights guaranteed by the five international human rights treaties ratified by the State.1 In the majority of the recommendations, the delegations called on the Government to consider strengthening protections for civil and political rights and to cease practices that violated such rights. They also encouraged the Government to accede to conventions that abolished the use of capital punishment, protected against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, protected the rights of migrant workers and advanced gender equality. Delegations also made recommendations pertaining to improvements in protections for vulnerable groups, including religious, ethnic, and sexual minorities; the establishment of a national human rights institute compliant with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles); and cooperation with the United Nations human rights mechanisms. 2. Issues emphasized in the universal periodic review recommendations of 2014 mirrored those raised during the State’s first review in 2010. Many of the new recommendations related to laws, policies and practices that the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran has referred to in his reports. Overview of recommendations, by human rights issue Universal periodic review recommendations Special Rapporteur Total Accepted Rejected Total recommendations Human rights issue (2010) (2010) (2010) (2014) since 2011 Accession to treaties to which the State is not yet party 15 0 15 33 1 Cooperation with international human rights mechanisms 19 8 11 25 8 Civil and political rights 93 45 48 94 32 Economic, social and cultural rights 40 38 2 58 12 Gender equality/women’s rights 14 10 4 52 9 Rights of the child 28 19 11 36 7 Protection of the rights of religious minority communities 19 8 11 26 5 Protection/advancement of the rights of ethnic minority communities 5 5 4 13 5 Protection of the rights of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community 3 0 3 12 1 1 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 3 A/HRC/28/70 3. Aspects of laws, policies and practices identified previously by the United Nations human rights mechanisms, as well as those identified in the present report, continue to undermine the Government’s capacity to improve human rights conditions. The use of capital and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment persists at alarming rates. Of particular concern is the frequent application of the death penalty for crimes not considered “most serious” under international human rights law, and the persistence of policies and practices previously identified by United Nations human rights mechanisms as posing challenges to the administration of justice. 4. A number of draft laws and policies that appear to further negate human rights guaranteed by national and international laws are either currently under consideration or have been adopted since March 2014. These include provisions that appear to expand government influence over the media, civil society, political organizations and the legal community. Policies that further limit economic opportunities for women and that segregate them in the workplace are currently under consideration or being implemented. 5. The resulting adverse effects of laws and practices can be observed in reports that continued to emanate from the country in 2014 about the ongoing arrests of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists and religious and ethnic minorities, and in open letters and confidential communications on torture and violations of fair trial standards. Closures of media outlets and severe limitations on the Internet and social media also continue. II. Methodology 6. Information for the present report was gathered during a fact-finding mission to Denmark, Germany and Norway, during which 39 interviews were conducted with victims and activists within the Iranian diaspora. The Special Rapporteur wishes to extend his gratitude to the Governments of all three countries for hosting his visits. Another 28 interviews were conducted, between July 2014 and January 2015, with Iranians located inside the Islamic Republic of Iran and elsewhere. 7. The Special Rapporteur also reviewed information contained in open letters, confidential communications, news reports and broadcasts produced by domestic media outlets in the country, official statements, information relayed in Government responses to inquiries made by special procedure mandate holders, national and civil society stakeholder reports submitted for the country’s first and second universal periodic reviews and reports submitted to the Special Rapporteur by credible human rights organizations. He also examined the content of various pieces of draft legislation currently under consideration. III. Cooperation with the mandate holder 8. In 2014, 29 communications