ESU calls for UN special human rights rapporteur for Iran

ESU and around 40 other organisations call for the appointment of a special human rights rapporteur for Iran.

“The situation for students and other citizens who wish to voice their dissent against the government in Iran is unbearable. The United Nations must do what it can to shed light on the human rights violations in Iran”, says Ligia Deca, Chairperson of the European Students’ Union (ESU).

The situation of human rights in Iran will be reviewed at the 7th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC), between February 15 and 17, 2010.

A network of international human rights organizations and civil society groups will be holding a protest in front of the United Nations offices in Geneva on Monday February 15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in order to condemn the systematic violations of human rights in Iran and express solidarity with the democratic movement of the people in Iran.

ESU and around 40 other organisations call for the appointment of a special human rights rapporteur for Iran. The NGO’s also urge the UNHRC to condemn state-sponsored violence, torture, rape and execution, and to request that the perpetrators  of such heinous acts be brought to justice.

Ligia Deca said: ‘The meeting of the Human Rights Council is a good time to show that the world community does not accept the crackdown on student protests and other human rights violations that have taken place in Iran lately.’

For more information, please contact:

Ligia Deca, ESU Chairperson on phone               +32473669892 / email ligia[at]esu-online.org or
ESU Communications Manager Olav Øye at phone               +32495101879  / email olav[at]esu-online.org

- Read more about the event “Global Action to influence the 2010 Universal Periodic Review of Iran” on Facebook.

- Click here to see a video with a longer statement by ESU on the situation in Iran. The statement was read out yesterday, February 11, in The Hague, the Netherlands. You can also read the statement at esu-online.org.

- Download a pdf of the ESU press release on the Iran situation here.