Statement by: Yunei Kim, First Secretary, Australian Mission to the UN
As delivered

We thank the Special Rapporteur for his invaluable work on the human rights situation in Iran.

Unfortunately, the Special Rapporteur's report once again reveals the Iranian regime's shocking human rights abuses continue unabated and unconstrained. 

Iran's use of the death penalty, including the execution of protestors and a disproportionately high number of ethnic minorities, is of serious concern.

We call on Iran to establish a moratorium on its use of the death penalty. Trials conducted in Iranian courts routinely fall short of internationally acceptable standards of fair trial or due process, with confessions in many cases being extracted by force.

Arbitrary arrests and detention are employed as weapons to silence dissent, with many protestors, human rights defenders, lawyers, and journalists still suffering in Iran's notorious prisons. 

Iran's pattern of arbitrary detention of foreign and dual nationals in exchange for prisoner swaps is deeply troubling.

Women and girls in Iran are systematically persecuted and we call on Iran to cease its oppression of women.

Deplorably, Iran persists with its significant discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, including the Kurds, Baluch, Arabs, and members of the Baha'i faith.

We will continue advocating, unrelentingly, in support of the human rights of the Iranian people.

Australia asks the Special Rapporteur: how can Member States work collectively to hold Iran to account for its ongoing, egregious human rights violations?