Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Madame Vice-President,
New Zealand welcomes the Special Rapporteur’s report and endorses, in particular, its recommendations for the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately end all forms of violence, torture and ill-treatment of protesters, and to immediately abolish the death penalty for all offences.
New Zealand is extremely concerned and disappointed by the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran. The brutal crackdowns on protesters conducted by Iranian authorities – including use of unlawful lethal force, killings of children, and the execution of protesters by Iranian authorities are particularly appalling. As noted in the Special Rapporteur’s report, these actions constitute numerous breaches of Iran’s international human rights obligations.
We also deplore the ongoing discrimination and fierce repression of religious and ethnic minorities in Iran, including of adherents to the Bahá’í faith. Restrictions on freedom of expression, including persecution of journalists, are unacceptable.
New Zealand has already taken significant actions in response to this unrelenting brutality and further actions remain under active consideration.
We are enormously disappointed that the Special Rapporteur continues to be denied access to enter Iran. We urge Iran to grant the Special Rapporteur access immediately, as well as to cooperate with the recently established International Independent Fact Finding Mission.
Special Rapporteur, are there further measures the international community could be taking to express the depth of our concern about the human rights situation in Iran?
Thank you.