Madam President,
The United Kingdom welcomes Iran’s engagement with the UPR.
However, we are deeply concerned by the human rights
situation in Iran and Iran’s continued refusal to allow the
Special Rapporteur access to the country. In November last
year, we saw the most deadly crackdown against its citizens
for decades, while persecution and discrimination towards
religious minorities continues unabated.
We welcome the temporary release of several thousand
detainees following the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, and
together with France and Germany, we have pledged support
to UN agencies to assist Iran in combating the outbreak.
However, we share the Special Rapporteur’s concern about
detainees, especially dual nationals – we urge Iran to
release them on humanitarian grounds and ensure they are
afforded suitable healthcare.
The UK encourages Iran to engage fully with the UN and the
international community on their accepted recommendations,
and implement them fully.
We regret Iran did not support any of the UK’s three
recommendations, which were to: demonstrate detainees are
not tortured or subject to cruel or inhumane treatment or
punishment; allow an impartial trial process, so defendants
and lawyers have access to charges and evidence; and
investigate sexual exploitation of children and develop a
protection plan.
Nevertheless, we remain open to discussing these
recommendations with Iran.
Thank you.
