The adoption of a new resolution by the UN Human Rights Council on 3 April 2025 marks a significant turning point in the international community’s approach to human rights accountability in the Islamic Republic of Iran. For the first time, the mandate of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFMI) has been expanded to investigate a broader range of human rights violations and crimes under international law, including those targeting historically marginalized communities. This development reflects growing international recognition on the structural and systemic nature of abuses in Iran, as well as the persistent advocacy of civil society actors. UNPO welcomes the historic decision as a critical advancement in global efforts to confront and address entrenched patterns of repression in Iran.
UN Findings on Structural and Systemic Violations in Iran
After two years of independent investigations focused on the repression of the Women Life Freedom movement, the FFMI made extensive findings of systemic human rights abuses in Iran. The FFMI’s findings underscore that Iranian officials have perpetrated multiple crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearances, other inhuman acts, and persecution. The FFMII concluded the following in its report: (1) serious human rights violations and crimes under international law are ongoing, and women, girls, and minority groups continue to face unabated persecution; (2) the violent state repression of the Women Life Freedom movement is part of a broader pattern of lethal state-sponsored efforts to silence peaceful protests and dissent since 2017, and (3) systemic impunity granted to Iranian authorities enables the recurring cycles of gross human rights violations and the continued persecution of women and girls, minorities and perceived dissenters (para. 123). In its conclusions, the FMMI indicates that human rights concerns transcend the temporal and material scope of the FMMI mandate and urges the continuation of the investigation of allegations of human rights violations and crimes against humanity in Iran.
In parallel, the March 2025 report by the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran reveals trends of intersectional discrimination, particularly affecting ethnic and religious groups, and raises concerns over the alarming rise of executions, with over 900 recorded cases. The report highlights systemic injustices, including arbitrary detention, unfair trials and the disproportionate application of death penalty, affecting the Balochi, Kurds, Azerbaijanis and Ahwazi Arabs, all member communities of UNPO (para. 23 and 31). The report also draws attention to the disproportionate impact of environmental degradation from unsustainable resource exploitation and mismanagement on minority-populated areas, specifically the Ahwazi Arabs in the Khuzestan province and the Balochi community in the Sistan and Balochistan province (para. 71), referencing UNPO’s submission on structural challenges faced by minorities in Iran.
The April 2025 Resolution for the FFMI’s Extended Mandate
Against this backdrop, Iranian and international human rights organizations, joined by UNPO, urged the UNHRC member states at the 58th Session of the Human Rights Council to support the renewal of the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran and the continuation of complementary international independent investigative mechanism, with the resources and authority to build on the work of the FFMI and to thoroughly investigate, document, and preserve evidence of past, ongoing human rights violations, crimes under international law and to pursue accountability efforts.
Adopted on 3 April 2025 by a majority of 24 states, the UN Human Rights Council resolution not only renewed the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur, but also expanded the mandate of the fact-finding mission and this historic resolution, signaling robust international concern over Iran’s deepening human rights crisis. By enabling the investigation of a wider range of abuses, including past, current, and future human rights violations, and enabling to hear testimonies from a broader pool of victims and witnesses, and gather evidence for legal proceedings targeting officials and entities responsible for the violations, the expanded mandate of the FFMI marks a critical milestone. Taimoor Aliassi, Director of Kurdistan Human Rights Association Geneva and Chair of Impact Iran’s Steering Committee, stated “The resolution is an affirmation by the international community that Iran’s deepening human rights crisis demands urgent attention and action. It is a landmark decision that sends a clear message to perpetrators of gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity in Iran that they are being watched and may face consequences for their actions”.
In line with the FFMI’s and Special Rapporteur’s findings, the resolution adopted also increases attention to marginalized groups in Iran. By explicitly naming and noting the structural causes of discrimination and violence, the FFMI mandate ensures groups that are historically targeted in Iran receive appropriate recognition and attention. Raphël Chenuil-Hazan, Director of Together Against the Death Penalty, stated “It is the first time that the resolution acknowledges the need to address the structural discrimination and violence targeting minorities in Iran”. By also renewing the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, the resolution also emphasizes the importance of a holistic response.
UNPO’s Advocacy for Minorities in Iran
UNPO has actively advocated for the fundamental rights of the communities of the Baluch, Kurds, Ahwazi Arabs and Southern Azerbaijanis in Iran, who have long faced entrenched discrimination and systematic repression by the Iranian regime. Through submissions to the UPR, UN mechanisms, and collaborative efforts with member organizations and human rights organizations in the international community, UNPO has worked to bring international attention to the challenges these communities face, from arbitrary detention, denial of linguistic and cultural rights, economic marginalization, the targeted use of death penalty, and environmental degradation in minority-populated regions. Most recently, UNPO submitted a report on Sistan and Baluchistan’s environmental crisis, which directly contributed to the Special Rapporteur’s report on human rights in Iran.
UNPO’s contributions have highlighted the intersectionality of human rights violations in Iran, particularly the ways in which ethnicity, religion, and gender intersect to compound exclusion and vulnerability (see UNPO’s paper on the intersectional understanding of the Women, Life, Freedom Movement). The recognition of these patterns in the Special Rapporteur and FFMI’s reports and the Human Rights Council’s resolution marks an important validation of the evidence and testimony presented by these communities and their advocates. UNPO celebrates the adoption of the Council’s resolution as a significant development in international human rights engagement with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The decision reflects not only the sustained advocacy of civil society organizations, but also a broader shift toward acknowledging the structural and systemic nature of human rights violations in the country.
For historically persecuted groups, this expanded mandate represents a historic departure from reactive approaches that treated violations as isolated incidents. Instead, it enables a more comprehensive framework for examining patterns of abuse within their historical, political, and institutional contexts. By incorporating structural analysis and intersectional perspectives, the broadened investigative scope aligns with an evolving understanding within the international human rights system that sustainable accountability and reform must be rooted in recognition of deeply embedded forms of discrimination and exclusion.
