UN Authority Figures

UN General Assembly Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), Vice-Chair: Iran

Iranian authorities arrested the prominent human rights lawyer, Narges Mohammadi in her home. Narges Mohammadi is the deputy head of the banned Defenders of Human Rights Center, and one of the founders of the civil society group "Step by step to stop the death penalty" or LEGAM.
Source: Iran Human Rights, May 5, 2015

Mission of UN General Assembly Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization): "The Special Political and Decolonization Committee deals with a variety of subjects which include those related to decolonization, Palestinian refugees and human rights, peacekeeping..." (General Assembly - Special Political and Decolonization website, "Fourth Committee")

Term of office: 2016-2017

Iran's Record on "refugees and human rights":
"The most significant human rights problems were severe restrictions on civil liberties, including the freedoms of assembly, association, speech (including via the internet), religion, and press; limitations on citizens' ability to choose the government peacefully through free and fair elections; and abuse of due process combined with escalating use of capital punishment for crimes that do not meet the threshold of most serious crime or are committed by juvenile offenders. Other reported human rights problems included disregard for the physical integrity of persons, whom authorities arbitrarily and unlawfully detained, tortured, or killed; disappearances; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, including judicially sanctioned amputation and flogging; politically motivated violence and repression; harsh and life-threatening conditions in detention and prison facilities, with instances of deaths in custody; arbitrary arrest and lengthy pretrial detention, sometimes incommunicado; continued impunity of the security forces; denial of fair public trial, sometimes resulting in executions without due process; the lack of an independent judiciary; political prisoners and detainees; ineffective implementation of civil judicial procedures and remedies; arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, and correspondence; harassment and arrest of journalists; censorship and media content restrictions; severe restrictions on academic freedom; restrictions on freedom of movement;... Refugees faced restrictions on in-country movement... According to minority activist groups, authorities routinely arrested Afghan refugees and sometimes threatened them with refoulement... The children of unregistered refugees were completely barred from attending schools,..." (US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2015, Iran)

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