Statement by H.E. Mr. Ali BAHREINI before HRC59 - Item 6: Adoption Session of the Fourth UPR Report of the Islamic Republic of Iran
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Statement
By
H.E. Mr. Ali BAHREINI
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva
Before
59th Session of the Human Rights Council
Item 6:
Adoption Session of the Fourth UPR Report of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Geneva, 1 July 2025
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بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
Mr. President,
At the outset, I would like to take this opportunity to report on the latest situation regarding the act of aggression and unjust and unlawful war imposed against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of my country by the occupying regime of Israel and the United States of America.
This act of aggression, stemming from Israel's disregard for fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law, and moral and human standards, has had and will continue to have deep human rights implications for the people of Iran. It can also directly affect the effective and full implementation of recommendations made to my country in the future.
Despite the fact that during these 12 days the fundamental human rights of our citizens, particularly their right to life, were under grave threat due to the Zionist regime's aggression, and that more than 630 of our citizens were martyred and significant material damage inflicted, the Islamic Republic of Iran, with the support of its people, demonstrated remarkable resistance and resilience.
This resistance can serve as a model for all nations confronting occupation, excesses, and crimes of the Zionist regime.
The least expected from the awakened conscience of the world is that states, in solidarity with the public opinion of their own nations, join the effort to confront and oppose the crimes of the Zionist regime and refrain from aiding and abetting it.
What became clear to us over these 12 days of act of aggression by the Israel, was that the Western bloc countries, which remained silent in the face of the Zionist regime's aggression, not only failed to condemn the blatant military assault but actively supported the aggressor through military, intelligence, and legal assistance. From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, they are the moral losers of this war and lack the ethical credibility to preach to others about human rights. Hence, the Islamic Republic of Iran does not accept their hypocritical recommendations.
In this unjust and illegal war that began in the early hours of Friday, 13 June and lasted twelve days, 630 Iranian citizens were martyred, more than 94% of whom were civilians and over 20 of them children. Around 4,000 people were injured, many of whom are still receiving treatment in hospitals. Five hospitals and Evin Prison were deliberately and directly targeted by the Zionist regime.
In just one attack on a residential complex entirely occupied by civilians, over 80 people, including at least 20 children, were martyred. Furthermore, in the deliberate attack on Evin Prison on Monday, 23 June, more than 70 individuals, including prison staff, inmates, and visiting family members, were killed.
At least 3,500 residential units were either completely destroyed or severely damaged. Numerous economic infrastructures were deliberately targeted.
Among the civilian victims were school students and university professors and students. Attacks on ambulances, the martyrdom of medical personnel and Red Crescent relief workers, attacks on national media and the martyrdom of 9 journalists and media workers, attacks on two gas fields, and the assassination of 14 university professors and several physicians are among the other crimes of the aggressor Israeli regime.
In recent weeks, the world has watched with sorrow and outrage the repetition of the same pattern of child killings by the aggressive Israeli regime, this time in Iran. During its brutal assault starting 13 June, the regime deliberately targeted civilians, killing dozens of children, including infants as young as two months old.
The growing and systematic crimes of this occupying regime across the region are an urgent alarm to the international community and clearly highlight the grave threats it poses to the lives, health, welfare, and security of children.
This situation becomes even more alarming when the United States officially and overtly joins and aids these crimes and acts of aggression, going so far as to unilaterally conduct military attacks on Iran's peaceful and safeguarded nuclear facilities.
These unlawful U.S. attacks on Iran's nuclear installations, which are an insult to international law and have raised serious concerns about their consequences, occurred despite the fact that Iran's peaceful nuclear program has been under the most rigorous and unprecedented monitoring regime by the International Atomic Energy Agency for over two decades.
Mr. President,
The imposition of such a war on my country by an occupying regime — now a globally recognized brand for genocide, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and child murder in the occupied Palestinian territories — is in violation of all international legal norms and principles.
Silence, support, or any ambiguous or non-committal stance and failure to condemn this aggression will surely encourage this regime to repeat such criminal acts against Iran and other countries in the region and the world.
Make no mistake: if this savagery is not stopped, sooner or later it will target other countries in the region and opponents of this apartheid and criminal regime.
From the very first day of being attacked by this medieval regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran exercised its inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter and firmly defended itself.
We will not wait for international law or any organization or country to stop the aggression and will defend ourselves through our national and home- grown capabilities until its arrogance and aggression are eradicated once and for all, in the region and the world.
On behalf of the people and government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I sincerely thank all countries that supported Iran during this period and condemned the military aggression by the Israeli regime against Iran’s territory and sovereignty.
I also appreciate the actions of Human Rights Council mandate holders who condemned the unlawful attacks against Iran through statements or formal communications sent to the United States and the Israeli regime.
Your support during these difficult times strengthens our resolve and increases our national motivation to continue defending humanity, resisting savagery and bullying, and upholding our independence and national dignity.
We expect the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and specifically the High Commissioner, to fulfill their important role clearly and decisively, without ambiguity, in order to prevent the recurrence of such crimes and to condemn this blatant aggression and the aggressor regime of Israel.
Mr. President,
More than two years have passed since the unprecedented and criminal actions of the Israeli occupying regime in the occupied Palestinian territories, yet the Human Rights Council has failed to take effective action to halt its crimes.
These days, in full view of Western countries, especially Germany and the UK, Palestinian women and children gathering for food in Gaza are being massacred, while the same countries used a single incident in Iran as a pretext to form a fact-finding mission. Meanwhile, as this regime continues its crimes throughout West Asia, this Council remains unable to hold it accountable. It is time to establish a fact-finding commission to investigate the role of these countries in the war crimes committed by the aggressor and occupying Israeli regime.
The Government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran expect the United Nations and its bodies, particularly the Human Rights Council, member states, special procedures and mandate holders to unanimously condemn the unlawful military aggression by Israel and the United States against Iran, the attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, and recognize and condemn the crime of aggression committed by these two actors.
The Zionist regime and the United States must be held accountable for endangering the lives of millions of civilians through their attacks on research nuclear facilities and for violating international peace, security, and international human rights and humanitarian law.
Regrettably, the Human Rights Council has failed in fulfilling its responsibility regarding the military aggression against Iran. This is a serious failure for this international body.
Mr. President, Distinguished Ambassadors and Representatives,
Esteemed members of the Secretariat,
The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the UPR a fair mechanism that, regardless of countries' developmental and economic differences or their position in the international system, evaluates all countries equally and sheds light on their human rights situation.
We strongly hope that this mechanism will continue to function on the current basis of cooperation and dialogue among states, without politicization or being influenced by the pressures and approaches of other human rights mechanisms.
Based on the recommendations received during the third cycle and the actions we undertook to implement the accepted recommendations, a high-level delegation headed by the Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs and composed of senior judiciary officials, representatives of executive bodies and the Islamic Parliament participated in the fourth UPR review session of Iran.
Following the review session on 24 January 2025, we received 346 recommendations from various countries. All of these were thoroughly and carefully examined in Iran over several months.
Our approach to accepting recommendations was based on three main criteria:
-- The most important areas requiring further attention over the next four years;
-- Compatibility of the recommendations with Iran’s national characteristics, domestic laws, and international human rights obligations;
-- Feasibility of implementation by national executive bodies.
Out of the 346 recommendations made to our country, we ultimately accepted 152.
Planning for their implementation began following the submission of our views and report of accepted recommendations.
A total of 186 recommendations were not supported due to their clear conflict with domestic laws or because they included false allegations or inappropriate language.
The Islamic Republic of Iran affirms its commitment to pursuing and implementing the recommendations accepted in the fourth cycle. However, the extensive and unlawful system of unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States—often followed by other western states and private companies—and recently compounded by the unlawful military aggression by both the Israeli occupying regime and the United States, poses serious challenges to the government's ability to implement these recommendations.
Now, I would like to mention some of our breakthroughs in the field of human rights:
- In the field of women's rights, the process of promoting their role and status in the academic, management, health services and public spheres has been continuously strengthened. Currently, more than half of the students, one third of the faculty members, and half of the healthcare staff are women. The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran believes that women, as part of the human, intellectual and specialized capital of society, play a key role in the growth and development of society and the achievement of sustainable development, and on this basis, chapter 16 of the general policies of the Seventh Development Plan is specifically dedicated to women's rights.
- On the other hand, in the field of children's rights, special measures have been taken over the past four years, the most important of which are the implementation of free treatment for children under seven years of age and the establishment of 34 specialized hospitals to support mothers and children. In this regard, the mortality rate of children under 5 years of age has decreased from 14.2 in 2019 to 13 people in 2023, per 1,000 people. Also, in the field of education, girls' access to the education system has increased by 220 percent in the years after the revolution, and we are now witnessing the elimination of gender discrimination in education.
- In the field of religious minority rights, all Iranian citizens enjoy civil, political and social rights without discrimination. Recognized religious minorities enjoy the freedom to practice their religion and enjoy their own cultural and religious institutions. Their participation in local councils and parliament is part of the reality of our political structure.
Ladies and gentelmen,
The Islamic Republic of Iran thanks all those states that rightly recognized the negative effects of Unilateral coercive measures on the rights of the Iranian people, and expects other states and UN human rights bodies to take meaningful steps, in line with their mandates, to oppose such unlawful actions and help mitigate their adverse impacts.
With this, I conclude the first part of my remarks and look forward to hearing the views of the Member States and NGOs.
Thank you.
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