Upon extending the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Javaid Rehman, Iranian families of terror victims wrote a letter to him criticizing his negligence in addressing the issue of victims of terrorism and their families in Iran.
The letter reads as follows:
Mr. Javaid Rehman,
The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Recently, we heard about the renewal of your mission as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran. Almost five years ago, when you were appointed to this position for the first time, we hoped that the new rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council would seriously address the issue of victims of terrorism and their families in Iran. In our letter on July 10, 2018, we told you about our readiness for cooperation regarding the rights of victims of terrorist acts in Iran, and we expected to be welcomed by you as a significant part of the large community of terror victims in the world. But until now when your mission is extended once more, we have not received any response from you.
You know that according to numerous international documents, more than 17,000 Iranian citizens have fallen victim to acts of terror in the last four decades. This number has made Iran one of the biggest victims of terrorism in the world. The issue of families of terror victims has been the focus of the United Nations in recent years, but so far, we have not seen any positive feedback from you in this regard.
When you were supposed to prepare a report on human rights in Iran, you should have looked at the citizens who lost their families to terrorists and their rights to live a normal life were infringed. This large community of victims cannot be ignored in any way unless this issue is politicized instead of being truly investigated.
The cases of thousands of terror victims in Iran and their families have been neglected by the international community due to the political practices of some countries and international institutions in previous years, and now, considering your negligence, we are not very hopeful that the extension of your mission will bring about a change in the status quo.
However, the families of the terror victims in Iran, with or without the cooperation of international institutions, will continue with the mission they have set for themselves, which is to introduce to the world the terror victims and their killers.
Regards
Habilian Association (Families of Iranian Victims of Terrorism)
April 9, 2023