A group of 47 esteemed United Nations experts and Nobel laureates released a statement on Monday, September 9, 2024, condemning an Iranian disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting Professor Javaid Rehman, the former UN Special Rapporteur on Iran.
The complete text of the statement follows:
The Iranian regime’s establishment disinformation targets the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran
A vicious smear campaign spearheaded by the government of Iran and its lobbyists abroad has been brought to our attention targeting former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, Professor Javaid Rehman.
Attempts to discredit Professor Rehman, began with a letter from Kazem Gharib-Abadi, the Secretary-General of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights attacking his integrity, independence and impartiality, using false and malicious allegations against him, simply because he refused to obtemperate and to be intimidated by a government that refused him to undertake visits to Iran as required by his mandate, as it did to two of his predecessors, out of fear of him discovering the hermetically sealed situation of human rights in the country.
For six years, Professor Javaid Rehman has worked on the UN mandate on a completely unpaid basis. In accordance with the code of conduct, he never accepted any funding from any individual, organisation, or State for his work as the Special Rapporteur including for the writing and completion of the “Atrocity Crimes” report published in July 2024 in which he described the executions in 1981-1982 and the 1988 massacre as crimes against humanity and genocide.
We strongly condemn the false and fabricated accusations propagated by the Iranian regime and its affiliates that he has received any form of honorarium or speaker fee for participation in the conference on 24 August 2024 in Paris. He attended this conference in his capacity as a former UN Special Rapporteur to participate in an event which focused on the “atrocity crimes” during the 1988 massacre.
The probity, moral integrity and independence of a Special Rapporteur is thoroughly scrutinised before his/her selection as a mandate-holder by the UN Human Rights Council. In fulfilling their mandate, they undertake consultations with a wide range of actors at the national, regional, and international level. A Special Rapporteur receives communications and addresses them to the government concerned. He/she attends conferences and meets civil society from all horizons.
Professor Rehman had successfully served the UN Human Rights Council for six years. Before being a UN Special Rapporteur, he is a professor of law whose career is to teach, promote, defend, and uphold the rule of law. His detractors among the pseudo human rights defenders and the regime-hired activists will never diminish his towering status.
In addition, in recent days, Iran’s cyber army has issued threatening tweets using Professor Rehman’s Twitter handle, pressuring him to retract his call for accountability. This harassment must be stopped.
We the undersigned stand shoulder to shoulder with Professor Rehman and vigorously denounce the smear campaign against him.
Click here to the profiles of the signatories
SIGNED:
- Judge Sang-Hyun Song – (South Korea)
President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (2009-2015) - Amb. Joachim Rücker – (Germany)
President of the UN Human Rights Council (2015);
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Germany to the UN in Geneva (2014-2016);
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) (2006-2008) - Dr. Mark Ellis – (United Kingdom)
Executive Director, International Bar Association (IBA) - Prof. Robert K. Goldman – (United States)
President, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ);
UN Independent Expert on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism (2004-2005);
Former President, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) - Dr. Melanie O’Brien – (Australia)
President, International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) - Dainius Pūras – (Lithuania)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health (2014-2020);
Chairman of the Coordination Committee of the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council (2018-2019);
Director of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute / VŠĮ Žmogaus Teisių Stebėjimo Institutas - Clément Voule – (Togo)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association (2018-2024) - Oleksandra Matviichuk – (Ukraine)
2022 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate - Jody Williams – (United States)
1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate - Yasmin Sooka – (South Africa)
Chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (2016-present) - Dr. Ana Brian Nougrères – (Uruguay)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy (2021-present) - Gabriela Knaul – (Brazil)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (2009-2015) - Dr. Karen Smith – (South Africa)
United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect (2019-2021) - Prof. Wolfgang Schomburg – (Germany)
Judge, UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (2001-2008);
Former Judge, UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR);
Judge, Federal Supreme Court of Germany (1995–2000) - Prof. Jan Pronk (The Netherlands)
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan (2004-2006);
Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations (1985-1986) - Prof. François Crépeau – (Canada)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants (2011-2017) - Hon. Richard J. Goldstone – (South Africa)
Former Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa;
Former Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda;
Chair of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (2009-2010) - Prof. Heiner Bielefeldt – (Germany)
UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (2010-2016);
Former Director, German Institute for Human Rights / Deutsche Institut für Menschenrechte (DIMR) - Maud De Boer-Buquicchio – (The Netherlands)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children (2014-2020);
Former Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe - Miriam Ekiudoko – (Hungary)
Member of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (2021-present) - Amb. Hans Corell – (Sweden)
Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations (1994-2004) - Prof. Michael Lynk – (Canada)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories (2016-2022) - Dr. Livingstone Sewanyana – (Uganda)
UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order (2018-2024) - Anand Grover – (India)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health (2008-2014) - Prof. Urmila Bhoola – (South Africa)
UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery (2014-2020) - Prof. Jean Ziegler – (Switzerland)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (2000-2008);
Former Vice-President of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee - Dr. Susan Bazilli – (Canada)
Member, UN Group of Independent Experts on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus (2024-present) - Dominique Day – (United States)
Member of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (2018-present) - Mike Smith – (Australia)
Chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea (2014-2016);
Chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights (2004);
Assistant Secretary-General of the UN in New York and Executive Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (2007-2013);
Permanent Representative of Australia to the UN in Geneva (2002-2006) - Prof. David M. Crane – (United States)
Founding Chief Prosecutor, UN Special Court for Sierra Leone - Alda M. Facio – (Costa Rica)
Chair-Rapporteur and Member of the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls (2014-2020) - Anne Ramberg – (Sweden)
Co-Chair, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI);
Ad hoc Judge, European Court of Human Rights (ECHR);
Board Member, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA);
Chair, Board of Uppsala University;
Former Secretary General, Swedish Bar Association - Dr. Jelena Aparac – (Croatia)
Chair-Rapporteur and Member of the UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries (2018-2023) - Henrikas Mickevičius – (Lithuania)
Member, UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) (2015-2022) - Sètondji Roland Adjovi – (Benin)
Member, UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (2014-2020) - Prof. Monika Płatek – (Poland)
UN Expert, OHCHR Examination of the Human Rights Situation in Belarus (2023-present) - Sonja Biserko – (Serbia)
Member, UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (2013-2014);
Founder and President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia - Prof. Gabor Rona – (United States)
Chair-Rapporteur/Member of the UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries (2011-2019) - Prof. Alexandro Álvarez – (Chile)
UN Expert, Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (2022-2023) - Prof. Fernand de Varennes – (Canada)
UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues (2017-2023) - Hiljmnijeta Apuk – (Kosovo)
Winner, United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights for 2013 - Amb. Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr. – (United States)
US Special Envoy (2008-2009); US Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs (2001-2005) - Prof. Steven M. Schneebaum – (United States)
Adjunct Professor of International Law, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The Johns Hopkins University - Kenneth Lewis – (Sweden)
Lawyer for the PMOI in the Swedish trial of former Iranian prison official Hamid Noury - Tahar Boumedra – (United Kingdom)
President, Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI);
Former Chief of UNAMI Human Rights Office and Representative of the HCHR in Iraq - Prof. Claudio Grossman – (Chile)
Special Adviser to the ICC Prosecutor (2021-present);
Member, UN International Law Commission (ILC) (2016-present);
Chair, ILC’s Drafting Committee (2019);
President, Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (IIDH) (2014-present);
President, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) (1996, 2001);
Chair, UN Committee against Torture (CAT) (4 terms, from 2008-2015);
Chair, UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies (2013);
Professor of Law & Dean Emeritus, American University Washington College of Law - Prof. Christian Tomuschat – (Germany)
President of the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbitration (2013-2019);
Member of the UN Human Rights Committee (1977-1986);
Chairman/Member of the UN International Law Commission (1985-1996);
Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Commission on the Human Rights Situation in Guatemala (1990-1993)
