ENOC Bureau calls for respect of children’s fundamental rights in Iran

ENOC Bureau joins the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child urging Iran to end killings and detention of children immediately

The ENOC Bureau expresses deep concerns regarding grave, massive and continuous breaches of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by the Islamic Republic of Iran in response to an ongoing public unrest fueled by the death in custody of a 22-year-old young woman, Mahsa Amini, seven weeks ago.

The Bureau is appalled by the brutal response of Iranian security forces against youth protesters, and especially girls, peacefully demonstrating for their fundamental human rights, resulting in children being killed, tortured or going missing.

According to reliable reports, children are being arrested in schools, detained with adults, subjected to acts of torture or sent to, notoriously abusive, psychological centres for correction and education, simply because they dare to express their opinions or to protest peacefully.

The Bureau joins the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s call urging Iran to end killings and detention of children and thus comply with its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“We call on the international community’s responsibility to take concrete actions, address impunity and hold Iran’s authorities to account for serious and repeated violations of Iranian children and young people’s fundamental rights, as guaranteed by the UN CRC and other universal human rights treaties”.

• UN Committee on the Rights of the Child statement on ending killings and detention of child protesters in Iran
• UNICEF statement on the protection of children and adolescents amid public unrest in Iran