Good news for Balochistan
According to Hale Vash report, a number of human rights and media organizations, by publishing a statement in the form of Iran Impact, called for the suspension of the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights' visit to Iran.
Part of this letter states:
"We, the civil society organizations, who strive to improve human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, are deeply concerned about the announced visit of Nada Al-Nashif, Deputy High Commissioner, to the Islamic Republic of Iran on February 2-5, 2024.
We recognize the value of dialogue and communication and realize that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has a legitimate interest in dialogue with the authorities of all countries (including the most difficult countries) about human rights challenges. We also fully understand that such calls are an essential part of your mission.
But in this specific case, the timing of this trip, the framework in which the trip takes place and the methods of doing it have caused very serious concerns. We respectfully request that you listen to these concerns and reconsider the opportunity, timing and manner of this trip.
First, the timing of this trip is of deep concern to us. Currently, the trip is scheduled to take place only a few weeks before the start of the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, and as a result there is a risk that it will interfere with a crucial meeting during which the Council will receive reports from two existing missions on human rights in Iran receives and discusses the future of these two: the UN Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights in Iran and the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Committee on the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Based on our past experience, we expect that the Iranian authorities will try to use their official contact with your office instrumentally and use it as a publicity tool to strengthen these existing and badly needed mechanisms for monitoring, reporting and investigation. The Human Rights Council has set up to question. We consider diplomatic contact to be complementary to the usual work of monitoring, public reporting and investigation, but at the same time, we know that the Iranian authorities, in line with their usual position that they have repeatedly defended in the Human Rights Council, put diplomatic contact in front of accountability mechanisms.
In this context, we deeply believe that the Office of the High Commissioner has a responsibility not to let its legitimate activities in the field of communication with governments be used as a tool to question other mechanisms that play a vital role in encouraging and protecting human rights in Iran. To prevent this, we ask you to reconsider your travel time and have a serious strategy to reduce this risk."
