14 March 2012 - In conjunction with the report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran to the UN Human Rights Council, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and Minority Rights Group International (MRG) hosted a parallel event titled “Minority Rights in Iran.” The event took place in Geneva, Switzerland, and included contributions from minority and NGO representatives. Through this event, UNPO and MRG aimed to draw attention to the human rights situation of ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities in Iran.
I
would like to thank MRG and UNPO for supporting disadvantaged groups all over
the world and organizing this event.
It
has been an extraordinary year for the
I
am here to address the issues facing one of these minorities: the Azerbaijani Turks
living in
The
Azerbaijanis are concentrated in north-western
Azerbaijani
activists, including human rights defenders, journalists, writers and students
who advocate for the rights of their oppressed community, risk frequent human
rights violations ranging from arbitrary arrests to death at the hands of
Iranian Security Forces. All peaceful demonstrations demanding cultural rights,
protesting socio-economic injustice and racism, and calling for the protection of the environment, have been violently suppressed. Scores of people
have been arrested. According to Amnesty International, “those who seek to
promote Azerbaijani cultural identity and linguistic rights are often charged
with vaguely-worded offences such as “acting against state security by
promoting pan-Turkism.” Detainees are subjected to psychological and physical
torture, which often yields false confessions.
One
human rights activist, journalist Sa’id Metinpour, is currently serving an
eight-year prison sentence for peacefully campaigning for fundamental rights for his
community. Amnesty International calls him a prisoner of conscience.
The assault on Azerbaijani culture, language, and identity by the Iranian state-run media and press is not uncommon. Azerbaijanis are often stereotyped, insulted, and mocked, not only in the workplace and in person, but in the media as well. Since the founding of ADAPP in 2006, my team and I have identified numerous recurring sources of continued racism against Azerbaijanis. First and foremost is the portrayal of Azerbaijanis in Iranian culture and media. In the spring of 2006, the government newspaper Iran Daily published a cartoon that depicted Azerbaijanis as cockroaches. Not only was the comparison insulting and a clear example of state-sponsored racism, but it also implied the need to mass exterminate an entire minority group. Dozens were killed, and scores were arrested after Azerbaijanis took to the streets to protest the racist cartoon. Although the crackdown was brutal, much like the recent measures against the Iranian election protests, it received little attention from the international community.
As
in many other parts of the world, women in
Members
of the Azerbaijani community, particularly women, also face difficulties in the
criminal justice system because of their inability to speak and understand
Farsi, the sole official language of
In
the Persian and Shia Muslim- dominated country of
Reports obtained by ADAPP from Sunni and Alevi communities, show several members of these communities being sentenced to execution after unfair trials largely based on confessions obtained under torture and false documents allegedly prepared by the Ministry of Intelligence and National Security. In 2011, at least six members of the Azerbaijani-Sunni minority group were executed in Urmia Central Prison on accusations of drug trafficking. Another example of an unjust trial is the case of Mehdi Ghasemzadeh’s, a 27-year-old Azerbaijani male, belonging to the Alevi religious minority, who was executed in February 2009, after having been convicted of the charge of “enmity toward God.” Also, reports from Sunni and Alevi communities from the Azerbaijani region show that Iranian officials impose financial hardship on farmers by redirecting water supplies away from their villages and thus exposing their farms to water shortages.
The
predominantly Azerbaijani-populated cities of
According
to a February 2012 United Nations Environment Programmee (UNEP) report, as lake
levels decline, the exposed lakebed is left with a covering of salts, making a
tremendous salty desert on much of the 400 km² of lost surface area. These salt
flats will not support agriculture and inhibit the growth of most natural
vegetation. The salts are also susceptible to dispersion by wind and will likely
create "salt storms" like the ones that have resulted from the drying
of the
In
recent years, the Iranian government has built dams on more than 20 tributaries
feeding into the lake. Environmental organizations and experts claim that this
damming, coupled with an environmentally damaging bridge linking the cities of
Urmia and Tabriz, has reduced the flow of water into and within Lake Urmia,
causing the majority of the lake to evaporate.
The
deterioration of
Ladies
and Gentlemen, the plight of minorities in
To allow education in Azerbaijani Turkish in Iranian
schools and allow for the creation of independent media outlets in this
language, to release all prisoners of conscience who have been unlawfully arrested
for advocating for Azerbaijani linguistic and cultural rights, and for ceasing all
arrests and detentions of Azerbaijani rights activists who assemble peacefully
and contribute to journals advocating in favour of human rights for
Azerbaijanis.
To put an end to socio-economic and cultural
discrimination against Azerbaijanis as well as other non-Persian Iranians.
To call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to eliminate discrimination against women and girls and to comply with its international obligations to build gender equality.
To demand the Iranian authorities to stop the execution of non-Shia Azerbaijanis and other Iranian ethnic and religious minorities sentenced to death in unfair trials based on the confessions obtained under torture.
To urge the Iranian government to allow the Azerbaijani
religious minority groups the freedom to fully engage in religious, political
and social activities and to end education and job discrimination against
them.
Due to the international scope of the Lake Urmia
crisis, ADAPP urges intervention and guidance from international organizations, including UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization) and the UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme). We
believe that the international community and organizations need to stand with
indigenous populations and ethnic minorities to help protect their rights of
free speech, assembly, and peaceful protest, along with their rights to access
to freshwater for farming and sustenance.
Related Link: https://www.unpo.org/article/13979