The UN Human Rights Council must take action on India, Iran and Guatemala

September 27, 2023I ndex Number: IOR 40/7308/2023

Amnesty International delivered this statement under the item 4 General Debate at HRC54.

UNHumanRights Council
54th session
11 September – 13 October

Mr. President,
Shrinking space for dissent in India has involved an ever-tightening arsenal of financial and
counter-terrorism laws and weaponizing these laws to crack down on human rights activities by
civil society, particularly those working on the rights of marginalized communities. Conditions in
the country for religious minorities worsened significantly over the last two years. Unabated
violence is currently taking place between ethnic groups in the North-Eastern state of Manipur.
The High Commissioner has called for the redoubling of efforts to uphold the rights of minorities
facing violence and discrimination in India, and the Council must now take steps to address this
deterioration in human rights under its prevention mandate.

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising in Iran. Over
this past year Iranian authorities have committed a litany of crimes under international law in
effort to crush the uprising: hundreds of unlawful killings; the arbitrary application of the death
penalty; tens of thousands of arbitrary detentions; widespread torture, including rape of
detainees; widespread harassment of victims’ families who call for truth and justice; and
reprisals against women and girls who defy discriminatory compulsory veiling laws. To date,
not one official has been criminally investigated for crimes committed during or in the aftermath
of the uprising. Last week, parliament passed a new bill that would introduce even more severe
penalties for defying compulsory veiling. As we look forward to the first report of the FactFinding Mission established by this Council, we urge states to expand their ambition in helping
to combat the crisis of impunity including by exercising universal or other extra-territorial
jurisdiction in relation to crimes under international law in Iran, and to deter further cycles of
bloodshed.

We are deeply concerned by the ongoing criminalisation of human rights defenders, journalists
and independent justice operators in Guatemala. Former prosecutor Virginia Laparra,
considered by Amnesty International to be a prisoner of conscience, remains arbitrarily
detained on unfounded charges since 23 February this year; her lawyer Claudia Gonzalez was
also arbitrarily detained in August. We call on the Council to increase its scrutiny on the
situation in Guatemala and call on the government to end its attack on human rights defenders,
journalists and independent justice operators.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior40/7308/2023/en/