By Rahim Hamid

This article is intended to provide an understanding of the Iranian state’s international human rights obligations towards individuals and groups living under Iranian jurisdiction. It also attempts to shed light on the current United Nations human rights monitoring and implementation mechanism, which not only individuals but several ethnic groups in Iran with collective rights should theoretically be able to utilise and benefit from.

It is notable that there is currently no international human rights court similar to, for example, the European Court of Human Rights due to the nature of international law; this can be seen in the principles of consensual arrangements between states, which place state reciprocity, sovereignty and territorial integrity above human rights considerations. The International Criminal Court in the Hague is of severely limited usefulness in this regard.

This means that state parties have the primary responsibility for the implementation and enforcement of international human rights legislation. UN member states which agree to fulfil their obligations listed in each of the UN’s nine core human rights treaties must guarantee and ensure that people within their territory can fully exercise their rights and freedoms. One of the terms of these agreements is that signatory states must provide swift and immediate legal remedies for individuals claiming that their human rights have been violated (Smith, 2016, pp.153).

The full publication can be obtained here: https://www.dusc.org/article/1991?fbclid=IwAR2ZUsyLtI-yaQx7p1jS08Sw5e5EANCwyKgkLBTwzpPMPUqIyJzC_t3tzrM