September 2022 saw the start of the nationwide protests of courageous men and women in Iran, who took to the streets for “Woman, Life, Freedom”. The Iranian regime’s response was brutal, targeted and systematic: people were driven from the streets by force, pursued into hospitals, arbitrarily detained and tortured. Some will bear the physical scars of the shots aimed at their eyes or heads for ever.

With the creation of the Fact-Finding Mission on Iran in November 2022, the UN human rights system established an investigative mechanism to shine a spotlight on the violent suppression of the protests and to document and investigate crimes committed against the Iranian population. Today, the independent experts will brief the members of the Human Rights Council on the massive and systematic human rights violations, especially against women and children, and the ongoing brutal repression in Iran.

To date, the experts have not been permitted to enter Iran but have been able to talk to many survivors of the massive violence outside Iran, thus gathering evidence that will withstand judicial scrutiny. This will make it possible to instigate criminal proceedings against those responsible for the human rights violations in the future.

The experts must be able to continue and conclude the work they have started. I will therefore make it clear again in Geneva today that the German Government, along with many other member states, supports the Fact-Finding Mission and is calling for its mandate to be extended.

The international community has a responsibility to ensure that those responsible for human rights violations in Iran are brought to justice. For impunity leads to ever more human rights violations. We continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the courageous people within and outside Iran who are demanding that their rights be respected.