Dear Ms. Alena Douhan,
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Coercive and Unilateral US Sanctions on Iran
Your visit to Iran, as a rapporteur for the UN Human Rights Council, to "investigate possible human rights violations through coercive and unilateral sanctions" is a pleasure. Not only can this meeting be a prelude to easing the pressure of sanctions on the lives of millions of Iranians, but it is also effective in normalizing Iran's international relations and paving the way for long-term, multipurpose, and multilateral negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the international community. The Islamic Republic avoids dialogue and acceptance of international rules. Presence of the UN Special Rapporteurs will be effective in changing this trend and putting pressure on the Islamic Republic. As you know, after years of demands from civil society, political activists and the United Nations, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran has not yet been granted permission to visit Iran.
Days of your presence in Iran coincided with the widespread protests of the people of various parts of Iran against the inflated cost and lack of necessities of life. These protests are still ongoing. Similar protests took place earlier, in November 2019, following rising fuel prices, and the Islamic Republic suppressed them as violently as it could by cutting off communication with the outside world. These are the most visible public reactions to the growing economic crisis in recent years. The crisis that in recent years has left a large part of the Iranian people with poverty, unemployment, and lack of access to their basic needs. The main reason for this economic crisis is the adventuresome nature of the Islamic Republic, a regime in which corruption is an important part of its economic structure and its ideological and military costs are imposed on the Iranian people. In such a situation, the imposition of unilateral sanctions on the Iranian people made the situation much more difficult. Over the past five years, following the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA agreement, the value of Iran's national currency has fallen by about one-tenth, and more poverty and misery have been imposed on the people.
We, as a political party of the Iranian opposition forces, assess the sanctions do not accelerate the transition from the Islamic Republic, but put pressure on the people. In our view, the continuation of the Islamic Republic's regional policies, the regime's insistence on its nuclear program, and the development of its weapons program show that the main harm of the sanctions is not to the Islamic Republic and its programs, but to the Iranian people. We believe that the livelihood, dignity, and basic necessities of life and human rights of the Iranian people should not be the direct victims of the conflicts between the Islamic Republic and the international community.
In addition to threatening food and human security, as well as depriving the Iranian people of access to health care facilities even during the corona outbreak, the sanctions are causing irreparable and lasting damage to the Iran's environment. With the continuation of the sanctions, the right to a healthy living environment and clean air will be taken away not only from the people of Iran, but also from the people of the neighboring countries, as well as for generations of Iranians. The use of fuel produced in damaged and obsolete domestic production lines in recent years has caused record high air and soil pollution in various cities in Iran.
The crises mentioned, however, are not the only harms of continued sanctions. Sanctions fueled a corrupt and rent-seeking economy in Iran, which resulted in the strengthening of fundamentalist political factions in the Islamic Republic's power structure. The centers of power close to the Supreme Leader, in connection with the IRGC (Revolutionary Guards), took advantage of the opportunity provided by sanctions and blocked conventional economic paths to become the unconditional rulers of politics and economics in Iran. Under the pretext of sanctions and the resulting quasi-war conditions, they suppress any form of political resistance in the most brutal way possible. The escalating economic crisis during the sanctions has pushed Iran's middle class to the brink of extinction. This fact, along with the disconnection of the Iranians’ international relations, either because of the ban on Iranians traveling to the United States during Trump's presidency or after that period, and the Islamic Republic's sense of needlessness from the international community due to the severance of ties under sanctions, the possibility of the international community’s support of civil society and social movements, and consequently peaceful change in Iran has been severely weakened.
Your presence as UN Special Rapporteur on Iran could provide an opportunity for direct dialogue with Iranian individuals, civil society organizations, and non-governmental organizations that are struggling with the current situation. These conversations can take place even after your departure from Iran through virtual facilities. Although the Islamic Republic is trying to deprive the UN Special Rapporteurs of this possibility, witnessing 42 years of dishonesty and scandal of the Islamic Republic, our emphasis is that providing a comprehensive report on the impact of sanctions requires dialogue with independent individuals and institutions.
Ms. Douhan,
Unilateral sanctions, on the one hand, have had a direct destructive effect on a number of vulnerable groups, and on the other hand, a pretext for the Islamic Republic to cover up its economic mismanagement - and thereby exacerbate these effects - and intensify its repressive aggression against human rights.
The Left Party of Iran (People's Fadaian) welcomes the appointment of a special rapporteur to examine the impact of coercive and unilateral sanctions on human rights violations and expresses its interest in continuing to collaborate with you on the specific direct and indirect effects of sanctions. We hope that the presence of the UN Special Representative for Human Rights in Iran will also be facilitated.
International Relations of the Left Party of Iran (People's Fadaian)
May 31, 2022
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