We, the undersigned, refer to your report: “Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.” It was prepared in accordance with United Nations’ (UN) Human Rights Council Resolution 40/18 and issued for the public in August 2019.

Our focus is on a small print in Clause 94 of the Report. It implies that a certain ethnic minority (Kurds) forms the majority in a certain province (West Azerbaijan) but this is false. We therefore draw your urgent attention to the flaws in such a claim and its serious harms.

The flaws include:

The implied claim fails because it is not supported by citing its source.

The implied claim makes reference to neither any consultation documents nor to the consultant responsible for the claim; conversely, your consultants failed to spot the small-print in the clause.

Above all, Iranian authorities do not provide official statistics on the ethnic composition within Iran; hence it makes the Clause flawed. Unfortunately, once stated in your Report, this flawed claim becomes a source of reference!

Besides, the small print was parachuted down, not in Clauses 86-90 (which gives a broader description of the Iranian Kurds) but in Clause 94 when described victims of landmines. Did this small-print not expose that this small-print claim the Report into disrepute? This is now an urgent matter and needs a prompt correction, else the UN will be seen as promoting this false claim.

May we bring to your kind attention some of the harms that the small-print claim in Clause 94 is poised to inflict in Azerbaijan in Iran. It is already serving as a ploy in the hands of extremist armed bands. They already act buoyantly and conspire with Iranian authorities. The implied claim is a gift in disguise for both Iranian authorities and extremist armed bands to incite racial conflicts. Let us take stock of the small-print claim: only Azerbaijanis in Iran are at the receiving end, a process in which your report will be seen as the trigger event.

Conversely, Clause 79 gives the population of the nation of Azerbaijani in Iran but the given figure is less than half of its popularly-believed figure. The Clause fails to reveal its source and does not mention anything on any prior consultations.

We believe that as a public body charged with public functions, the UN has a duty to ensure that the data that it holds and publishes are properly sourced and accurate - at the present time, we believe that the above two clauses bring your report into disrepute. We remind the document that the UN has produced: Brisbane Declaration on Freedom of Information: The Right to Know (2010) and champions its uptake. We know our entitlements and rights, as per your own document.

We, the undersigned, rally our support to help maintain racial harmony in the provinces mentioned above. There is a great need to make good of your report by not allowing it to become a ploy to the Iranian authorities and extremist armed bands by the above small-print claim for the good of the innocent Azerbaijanis. Before the presentation of your report to the UN General Assembly, we therefore demand that the word “majority” is dropped out of Clause 94. Equally, we demand that the false population size in Clause 79 to be removed or balanced with the popularly believed figure of more than 30 million Azerbaijanis in Iran.

https://undocs.org/en/A/74/188

Undersigned by

Names can be revealed Names will only be revealed to the UN Officials