In their latest and final report, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran alleged ongoing serious rights violations by the Iranian authorities stemming from massive protests after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022.

Ms. Amini, from the Iranian Kurdish community, had been arrested by the country’s “morality police” for allegedly not complying with rules on how the hijab should be worn.

Allegations of crimes against humanity

“In repressing the 2022 nationwide protests, State authorities in Iran committed gross human rights violations, some of which the Mission found to have amounted to crimes against humanity,” said Sara Hossain, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission.

“We heard many harrowing accounts of harsh physical and psychological torture and a wide range of serious fair trial and due process violations committed against children, including some as young as seven years old.”

Since April 2024, the State has increased criminal prosecution against women who defy the mandatory hijab through the adoption of the so-called “Noor plan.”

“Women human rights defenders and activists have continued to face criminal sanctions, including fines, lengthy prison sentences, and in some cases the death penalty for peaceful activities in support of human rights,” the Independent Mission asserted.

Speaking in Geneva on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council, Ms. Hossain noted that Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities “had been specially targeted in the context of the protests”, with “some of the most egregious violations…carried out in peak protest towns in minority-populated regions”.

Testimonies gathered inside and outside Iran for the report which has been shared with the Iranian Government pointed to men, women and children being held “in some cases at gunpoint” with “nooses put around their necks in a form of psychological torture”.

Online surveillance

The Mission – which comprises senior human rights experts acting in an independent capacity – noted that these measures “come despite pre-election assurances” by President Masoud Pezeshkian to ease the strict enforcement of mandatory hijab laws.

This enforcement increasingly relies on technology, surveillance and even State-sponsored “vigilantism”, the investigators stated.

“Surveillance online was a critical tool for State repression. Instagram accounts, for instance, were shut down and SIM cards confiscated, in particular of human rights defenders, including women human rights defenders,” explained the Independent Mission’s Shaheen Sardar Ali.

Vigilantes and intrusive apps

Ms. Ali pointed to the use of the “Nazer” mobile application “which is a particular app that the Government has instituted, where after vetting, sort of normal citizens can also complain – file a complaint – against someone who’s just passed by and hasn’t got the mandatory hijab. So, this technology that’s being used for surveillance is really very far-reaching and highly intrusive.”

According to the Fact-Finding Mission, 10 men have been executed in the context of the 2022 protests and at least 11 men and three women remain at risk of being executed, amid “serious concerns over the adherence to the right to a fair trial, including the use of torture-tainted confessions, and due process violations”.

The Mission’s report will be presented to Member States at the Human Rights Council next Tuesday.

Independent Mission

The Independent Mission was established by the Human Rights Council in November 2022, with a mandate to “thoroughly and independently investigate alleged human rights violations” in Iran related to the protests that began in September that year, especially with respect to women and children.

It was also tasked by the Council to establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the alleged violations, as well as to collect, consolidate and analyse evidence of such violations and preserve evidence, including in view of cooperation in any legal proceedings.

The announcement comes as Syria marks 14 years since peaceful protests were met with brutal repression, igniting a conflict that has displaced millions and left the country in ruins.

While the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024 initially raised hopes for stability, fresh violence is threatening these fragile gains.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned recent reports of civilian casualties, stating that “nothing can justify the killing of civilians.”

A Syrian-led transition

Mr. Pedersen reiterated that the political process remains “Syrian-led and Syrian-owned”, though the UN continues to offer guidance.

During a briefing to the press in New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric underscored that the UN stands ready to support an inclusive political transition which guarantees accountability and national healing.

Meanwhile, Mr. Guterres emphasised that “the caretaker authorities have repeatedly committed to building a new Syria based on inclusive and credible foundations for all Syrians. Now is the time for action.”

Reconstruction challenges

Despite political progress, the humanitarian crisis remains dire.

“The scale of destruction is unimaginable,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi wrote in an op-ed in the French newspaper Le Monde.

Emphasising that nothing was spared, from houses to water treatment facilities, Mr. Grandi underscored that “if we neglect Syria’s urgent humanitarian needs, its social and political fractures will only deepen.”

A recent UNHCR survey found that 27 per cent of Syrian refugees now express a desire to return home within the next year, compared to just two per cent before the regime’s fall.

However, concerns about safety, political stability and the lack of basic necessities remain major obstacles to sustainable repatriation.

Accountability: The path forward

While the Constitutional Declaration provides a framework for transition, Mr. Pedersen said its success depends on genuine implementation.

For now, the UN remains engaged and ready to assist, but officials warn that the next few months will be critical in determining whether Syria moves towards lasting peace or falls deeper into uncertainty.

“We must ensure that Syria emerges from the shadows of war into a future defined by dignity and the rule of law, where all voices are heard and no community is left behind,” the UN chief said.

During a discussion on early childhood development, the High Commissioner for Human Rights underscored that 80 per cent of the human brain is formed in the first three years of life, as he appealed for a reset in youth-centred policy.

“Investments in early childhood are one of the smartest ways to achieve sustainable economic development; studies indicate that the economic return can be up to 13 times the amount invested,” he insisted.

Citing South Africa’s Child Support Grant and the Bolsa Familia programme in Brazil, the High Commissioner pointed out that they “help to ensure that children born into the toughest circumstances can still have the most essential needs covered”.

Today’s threats to children are also virtual, and youngsters everywhere lack the tools to stay safe online, Mr. Türk continued, before warning that children’s access to food, basic sanitation and drinking water remains unequal across the world; two in five lack access even to basic sanitation.

Children suffering extreme heat to rise eight-fold

Climate change is also likely to make children and future generations more vulnerable, Mr. Türk told the Council, noting that in the next 30 years, eight times as many children could be exposed to extreme heat waves and twice as many to extreme wildfires.  

Emphasising the wider benefit to society of early childhood development, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on violence against children, said that that “even the very youngest and those in the most vulnerable situations have rights, including rights to development, protection and participation”, as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Brain drain

More than one million new neural connections form every second in the first few years of life, the practicing paediatrician explained, as she warned of the long-term impacts on very young children’s health, learning and behaviour when caregivers are unable to provide nurturing and safe care.

Many children with disabilities or from minorities have no access to supportive early child development services, along with others in poor or emergency settings, Dr. M’jid noted.

“Given the unprecedented humanitarian crisis – due to conflict and forced displacement – we must ensure that [early child development] programmes are embedded in the humanitarian response,” she insisted.

One chance at parenting  

Also taking part in the debate at the Human Rights Council was 13-year-old child rights advocate, Vlad.  

“Raising a child is not a maths test that you can retake it if you haven’t done it right the first time,” said the young Moldovan, noting that parents, family and the community form the pillars of a child’s first year of life.  

“But what happens when a child is born with a disability or into a family that doesn’t have enough resource to rise them? Do we step aside because this is not our problem or – on the contrary – do we help the child and the family to develop and overcome those difficulties?” he asked.

Vlad, who volunteers at a free centre for children with disabilities and developmental difficulties run by NGO Lumos Foundation, stressed “how important it is to intervene early in child development, because the earlier we react, the more chances we give to the child to develop harmoniously … a child’s difficulties, however great they may be, can be overcome or, at least, minimized.”

‘I miss my home, my family and friends’

Ten-year-old Joyce, who was forced to flee Syria’s civil war, told the Council precisely what children needed in her home country, so that other youngsters just like her could stay there in safety: “Education, safety and child friendly spaces – not shootings, missiles, bombs or kidnappings,” she said.

Speaking via videolink, Joyce addressed world leaders directly, asking them to understand that for children to live happily and safely, “you need to stop the wars”.

She added: “We need to go to school, to play, to have food and water and most importantly, not to live in fear.”

Admitting that one can’t really argue with Joyce’s statements, Mr. Philip Jaffé, Member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child said, that it wasn’t needed to be verbose, “when what is being said, is essential.”

The Convention on the Rights of the Child calls on all countries “to ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child”.

Speaking on behalf of the Committee on the Rights of the Child which assesses the progress that countries make in adhering to the Convention, Philip Jaffé insisted that for children to thrive in their early years, governments should implement comprehensive and rights-based, coordinated strategies and across departments and at central and local levels.

In addition, “there must be special consideration and social support given to the early childhood needs of children with disabilities and their families,” Mr. Jaffé said.

“Israel has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians as part of a broader effort to undermine their right to self-determination,” maintained Chris Sidoti from the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

‘Increasingly used’

Speaking in Geneva, the human rights lawyer said that “the frequency, prevalence and severity of sexual and gender-based crimes perpetrated across the OPT leads the Commission to conclude that sexual and gender-based violence is increasingly used as a method of war by Israel to destabilize, dominate, oppress and destroy the Palestinian people”.

Established by the Council in May 2021, the Commission has a mandate to investigate and report on alleged violations of international law in the OPT, including East Jerusalem – and in Israel.

Terror attacks in Israel

Previous reports have covered in detail the terror attacks on Israeli villages and towns on 7 and 8 October by Hamas-led Palestinian armed fighters that killed around 1,250 people and left more than 250 taken as hostages back to Gaza.

Publication of the Commission’s report followed two days of public hearings held in Geneva from 11 to 12 March, featuring victims and witnesses of sexual and reproductive violence and medical personnel who assisted them, as well as civil society representatives, academics, lawyers and medical experts.

Mr. Sidoti said that the Commission had made several requests to the Israeli authorities for information on specific, serious cases of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian prisoners taken from Gaza.

But no information has been provided about prosecutions of members of the Israeli security forces or Israeli settlers for sexual and violence committed since October 2023, he told journalists.

Explicit orders and ‘implicit encouragement’

In a statement accompanying the release of the Commission’s report, it asserted that “forced public stripping and nudity, sexual harassment including threats of rape, as well as sexual assault” were “standard operating procedure” of the Israeli Security Forces toward Palestinians.

“Other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and violence to the genitals, were committed either under explicit orders or with implicit encouragement by Israel’s top civilian and military leadership,” the report maintained.”

“We heard evidence – you would have heard it if you were looking at our hearings during the last two days – where men and boys were forced to strip wholly or almost wholly, that is down to underpants and then were kept in that condition, often having to sit on stones on the ground in the cold in winter for up to three days.”

Embryos destroyed

The Commission also asserted that Israeli forces had systematically destroyed sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities across Gaza, including Gaza’s largest fertility clinic, Al Basma centre, in December 2023.

Tank shelling destroyed about 4,000 embryos at the clinic that reportedly assisted 2,000-3,000 patients a month.

“There is a question about whether those who were firing the tank shell – because our conclusion is that it was destroyed by a tank shell – knew at that time that it was a fertility clinic,” Mr. Sidoti said.

“But certainly, their commanders knew and the commanders would have known that there were tanks operating within that vicinity and firing on buildings and fired on a healthcare facility that was clearly marked.”

The Commission’s report finds that the destruction amounts “to two categories of genocidal acts in the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention, including deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians and imposing measures intended to prevent births”.   

Head of the Commission, Navi Pillay, said in a statement that the targeting of reproductive healthcare facilities including “direct attacks” on maternity wards and the IVF clinic, “combined with the use of starvation as a method of war, has impacted all aspects of reproduction.”

She added that the violations “have not only caused severe immediate physical and mental harm and suffering to women and girls, but irreversible long-term effects on the mental health and reproductive and fertility prospects of Palestinians as a group.”

Israel ‘categorically rejects’ allegations

In a press release published on Wednesday, the Israeli mission in Geneva said their Government “categorically rejects the unfounded allegations” made in the commission’s report.

Israel accused the COI of instrumentalising sexual violence “to advance its predetermined and biased political agenda, setting back the important work of international institutions to combat the perpetration of these abhorrent acts as a weapon of war.”