The European Parliament adopted by 49 votes to 0 with 2 abstentions a resolution on the situation of ethnic minorities in Iran.

The resolution was tabled by the EFD, Greens/EFA, S&D, ALDE, EPP, GUE/NGL and ECR groups.

Parliament expresses its serious concern at the steadily deteriorating human rights situation in Iran, including for persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, due to systematic political, economic, social, and cultural discrimination. It recalls the cases of persecution against members of Iran's Ahwazi Arab minority and violations of civil rights of Azeris, Arabs, Kurds and Balochs. Members call on the Iranian authorities to eliminate all forms of discrimination against persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, officially recognised or otherwise, and demands that all persons belonging to minorities be allowed to exercise all the rights enshrined in the Iranian constitution and in international law, including the guarantees stipulated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Iran is a party.

Parliament calls on the Commission, in close cooperation with Parliament, to make effective use of the new Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights in order to support democracy and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities, in Iran. It reaffirms its readiness to engage in human rights dialogue with Iran at all levels on the basis of universal values as enshrined in the UN Charter and UN conventions.

Members call on the Iranian authorities to:

·        ensure that the arrested members of Iran's Ahwazi Arab minority are tried in accordance with international fair-trial standards, with due protection from torture and other ill-treatment, and without recourse to the death penalty;

·        release all activists who are currently imprisoned for their peaceful advocacy of minority rights;

·        respect the right of ethnic minorities to use their own languages, in private and public, and in particular to guarantee education in minority languages, in accordance with the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran;

·        guarantee religious freedom in accordance with the Iranian constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to put a stop in practice to discrimination against and harassment of religious minorities such as non-Shia Muslims, including Assyrians and other Christian groups, the systematic persecution of the Baha'i minority and the application of the death penalty to converts from Islam;

·        demonstrate that they are fully committed to cooperating with the international community in improving the human rights situation in Iran.

Members also strongly condemn the use of the death penalty in Iran and calls on the Iranian authorities, in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolutions 62/149 and 63/138, to institute a moratorium on executions, pending the abolition of the death penalty; urges the government to prohibit the execution of juveniles and commute all capital sentences currently faced by juveniles.

Lastly, they call on the UN Independent Expert on minority issues and the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance to request a visit to Iran in order to report on the situation of human rights, and in particular the plight of minorities.