Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2007  [on the report of the Third Committee (A/62/439/Add.3)]  62/168. Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran        The General Assembly,    Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of  Human Rights, 0F 1  the International Covenants on Human Rights1F 2  and other  international human rights instruments,    Mindful that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party to the International  Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,2 the International Covenant on Economic,  Social and Cultural Rights,2 the International Convention on the Elimination of All  Forms of Racial Discrimination 2F3 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 3F4    Recalling its previous resolutions on the situation of human rights in the  Islamic Republic of Iran, the most recent of which is resolution 61/176 of  19 December 2006,    Regretting that no special procedure has been permitted to visit the Islamic  Republic of Iran since July 2005, despite the standing invitation extended by the  Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to all human rights thematic monitoring  mechanisms in April 2002,    1.  Expresses its deep concern at the ongoing systematic violations of human  rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as  described in the above-mentioned resolutions, and at the failure of the Islamic  Republic of Iran to implement the steps called for in those resolutions;    2.  Expresses its very serious concern that, since the adoption of resolution  61/176, there have been, inter alia, confirmed instances of:    (a)  Torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,  including flogging and amputations;    (b)  Public executions, including multiple public executions, and other  executions carried out in the absence of respect for internationally recognized  safeguards;  _______________  1 Resolution 217 A (III).  2 Resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.  3 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 660, No. 9464.  4 Ibid., vol. 1577, No. 27531.   A/RES/62/168  2    (c)  Stoning as a method of execution, and the continued issuing of sentences  of execution by stoning;    (d)  Execution of persons who were under the age of 18 at the time their  offence was committed, contrary to the obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran  under article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child4 and article 6 of the  International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;2    (e)  Arrests, violent repression and sentencing of women exercising their  right to peaceful assembly, a campaign of intimidation against women’s human  rights defenders, and continuing discrimination against women and girls in law and  in practice;    (f)  Increasing discrimination and other human rights violations against  persons belonging to religious, ethnic, linguistic or other minorities, recognized or  otherwise, including, inter alia, Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds, Christians, Jews,  Sufis and Sunni Muslims and their defenders, and, in particular, attacks on Baha’is  and their faith in State-sponsored media, increasing evidence of efforts by the State  to identify and monitor Baha’is, preventing members of the Baha’i faith from  attending university and from sustaining themselves economically, and an increase  in cases of arbitrary arrest and detention;    (g)  Ongoing, systemic and serious restrictions of freedom of peaceful  assembly and association and freedom of opinion and expression, including those  imposed on the media and trade unions, and increasing harassment, intimidation and  persecution of political opponents and human rights defenders from all sectors of  Iranian society, including arrests and violent repression of labour leaders, labour  members peacefully assembling and students;    (h)  Persistent failure to uphold due process of law rights, and violation of the  rights of detainees, including the systematic and arbitrary use of prolonged solitary  confinement;    3.  Calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect  fully its human rights obligations and in this regard to implement fully the above- mentioned resolutions, and in particular:    (a)  To eliminate, in law and in practice, amputations, flogging and other  forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;    (b)  To abolish, in law and in practice, public executions and other executions  carried out in the absence of respect for internationally recognized safeguards;    (c)  To abolish, in law and in practice, the use of stoning as a method of  execution;    (d)  To abolish, as called for by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in  its report of January 2005,4F5 executions of persons who at the time of their offence  were under the age of 18;    (e)  To eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms of discrimination and other  human rights violations against women and girls;    (f)  To eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms of discrimination and other  human rights violations against persons belonging to religious, ethnic, linguistic or  _______________  5 See CRC/C/146.   A/RES/62/168  3  other minorities, recognized or otherwise, to refrain from monitoring individuals on  the basis of their religious beliefs, and to ensure that access of minorities to  education and employment is on par with that of all Iranians;    (g)  To implement, inter alia, the 1996 report of the Special Rapporteur on  religious intolerance, 5F6 which recommended ways in which the Islamic Republic of  Iran could emancipate the Baha’i community;    (h)  To end the harassment, intimidation and persecution of political  opponents and human rights defenders, including by releasing persons imprisoned  arbitrarily or on the basis of their political views;    (i)  To uphold due process of law rights and to end impunity for human  rights violations;    4.  Encourages the thematic special procedures of the Human Rights  Council to visit the Islamic Republic of Iran and otherwise continue their work to  improve the situation of human rights in the country, and urges the Government of  the Islamic Republic of Iran to live up to the commitment it made when it issued a  standing invitation to special procedures by cooperating with them, and to illustrate  how their subsequent recommendations are being addressed;     5.  Decides to continue its examination of the situation of human rights in  the Islamic Republic of Iran at its sixty-third session under the item entitled  “Promotion and protection of human rights”, and to this end requests the Secretary- General to submit to it at that session a comprehensive report on the situation of  human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.    76th plenary meeting  18 December 2007  _______________  6 See E/CN.4/1996/95/Add.2.