Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 17 December 2015  [on the report of the Third Committee (A/70/489/Add.3)]  70/173. Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran        The General Assembly,    Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, as well as the Universal  Declaration of Human Rights,1 the International Covenants on Human Rights2 and  other international human rights instruments,    Recalling its previous resolutions on the situation of human rights in the  Islamic Republic of Iran, the most recent of which is resolution 69/190 of  18 December 2014,    1.  Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General of 31 August 2015  submitted pursuant to resolution 69/1903 and the report of the Special Rapporteur of  the Human Rights Council on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic  of Iran of 6 October 2015, 4 submitted pursuant to Council resolution 28/21 of  27 March 2015;5    2.  Continues to welcome the pledges made by the President of the Islamic  Republic of Iran with regard to some important human rights issues, particularly on  eliminating discrimination against women and members of ethnic minorities and on  greater space for freedom of expression and opinion;    3.  Acknowledges proposals for legislative and administrative changes in the  Islamic Republic of Iran, which, if properly implemented, would address some  human rights concerns, including portions of the new Code of Criminal Procedure;    4.  Welcomes recent announcements by the Government of the Islamic  Republic of Iran of increased services for victims of domestic violence, as well as  draft legislation that may increase penalties for perpetrators of violence against  women;    5.  Also welcomes steps taken to improve access to education for persons  belonging to some ethnic minorities in their native languages;  __________________    1 Resolution 217 A (III).    2 Resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.    3 A/70/352.    4 A/70/411.    5 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventieth Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/70/53), chap. III,  sect. A.   A/RES/70/173  Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran   2/4    6.  Acknowledges the participation of the Government of the Islamic  Republic of Iran in its second universal periodic review by the Human Rights  Council, and welcomes its acceptance of 130 recommendations, as well as its recent  engagement with human rights treaty bodies through the submission of periodic  national reports, while remaining concerned about the Government’s implementation  record in respect of the recommendations that it accepted during its first universal  periodic review;    7.  Expresses serious concern at the alarming high frequency of and increase  in the carrying-out of the death penalty, in disregard of internationally recognized  safeguards, including executions undertaken without notification to the prisoner’s  family members or legal counsel, and at the continuing imposition and carrying-out  of the death penalty against minors and persons who at the time of their offence  were under the age of 18, in violation of the obligations of the Islamic Republic of  Iran under both the Convention on the Rights of the Child 6 and the International  Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,2 and for crimes that do not qualify as the  most serious crimes, and calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran  to abolish, in law and in practice, public executions, which are contrary to the 2008  prohibition of this practice by the former head of the judiciary, and executions  carried out in violation of its international obligations or in the absence of respect  for internationally recognized safeguards;    8.  Calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to ensure, in  law and in practice, that no one is subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or  degrading treatment or punishment, which may include sexual violence, in  conformity with the constitutional guarantees of the Islamic Republic of Iran and  international obligations;    9.  Urges the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to uphold, in law  and in practice, procedural guarantees to ensure fair trial standards of law, including  timely access to legal representation of one’s choice, the right not to be subjected to  torture, cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and consideration  of bail and other reasonable terms for release from custody pending trial, and urges  the Government to cease enforced disappearances and the widespread and  systematic use of arbitrary detention;    10. Calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to address the  poor conditions of prisons, to eliminate the denial of access to adequate medical  treatment and the consequent risk of death faced by prisoners and to put an end to  the continued and sustained house arrest of leading opposition figures from the  2009 presidential elections despite serious concerns about their health, as well as  the pressure exerted upon their relatives and dependants, including through arrest;    11.  Also calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran,  including the judicial and security branches, to end widespread and serious  restrictions, in law and in practice, on the right to freedom of expression, opinion,  association and peaceful assembly, including through the ongoing harassment,  intimidation, arbitrary detention and prosecution of, as well as the denial of access  to higher education for, political opponents, human rights defenders, women’s and  minority rights activists, labour leaders, students’ rights activists, academics, film- makers, journalists, bloggers, social media users, religious leaders, artists, lawyers,  recognized and unrecognized religious minorities and their families, and urges the  Government to release persons arbitrarily detained for the legitimate exercise of  __________________    6 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, No. 27531.   Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran  A/RES/70/173   3/4  these rights, to consider rescinding unduly harsh sentences, including the death  penalty and long-term exile, for exercising such fundamental freedoms and to end  reprisals against individuals cooperating with the United Nations human rights  mechanisms;    12. Strongly urges the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to  eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms of discrimination and other human rights  violations against women and girls, to take measures to ensure protection for  women and girls against violence, to address the alarming incidence of child, early  and forced marriage, to promote women’s participation in decision-making  processes and, while recognizing the high enrolment of women in all levels of  education in the Islamic Republic of Iran, to lift restrictions on women’s equal  access to all aspects of education and women’s equal participation in the labour  market and in all aspects of economic, cultural, social and political life;    13. Calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to eliminate,  in law and in practice, all forms of discrimination and other human rights violations  against persons belonging to ethnic, linguistic or other minorities, including but not  limited to Arabs, Azeris, Balochis and Kurds and their defenders;    14. Expresses serious concern about ongoing severe limitations and  restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief and  restrictions on the establishment of places of worship, as well as attacks against  places of worship and burial, as well as other human rights violations, including but  not limited to harassment, persecution and incitement to hatred that lead to violence  against persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities,  including Christians, Jews, Sufi Muslims, Sunni Muslims, Zoroastrians and  members of the Baha’i faith and their defenders, and calls upon the Government of  the Islamic Republic of Iran to release the seven Baha’i leaders declared by the  Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the Human Rights Council to have been  arbitrarily detained since 2008 and to eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms of  discrimination, including the closure of businesses, and other human rights  violations against persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious  minorities;    15. Urges the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to launch a  comprehensive accountability process in response to cases of serious human rights  violations, including those involving the Iranian judiciary and security agencies and  those following the 2009 presidential elections, and calls upon the Government to  end impunity for such violations;    16. Strongly urges the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to ensure  credible, transparent and inclusive parliamentary elections in 2016 and to allow all  candidates to stand in a manner consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human  Rights1 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in order to  guarantee the free expression of the will of the Iranian people, and to that end calls  upon the Government to allow independent national and international observation;    17. Calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to implement  its obligations under those human rights treaties to which it is already a party, to  withdraw any reservations that it has made where such reservations are overly  general, imprecise or could be considered incompatible with the object and purpose  of the treaty, to consider acting upon the concluding observations concerning the  Islamic Republic of Iran adopted by the bodies of the international human rights  treaties to which it is a party and to consider ratifying or acceding to the  international human rights treaties to which it is not already a party;   A/RES/70/173  Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran   4/4    18. Also calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to  engage with international human rights mechanisms by:    (a)  Cooperating fully with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human  rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, including by accepting the repeated requests  made by the Special Rapporteur to visit the country in order to carry out his mandate;    (b)  Cooperating with other special mechanisms, including by facilitating  long-standing requests for access to the country from thematic special procedures  mandate holders, whose access to its territory has been restricted or denied, despite  the standing invitation issued by the Islamic Republic of Iran, without imposing  undue conditions upon those visits;    (c)  Implementing all accepted universal periodic review recommendations  from its first cycle, in 2010, and its second cycle, in 2014, with the full and genuine  participation of independent civil society and other stakeholders in the  implementation process;    (d)  Building upon the engagement of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the  universal periodic review process by continuing to explore cooperation on human  rights and justice reform with the United Nations, including the Office of the United  Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights;    (e)  Following through on its commitment to establish an independent  national human rights institution, made in the context of its first universal periodic  review by the Human Rights Council, with due regard for the recommendation of  the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;    19. Further calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to  translate the pledges made by the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran with  respect to human rights concerns into concrete action that results in demonstrable  improvements as soon as possible and to ensure that its national laws are consistent  with its obligations under international human rights law and that they are  implemented in accordance with its international obligations;    20. Calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to address the  substantive concerns highlighted in the reports of the Secretary-General and the  Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran,  as well as the specific calls to action found in previous resolutions of the General  Assembly, and to respect fully its human rights obligations in law and in practice;    21. Strongly encourages the relevant thematic special procedures mandate  holders to pay particular attention to, with a view to investigating and reporting on,  the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran;    22. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its  seventy-first session on the progress made in the implementation of the present  resolution, including options and recommendations to improve its implementation,  and to submit an interim report to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-first  session;    23. Decides to continue its examination of the situation of human rights in  the Islamic Republic of Iran at its seventy-first session under the item entitled  “Promotion and protection of human rights”.