We, the undersigned, write as global citizens, human rights advocates, and members of the Iranian and international community to express our profound objection to the recent congratulatory message issued by the Office of the United Nations Secretary-General to the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.

This message was conveyed in close temporal proximity to credible reports of mass civilian killings, widespread repression, mass arrests, and systematic violence carried out by Islamic Republic security forces during the nationwide protests of January 2026. Independent sources report that at least 36,500 civilians were killed — a figure widely believed to represent only a minimum estimate — with tens of thousands more injured or detained, and countless families devastated. While investigations remain ongoing, the scale, speed, and intensity of the January 2026 killings have already been described by international legal experts and leading human rights organizations as one of the deadliest crackdowns on street protesters in modern world history.

Disturbingly, these atrocities have not ceased. Reports indicate that home and school raids, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and intimidation campaigns have intensified, while hospitals, medical facilities, wounded civilians, and healthcare professionals have increasingly become direct targets of repression, constituting grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

This profound crisis of legitimacy is further compounded by the recent election of the Islamic Republic of Iran as Vice-Chair of the United Nations Commission for Social Development, whose core mandate includes the promotion of democracy, gender equality, tolerance, and non-violence. This decision, adopted without objection, stands in stark contradiction to the ongoing reality of mass repression, gender-based violence, extrajudicial killings, and systematic persecution inside Iran. Elevating a state credibly accused of large-scale crimes against its own population into a leadership role within a UN body dedicated to human dignity profoundly undermines the credibility, coherence, and moral authority of the United Nations system at a moment when principled leadership is most urgently required.

These concerns are further deepened by the announcement that Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, is scheduled to address the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, February 23, 2026, in the presence of Secretary-General, António Guterres. Indeed, UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO accredited at the United Nations, has formally protested the invitation extended to Iran’s Foreign Minister, warning that granting such a platform to a senior representative of a regime credibly accused of mass atrocities risks legitimizing repression and betraying the core values of the United Nations. We strongly echo and support this call.

At a time when people across Iran are mourning their dead, searching for disappeared loved ones, and enduring systematic repression, the symbolism of diplomatic gestures carries extraordinary moral weight. Silence, neutrality, or procedural routine in the face of mass violence is not perceived as impartiality by victims — it is perceived as abandonment.

Taken together, these actions — the issuance of formal congratulations, the invitation extended to senior officials of a regime accused of large-scale crimes against its own population, and the continued normalization of diplomatic engagement without accountability — send a devastating message to victims, survivors, and the global community: that political convenience may outweigh human life, and that atrocities of this magnitude may pass without consequence. At this critical juncture, the United Nations faces a defining moral test. The choices made now will shape not only the fate of millions of Iranians, but also the future credibility of international human rights protection itself.

We therefore respectfully call upon:

• United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk
• The United Nations Human Rights Council

to take the following actions:

1. Publicly retract or formally clarify the congratulatory message issued to the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of the ongoing human rights catastrophe.
2. Unequivocally reaffirm that the United Nations stands first and foremost with civilians, victims, and universal human rights — not with regimes engaged in violent repression.
3. Ensure that any official appearances or addresses by representatives of the Islamic Republic before UN bodies are accompanied by explicit public demands for accountability, independent investigations, and the immediate cessation of violence.
4. Support the establishment of independent international investigative mechanisms to examine crimes committed against civilians in Iran, including mass killings, enforced disappearances, and violations of medical neutrality.
5. Review and suspend appointments of Iranian state representatives to leadership positions within UN bodies until credible international investigations establish accountability for mass human rights violations.

The credibility of the United Nations rests not in diplomatic formality, but in moral clarity. At this historic moment, the world looks to the UN not for procedural neutrality, but for principled leadership.

We urge the United Nations to stand on the right side of history.