To:
•    António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations
•    Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
•    Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
•    Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression
•    Margus Tsahkna, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia and Chair of the Freedom Online Coalition
•    Alejandro Mayoral Baños, Executive Director of Access Now (#KeepItOn coalition)

We, the undersigned, call for immediate and decisive international intervention regarding the total shutdown of internet, mobile, and landline communications in Iran, which started on January 8th, 2026.
According to real-time data from NetBlocks, the leading international organization monitoring global internet connectivity, communication has been systematically and completely severed. This state-mandated blackout has left the Iranian people in total isolation.

History has shown that such total "kill switches" are used to create a vacuum of information, often serving as a veil for massacres and the violent suppression of protestors. By cutting off all means of communication, the authorities are deliberately obstructing the documentation of human rights violations and preventing the world from seeing the atrocities being committed.

Our Urgent Demands:
1.    Convene an Emergency Session: We call on the UN Human Rights Council and the ITU to immediately convene an emergency/special session to address this communication blackout and the reported violence against protestors.
2.    Immediate Condemnation: We ask that you formally recognize this shutdown as a violation of international human rights and the ITU Constitution.
3.    Direct Diplomatic Intervention: We urge the UN Secretary-General to use his "good offices" to demand the immediate restoration of all communication channels.

We address this petition to you because your professional mandates are specifically designed to protect these fundamental rights. However, beyond your titles, we appeal to you as fellow human beings. When an entire nation is silenced while their lives are in peril, your silence becomes complicity.
Your responsibilities in your high positions, as well as your responsibilities as human beings caring for the lives of others, are now fully engaged. We insist that you recognize the weight of this moment; your action—or inaction—will determine whether the world stands with the silenced or allows these atrocities to continue in the dark.