The Iranian Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) was formally established in December 1994. But its major activities began one year later in December 1995 as an independent national institution in Iran. It has so far been operating for twenty-eight years.
In 1996, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Commission (replaced by the Human Rights Council) welcomed the establishment of the Human Rights Commission in Iran in the resolution related to national institutions (E/CN.4/RES1996/64). It has the most prominent Iranian legal scholars and academics among its members, and has been systematically implementing a variety of educational programs within its Research, Educational and Promotional Department.
Educational Program
Inspired by the Paris Principles on National Institutions approved by the United Nations General Assembly (1993), the IHRC has made human rights education one of its main functions at different levels. It implements various programs every year for various groups, including those in government agencies and civil society, and the general public. Usually, the training programs of IHRC are conducted with a focus on international standards, Iran's legal system and Islamic thought. In some cases, the training is focused on comparative studies. The following discussion reviews some of the most important educational programs implemented by IHRC.
Recent Activities
From summer 2023 to spring 2024, the IHRC has implemented the following human rights education programs:
This three-week course, conducted on Wednesdays at the IHRC central office, featured presentations by the Human Rights Council rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights issues, as well as the discussion of relevant reports submitted to UN specialized agencies such as the International Labor Organization. Additionally, the Iranian government's obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights are examined. A representative from non-governmental organizations engaged in poverty alleviation in deprived areas of Iran also present non-governmental initiatives. The course is publicly advertised, and participation is open to all interested individuals, primarily attracting graduate students or doctoral candidates and professionals working in relevant governmental bodies.
This program, conducted with the participation of representatives from various departments of the Iranian police organization, provides an opportunity for guest lecturers to discuss internationally published books in the field and engage in discussions on relevant works translated into Farsi with the presence of their translators, who were themselves legal scholars in Iran. The works translated into Farsi describe the international human rights standards regarding the police.
Led by a human rights law professor, Baqer Ansari, PhD, Director of the Master's Department of Human Rights, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University (located in Tehran), this program consists of three sessions held over three separate weeks and predominantly attracts graduate students in law and computer engineering.
It is noteworthy that in Iran, masters programs in human rights law have been established in four universities (Shahid Beheshti, Tehran, Allameh Tabatabai, all located in the capital of Iran, Tehran, and the fourth Mofid University located in Qom city) for over two decades, admitting five to seven students annually. Over the past two decades, students in this field authored numerous theses on various human rights topics, many of which have been published as books, significantly contributing to the expansion of specialized human rights literature in Iran.
In this four-session course conducted over four weeks, from mid-December 2023 to mid-January 2024 the instructor of this course, Bahman Akbari, PhD, a researcher of Islamic movements at the global level, examined the extent to which various political and social movements identifying with Islamic ideology in the past three decades have prioritized human rights. It was observed in this course that some of these groups, purporting to advocate for change and social transformation based on Islamic principles, have failed to grasp the proper standards of human rights or demonstrate adequate support for human rights. Consequently, many of these groups are perceived by Muslims as misusing Islam and are viewed with suspicion in the Islamic world, akin to organizations like ISIS or the Taliban.
Three professors (Nasreen Mosfa, PhD, Professor of Tehran University, Baqer Ansari, PhD, Associate Professor of Shahid Beheshti University, Mahmoud Khani, PhD, Head of the Department of Social Development of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran) elucidated on the theoretical and practical dimensions of the draft International Covenant on the Right to Development on 25 October 2023 in an event held at the headquarters of IHRC and simultaneously broadcast online. This draft covenant was presented at the Human Rights Council in 2023.[i]
The event revealed significant disagreements between developed and developing countries on various issues in the finalization process of this document, emphasizing the importance of its finalization and approval for development processes worldwide.
New Plans
The IHRC has plans to implement several educational programs starting from April 2024. These programs include:
IHRC aims to collaborate with other active human rights organizations in the Asian region to jointly implement some of its educational programs this summer. Furthermore, IHRC has translated into Farsi several books on human rights education and published them. This ongoing translation initiative of IHRC welcomes proposals for additional works to be translated into the Persian language.
For further information please contact: Iranian Islamic Human Rights Commission, No. 2, Soltani Alley (former Qarqavel), Seyyed Khandan, the beginning of North Sohrawardi, Tehran, Iran; ph 88768623; fax 88768807; e-mail: ihrciran@yahoo.com, ihrc@ihrc.ir; www.ihrc.ir, www.humanrightsiran.com; Facebook: www.fb.com/IHRCIran
[i] See Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development Presents to the Human Rights Council a Draft International Covenant on the Right to Development, Human Rights Council, 20 September 2023, www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/09/intergovernmental-working-group-right-development-presents-human-rights-council-draft. (To see the text of the draft, refer to: A/HRC/54/50/Add.1)