Human Rights Lawyers Call for UN Probe Into Poisonings of Schoolgirls in Iran
A group of 20 prominent human rights lawyers from Iran has published an open letter calling for an independent, joint committee consisting of experts from the world’s top public health, children’s rights, and education-focused UN agencies to investigate the poison gas attacks against schoolgirls that have occurred across Iran over the last several months. The lawyers, in their formal letter, call on three UN agencies – the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and UNESCO, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross – to investigate the attacks that have been ongoing in Iran since November 2022.
More than 1,000 female students in 91 schools in 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces have been attacked by suspected poison gas between November 30, 2022, and March 2, 2023, according to media reports compiled by Etemad Online. Hundreds of schoolgirls have been hospitalized due to the gas attacks. The Iranian government has not identified the source of the attacks or stopped them.
The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) stated that “due to the Iranian government’s incompetence – or unwillingness – to stop poison gas attacks against schoolgirls in Iran, international support is urgently needed to protect Iranian children and their right to education.”
The US government believes an investigation into the poisonings could fall under the United Nations’ mandate. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre stated that “if these poisonings are related to participation in protests, then it is fully within the mandate of the UN independent fact-finding mission established last November to investigate human rights violations in Iran”. Several politicians have blamed religious groups that oppose girls’ education for the poisonings.
Some activists believe the establishment is responsible for orchestrating the poisonings out of revenge, following protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by police for violating religious dress codes. Schoolgirls subsequently took part in the protests that erupted after Amini’s death.
A judicial inquiry is currently underway, and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told state television on Monday that if the poisonings are proved to be intentional, “the perpetrators of this unforgivable crime should be sentenced to the death penalty.”
