Ahead of UNHRC Special Session, AJC Urges International Community to Protect Iranians, Hold Regime Accountable

AJC Calls on Governments Around the World to Take Concrete Action, Exert Pressure on Iranian Regime

Following weeks of the Iranian regime's brutal crackdown on the Iranian people, American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, is calling for urgent, decisive international action.

Ahead of the UN Human Rights Council's (UNHRC) special session on Iran on January 23, AJC is urging all states to publicly and unequivocally condemn the Iranian regime's brutal crackdown. AJC is also calling on UNHRC members to vote in favor of a resolution demonstrating global condemnation of the regime's brutality and supporting efforts to expeditiously verify reports of violations and identify those responsible.

AJC CEO Ted Deutch is calling on world governments to:

• Hold Iran's leadership accountable for grave human rights violations by expanding sanctions against those responsible and by enacting terrorism designations against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which plays a central role in domestic repression and international terror.
• Expel Iranian ambassadors where present and publicly and unequivocally condemn the Iranian regime's brutal crackdown through formal diplomatic channels and in multilateral fora, including the United Nations.
• Provide humanitarian protection by offering safe harbor to Iranians who manage to flee and facilitating the exit of those who credibly fear retaliation by the regime.
• Support access to information by helping Iranian citizens evade internet shutdowns and surveillance, and by ensuring that human rights monitors have access to secure communications technologies; and
• Sustain international pressure on state and non-state actors that bolster the Iranian regime, imposing meaningful economic, political, and diplomatic consequences.

In his appeal to world leaders, Deutch notes, "The situation in Iran matters far beyond its borders. A regime that systematically violates the rights of its own citizens, exports extremism, and fuels regional instability poses a direct challenge to the principles of human dignity, international law, and global security. Through its terror arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and support to proxies and surrogates ranging from Hezbollah and the Houthis to Hamas, Iran has for decades destabilized the region and targeted Jewish life specifically, whether by attacking Israel or Jewish communities around the world. Silence or inaction in the face of such abuses only emboldens further violence and impunity."

AJC is the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people. With headquarters in New York, 25 regional offices across the United States, 15 overseas posts, as well as partnerships with 38 Jewish community organizations worldwide, AJC's mission is to enhance the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world. For more, please visit www.ajc.org .

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