Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

(ABC note: This text was accessed on the website of the High Council for Human Rights on November 23, 2021)

[The concept of] human rights came on the international scene 60 years ago as an international project. Currently, it is one of the most important and challenging issues of the day, especially because the West abuses and employs to the fullest all of its international human rights capabilities and mechanisms to impose its secular ideology as a precursor to political dominance. Therefore, human rights is a sensitive issue that has attained a far greater significance than is actually necessary.

It is for this very reason that since the early days of the victory of the Revolution up until now, the Islamic republic of Iran has been the subject of the West’s widespread attacks under the pretext of human rights. Because of the significance of the matter, on December 31, 2005, the National Security High Council issued a Directive establishing the Human Rights Headquarters and empowering the same as the institution with the authority to address issues related to human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Accordingly, the Judiciary Branch’s Human Rights Headquarters is charged with the responsibility of guiding and following up on all human rights related matters, domestically as well as internationally, in cooperation and coordination with the relevant [governmental] departments. In fulfilling its assigned duties, the Headquarters will have a precise and comprehensive perspective [and analysis] on the principles and basic tenets of Islamic jurisprudence, Constitutional Law, and the Islamic Republic’s macro policies, domestic laws, and international conventions and regulations, utilizing the ideas and opinions of legal experts, judicial experts, and other prominent experts. The goal is for the Human Rights Headquarters to succeed in precisely carrying out the decisions [made by the Headquarters and the relevant authorities] and to present the results of its work, through concentrating on the Islamic Republic’s activities in the realm of human rights and by making optimal use of the facilities and capabilities at its disposal.

*It must be noted that the Human Rights Headquarters was initially established in 1991, as part of the Judiciary Branch’s International Affairs Department; in 1995, however, upon the issuance of the National High Council’s Directive, it began its functions as an extra-Branch institution.

The Human Rights Headquarters’ Duties

The Judiciary Branch’s Human Rights Headquarters’ main duties are as follows:

• Supervising and maintaining the Islamic Republic’s human rights positions on the international scene and countering attacks levelled [against Iran]
• Developing bilateral and multilateral collaborations with other countries in the area of human rights
• Monitoring the human rights situation at home and abroad, with a particular emphasis on Islamophobia present in the West and widespread human rights violations which take place in the region and world in the name of counter-terrorism
• Theoretical development of human rights on the basis of Islamic thought, a cause of flourishing within the scientific and intellectual communities of the Islamic World
• Pursuing and working toward the creation by Islamic Conference member states, of an organization and documentation center for Islamic human rights

Principal Members of the Human Rights Headquarters

Pursuant to the National High Council’s Directive, the Head of the Judiciary Branch shall preside over the Human Rights Headquarters. This Headquarters has a Secretary that will be appointed by the President of the Headquarters [that is, the Head of the Judiciary Branch]. Members of the Headquarters are as follows:

The Headquarters Secretary; the State Prosecutor General; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; the Head of the State General Inspection Organization; Head of the State Organization for Prisons, Security and Correctional Action; the Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Minister of Justice; the Minister of Information; the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance; the Minister of the Interior; the Person in Charge of the National Security High Council Secretariat’s Legal Committee; the National Security High Council Secretariat’s Deputyship for Security Affairs; the Head of the Police Force; two experienced judges or legal scholars.

Achievements

As a result of extensive domestic and international activities, the Judiciary Branch’s Human Rights Headquarters has had significant achievements in the past five years.

The following are among the Headquarters’ many achievements:

• Unanimous passage of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s UPI (Universal Periodic Report) by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

• Extensive engagement with international human rights related institutions and organizations.

• Organizing specialized national and international human rights conferences.

• Organizing specialized national and international human rights workshops.

• Expanding bilateral human rights discussions and negotiations with other countries.

• Active participation in the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee.

• Preparing extensive reports for the United Nations in order to refute accusations against Iran

• Making efforts to amend and modify the United Nations Secretary General’s draft report.

• Dispatching a delegation to Geneva in order to participate in the meeting on the consideration of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Periodic Report on the Implementation of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

• Sending delegations to New York to defend Iran’s positions concerning draft resolutions by Western countries.”

• Dispatching a delegation to UNESCO in order to respond to the questions posed [of the Islamic Republic] and to participate in the related meeting.

About the Human Rights Headquarters’ Information Website

Considering that in recent years, human rights has become a tool in the hands of world powers – especially the United States – to exert pressure on independent countries, the media play an important role in either diffusing or reinforcing that pressure. A cursory look at the destructive activities of Western countries, led by the United States, against the Islamic Republic of Iran indicates that the driving force behind all of these plans is the mass media. In such a battleground, therefore, making use of a medium was among the Human Rights Headquarters’ priorities and the plan is to expand investment in the media sector, with God’s help.

To that end, the Human Rights Headquarters Internet Website began its experimental operations on May 5, 2009. The site contains the most important news, analysis, and research headlines and subject matters regarding human rights issues in Iran and across the world, human rights issues related to the Islamic republic of Iran’s legal and judicial systems, areas dealing with women, children, and citizens’ rights, minorities, and other current matters.

About the Human Rights Headquarters Information Website’s Logo

The logo has been designed in such a way as to include all of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s values, religious beliefs, and national beliefs regarding human rights and the rights of man. To that end, the following were adopted in the logo’s design:

• Use of a circle indicating a universal and comprehensive perspective on issues.

• Use of the Judiciary Branch’s logo, which is a symbol of justice, fairness, and equality.

• Use of the wing of an angel which is an indication of peace and serenity and of a connection to [the divine] and spiritual beliefs.

• Use of the Divine Verse “Wa Laqad Karamna Bani Adam” (“Certainly We have honored the Children of Adam” or “We have held mankind in a place of honor and dignity”) which indicates the great status and esteem in which God Almighty holds mankind.

• Use of a passage of Cyrus the Great’s Human Rights Charter in cuneiform, which was the first human rights charter of its kind in the world in written form, and indicates the fact that Iran was a pioneer in safeguarding the rights of mankind.