ORAL STATEMENT
Humanists International
61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council (23rd February – 31st March 2026)
Item 9: Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Forms of Intolerance, Follow-Up to and Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
Speaker: Leon Langdon
Thank you Mr President.
The Durban Declaration urges States to eradicate all forms of racial, religious, and ethnic discrimination both in law and practice, and all forms of related intolerance.
The Government of Iran has shown consistent disregard for these principles. Its theocratic regime has persecuted religious and belief minorities, including humanists. It has also shown disregard for its citizens, through its consistent crackdown on protests, from the Women, Life, Freedom movement to more recent protests in early 2026. The Iranian judiciary has accelerated trials, threatened the death penalty for protesters under the charge of “enmity against god” (moharebeh), and forced families to pay for the return of their loved ones’ bodies. The Iranian regime must cease its widespread human rights abuses.
Nevertheless, we are also gravely concerned by escalating hostilities involving numerous parties, including the United States and Israel. All parties must respect international humanitarian law and must protect civilians. Attacks against schools are particularly deplorable. The Durban Declaration recognizes the importance of education in combating racism and xenophobia, and promoting human rights. No one should be killed for pursuing education.
The above positions are not mutually exclusive. Rather, human rights concerns and concerns about the use of force are both grounded in a deep concern for the Iranian people and their rights, and grounded in the Durban Declaration, the UDHR, and the UN Charter.
The path to the vindication of universal human rights and the eradication of intolerance, as per the Durban Declaration, is in accountability and justice, not in further violence. All wars are started by human beings and war can be ended by human beings working together.
'Human Rights and War in Iran', Humanists International