Participation of Hengaw in the Africa-Middle East Regional Forum on Conflict Prevention and the Protection of the Human Rights of Minorities

Hengaw: The representative of the Hengaw Human Rights Organisation participated in the Africa-Middle East Regional Forum on Conflict Prevention and the Protection of the Human Rights of Minorities on June 15-16, 2021, and discussed some of the issues specific to Kurdistan.

On June 15-16, 2021, the Africa-Middle East Regional Forum on Conflict Prevention and the Protection of the Human Rights of Minorities arranged by the United Nations Human Rights Council-MENA (UNHCR-MENA), in collaboration with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) and the Tom Lantos Institute, was held online with the presence of representatives of national minorities in Africa and the Middle East and representatives of other international human rights organizations.

Professor Fernand de Varennes, the United Nation Rapporteur for minority issues, as well as other ambassadors, International human rights activists, and state officials in the Middle East and Africa, discussed issues such as basic human rights, self-determination, racism, discrimination, gender-based violence, equal rights for genders, women's and children's rights, linguistic and religious issues, hate speech, freedom of speech, etc and ways to prevent conflict and protect the rights of minorities in the Middle East and Africa.

Benyamin Jermayi, a representative of Hengaw Human Rights Organization, as one of the main organizations and media outlets covering and documenting human rights violations in Iranian Kurdistan, called on the United Nations and other international human rights organizations to put pressure on the Iranian government to end the death penalty for Kurdish citizens without fair trials and the killing of Kurdish Kolbars.

The language and religious issues within Kurdish society, particularly the Yarsani and Feyli Kurds issues were also raised and mentioned during the forum.