Condemnation of discriminatory statement by East Azerbaijan Bar Association against Kurds in Urmia
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights strongly condemns the recent statement issued by the “Human Rights Commission of the East Azerbaijan Bar Association,” which adopts a discriminatory and securitized perspective on the presence of Kurds in western Iran. Kurds are an undeniable and inseparable part of the history, culture, and identity of these regions. Reducing their presence to “migration,” or referring to them as “guests” or “displaced persons,” is a blatant distortion of historical and social realities. It reproduces an ethnocentric narrative that serves only to undermine social cohesion and create the conditions for internal conflict. Such discriminatory rhetoric directly contradicts international human rights principles. Both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) affirm the equality of all human beings without discrimination based on ethnicity, language, or nationality.
No institution or authority has the right to frame any nation, ethnic group, or indigenous community as a security threat, or to deny them equal citizenship rights. It must also be emphasized that a limited number of Kurdish refugee families from the Kurdistan Region (Iraq)—fewer than fifty households—continue to live in the Iranian cities of Saveh, Karaj, and Ziweh in Urmia. These families are equally entitled to international protection, and any forced return would violate the principle of non-refoulement set out in the 1951 Geneva Convention. Even with regard to this small group, the use of securitized or discriminatory language is wholly unacceptable. Such statements risk fostering systematic persecution and the deprivation of an ethnic group’s fundamental rights, which may constitute some of the gravest international crimes, including crimes against humanity.
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights warns that such statements—promoting fascist and mono-ethnic ideologies instead of advancing human dignity and universal rights—pose a serious threat to social peace, coexistence, and mutual respect among ethnic groups and nations in Iran. Hengaw further stresses that such rhetoric and positions represent explicit alignment with the security-driven narratives and mechanisms of the Islamic Republic of Iran in its repression of Kurds and other minorities.
Accordingly:
1. Hengaw calls on the Union of Iranian Bar Associations (Eskoda) and all provincial bar associations to uphold their human rights responsibilities by taking a clear and principled stance against such discourse.
2. Hengaw urges civil society and international institutions to condemn these attempts to stigmatize ethnic groups, nations, or refugees, and to issue strong warnings about their dangerous consequences for social cohesion in Iran.
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights
