EU Parliament Adopts Resolutions Relating to Human Rights Abuses in Iran, Tunisia and Cambodia.

EUROPIAN Views- March 17th 2023

The European Parliament has adopted three resolutions in respect of human rights abuses in Iran, Tunisia and Cambodia. The resolutions relate to the poisoning of hundreds of schoolgirls in Iran, attacks against freedom of expression, in particular the case of journalist Noureddine Boutar, in Tunisia, and the case of opposition leader Kem Sokha in Cambodia.

The Parliament is seeking that:

The Iranian regime ensures girls have non-discriminatory access to education.
That Tunisian authorities end the ongoing crackdown on civil society
That authorities in Cambodia must stop repressing the opposition and ensure free and fair elections in July 2023

Referring to numerous incidents since November 2022, where thousands of girls and women across Iran have been attacked with toxic chemicals to prevent them from attending education, MEPs condemned in the strongest terms this atrocious attempt to silence women and girls.

Urging authorities to ensure girls have non-discriminatory access to education, MEPs are calling on the Iranian regime to repeal any legislation that discriminates against girls and women.

They are urging the UN Human Rights Council to task the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission with an independent investigation into the poisonings and for those responsible to be held accountable. The resolution condemns the regime’s months-long failure to act on, as well as its deliberate suppression of, credible reports of systematic toxic attacks against schoolgirls.

Parliament is also calling on the EU Council to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation and to expand the EU sanctions list to all those responsible for human rights violations in Iran, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi, and Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri.

In relation to Tunisia, MEPs have expressed their concern about President Said’s authoritarian drift and his instrumentalisation of Tunisia’s dire socio-economic situation to reverse the country’s historic democratic transition and are calling for an end to the ongoing crackdown on civil society in the country.

They urge Tunisian authorities to immediately release Noureddine Boutar, director of Tunisia’s largest independent radio station, who was arrested last month by counter-terrorist units on politically motivated grounds and unfounded allegations.

Meanwhile, Parliament is calling on the authorities in Cambodia to immediately and unconditionally release the opposition leader Kem Sokha as well as all opposition activists convicted or held in custody on politically motivated charges.

MEPs are urging the authorities to ensure free and fair elections in July 2023, allowing all political parties to carry out an equal, free and transparent electoral campaign under a more inclusive and transparent National Election Committee.