“We deplore the long-standing systematic intentional use of lethal force by Iranian border officials, especially against border couriers from the Kurdish and Baloch minorities, and call for immediate measures to end the impunity that perpetuates this practice,” read a statement from Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In late February, members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) opened fire on a group of Balochi fuel traders protesting after they were prevented from crossing the border with Pakistan. The couriers transport untaxed fuel across the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan in southeastern Iran.
During the unrest in several cities and the border town of Saravan in Sistan and Baluchestan province, at least 23 Balochi citizens, including a 13 year old child, were killed by Iranian security forces and many more were wounded, according to the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran that has documented human rights violations in Iran since 2008.
The UN rights chief said at least 12 people were killed, including two minors, and the death toll may be as high as 23, noting a shutdown of the internet made it difficult to obtain verified information about the deaths. “Blanket internet shutdowns violate the principles of necessity and proportionality applicable to restrictions of freedom of expression and constitute a violation of international human rights law,” the commissioner stated.
A Balochi armed group claimed to have killed at least five guards and taken three others prisoner in the unrest.
In Iran’s northwest, on the border with the Kurdistan Region, at least 40 kolbars, Kurdish porters who carry goods across the border on their backs or with horses, were killed by Iranian security forces and six were killed by Turkish security forces in 2020, according to the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network.
“Six other kolbars also lost their lives due to car accidents, drowning in rivers, landmine explosions, and falling from … heights,” the network reported. Another 147 kolbars, including a child, were wounded from shots fired by Iranian and Turkish security forces and 15 others were wounded in non-shooting incidents. In January and February this year, more than 100 people have been arrested in Kurdish areas, according to human rights monitors.
The UN rights commissioner reported the deaths of 59 kolbars at the hands of border officials in 2020 and called for “prompt, impartial and full investigations into all such killings, and accountability for those found to be responsible.”
“Victims and their families have the right to truth and redress,” the commissioner stated.
The Balochi and Kurdish areas are among Iran’s most impoverished and hundreds of residents in both depend on irregular border trade to make a living.
