By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Caption: Ambassador Mxolisi Nkosi is the Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations in Geneva and Other International Organisations in Switzerland.
South Africa has abstained in a vote for a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution condemning Iran’s violent repression of protesters and calling for an investigation into the regime’s actions.
On Friday in Geneva, 25 members of the council, including France, Japan and South Korea, voted in favour of the censure resolution.
Seven votes against, including from China, India and Pakistan, as well as 14 abstentions, among others from Qatar and South Africa, failed to stop the resolution.
The resolution “strongly deplores the violent crackdown of peaceful protests resulting in the deaths of thousands of people, including children, and large numbers of injured individuals, as well as the arrest of thousands in connection with the nationwide protests that started on 28 December 2025”.
Iran said that the Western-led sponsors of the emergency meeting on Friday had never genuinely cared for human rights in Iran, or else they would not have imposed sanctions that have devasted the Iranian population over the past decade.
Ali Bahreini, Iran’s envoy in the meeting, reiterated the state’s claim that 3,117 people were killed during the unrest, 2,427 of whom were killed by “terrorists” armed and funded by the United States, Israel and their allies.
“It was ironic that states whose history was stained with genocide and war crimes now attempted to lecture Iran on social governance and human rights,” he said.
The European Union, France, Estonia and other western states echoed the condemnations, urging Tehran to restore communications, which French ambassador Céline Jurgensen said was aimed at “bringing about silence and stifling voices that are urging for an end to repression”.
Delegates from South Africa, Colombia, and Brazil also expressed alarm at the reports of violence and backed a UN-led inquiry. However, they also blamed unilateral economic sanctions for exacerbating an economic crisis that initially sparked the protests, regretting not seeing it reflected on the text.