TEHRAN- The Iranian Judiciary's High Council for Human Rights has issued its midterm assessment on human rights status in Iran to the United Nations, reporting “huge progress”.

Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, drafted the report. It was sent to the UN Human Rights Council on Saturday in accordance with the Universal Periodic Review, or UPR, a procedure that entails a review of all UN member nations' human rights records.

According to the report, “huge progress” has been made in improving human rights situation in Iran based on Islamic values and the country's constitution.

“In accordance with the existing conditions and with the aim of upholding social justice and establishing people’s welfare, Iran has made huge investment in economic, cultural and social fields, and has guaranteed people’s rights to equal participation and progress,” the report said.

The report delves into Iran's legislation and policies aimed at promoting human rights for various groups, ranging from the disabled to religious minorities, women and children, and refugees, during the Iranian year 1399 (March 2020-March 2021) and the first six months of the year 1400, which ended on March 20, 2022.

According to Gharibabadi, despite limits imposed by the U.S. as a result of “cruel and inhumane” sanctions over the last 43 years, Iran has achieved great progress in improving its human rights status.

“The unilateral coercive measures by the United States against the Islamic Republic of Iran over the past four decades have extensively and discriminately violated the basic rights of the Iranian people and left irreparable harms,” he wrote.

“Those measures are in clear violation of the UN Charter, international law regulations as well as international human rights laws,” Gharibabadi noted.

The report cites some of the U.S. measures including embargo on import of medicine and medical equipment to Iran, highlighting that such policies harmed hospitals during the Covid-19 outbreak.

“To lower the effect of the unilateral U.S. sanctions, which have been tightened in the past two years, Iran has taken into consideration the impacts of the coercive measures in all processes involving the formulation of laws and policy-making, and has implemented plans supporting vulnerable classes of the society, particularly during the Covid pandemic,” it stated.

The report underscored that there is always room for additional improvement in the human rights situation.

It also emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the countries that actively implements the UPR, and that “the country’s basic policy is to support this balanced and non-selective mechanism.”