This statement was delivered by Human Rights Watch at the 61st regular session of the UN Human Rights Council during an urgent debate "to discuss the recent military aggression launched by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates on 28 February 2026, targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, which has resulted in the loss of innocent lives" held on March 25, 2026.
Mr. President,
Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned about the potential for grave harms to civilians amid the escalating conflict across the Middle East, including in Gulf countries and Jordan, where Iran has unlawfully struck or threatened to strike civilians and civilian infrastructure and targets, including residential buildings, hotels, civilian airports, embassies, and financial centers.
We are also deeply concerned about the plight of civilians:
- In Lebanon, where Israel‘s sweeping evacuation orders have caused over a million people to flee their homes, a possible war crime of forced displacement. Threats by Israeli officials signal risks of crimes such as wanton destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure and attacks targeting civilians.
- In Iran, where people face the dual risk faced of further atrocities at the hands of the authorities, who have shut off internet and communications channels and threatened further massacres of anyone who dares to voice dissent, and US and Israeli strikes, some of which should be investigated as war crimes.
- In Israel where civilians face missile and drone attacks by Iran and Hezbollah,
- And in Palestine where armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank use the fog of war to attack Palestinian communities and advance Israel’s ongoing dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
We are also concerned by the potentially catastrophic economic and environmental impact for civilians in Iran the Gulf, and to countless economically marginalized people across the globe, of attacks by Iran, Israel, and the US on some of the world’s largest oil and gas infrastructure in Iran and Gulf states; and Iran’s apparent targeting of civilian commercial ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz, potential war crimes that may also contribute to significant global cost increases in energy, food, and other critical sectors, to the detriment of people’s rights around the world.
This Council should take a coordinated, comprehensive and impartial approach to all violations related to the conflict. It should urge all parties to the conflict to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law clearly and unequivocally condemn all violations, support accountability, and prioritize the protection of civilians and atrocity prevention without discrimination.
We recommend the convening of an emergency briefing by the High Commissioner, with the participation of relevant independent mandates, on atrocity prevention and ensuring investigations of all violations of international human rights and humanitarian law across the conflict.
Thank you.
