Ms. Monireh Sulemani, representative of the Balochistan Peoples Party and UNPO, joined this panel to speak about her experiences interacting with the Indigenous mechanisms of the UN, notably the youth caucus for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII).

External barriers for the empowerment of Baloch people are; the policies and practices based on the Iranian state's constitution. According to article 115 of the Iranian constitution, Baloch women cannot stand for presidency and any other high ranking posts because of their gender, ethnicity and religion.

Ms. Monireh Sulemani Will share her experiences from working through the Indigenous Youth Caucus to improve the indigenous youth's input to the UN

Nasser Boladai, spokesperson for Balochistan Peoples Party, put forth the notion of institutional discrimination, which systematically violates the rights of the ethnic and religious groups in Iran.

Interventions by Niccolo’ Rinaldi MEP, ALDE Group Michael ibb Oxford University Nasser Boladai Congress of Nationalities for a Federal Iran Marino Busdachin Unrepresented Nations and People Organisation Niccolo’ Figa-Talamanca No Peace Without Justice

It is vital to strengthen the relations among the various national, social, and religious groups within Iran; we have to act now before it is too late.

Political representatives of three different ethnic minority groups, Mr Nasser Boladai (Balochistan People's Party), Ms Sedigheh Adalati (Federal Democratic Movement of Azerbaijan) and Mr Miro Aliyar (Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan), provided powerful reports on the human rights abuse and governmental neglect faced by their respective provinces.

In August 2010, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination found Iran’s submission on ethnic minorities satisfactory and stated that “the Committee recommends that the State party make renewed efforts to update the information on its ethnic composition, relying on the principle of self-identification. It recommends that such a self-identification question be included in the next census carried out by the State party and requests that the results of the census be made public and this information be provided in the next State party report”.[4]