Statement by Ms. Mohaddeseh Falahat Mother of Martyred Students Mahdieh and Amin Ahmadzadeh Minab school in Iran

Before the Human Rights Council: Urgent Debate to Discuss the Protection of Children and Educational Institutions in International Armed Conflicts: The Aerial Attacks on Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls School in Minab Iran as a Grave Breach of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law Friday March 27 2026 During the 61st Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am a mother… a mother who, even now, when passing by Mahdieh and Amin’s rooms, feels the urge to open the doors and see them sleeping in their beds as always, or sitting there drawing. But the rooms are silent. Much more silent than any home should ever be.

 That morning was like any other. It was routine for me to straighten their shoes by the door, comb their hair, and put their backpack on their shoulders. There was no sign that this would be the last time.  

As they walked out the door, they simply said, “Mom, come pick me up after school.”  

That simple sentence now repeats in my mind a thousand times, and each time, my heart burns with pain.

 No mother ever thinks she will send her child off to school with a smile, only to be met with… silence.  

No mother is prepared to hear the words, “Your child is not coming back.”

 These days, whenever I see any child, for a moment I think… maybe… maybe if it were Mahdieh and Amin, they would be running just like that, laughing just like that, living just like that.  

The clothes I bought with such joy for the New Year are still there, their notebooks left unfinished, and their dreams… dreams they never had the chance to continue writing.

 I am not just a grieving mother.  

I am the voice of all the mothers who sent their children to school believing they would be safe.  

A school was meant to be a place for learning, laughing, and building the future—a safe place for the children who were supposed to build the future of this world, not a place where their future is extinguished in an instant.

 I call upon the Human Rights Council and its members, upon the responsible institutions, and upon all those who have the ability and the duty to defend the lives of children, not to let this tragedy be forgotten. The truth must be brought to light, and Israel and the United States, who are the cause of this suffering, must be held accountable.  

Not for revenge, but for justice; so that the world knows that children’s lives are not worthless, and that no parent should ever again have to endure such a wait.

 Thank you!