HCHR- Several students at a school in Qom were hospitalized after being poisoned for an unknown reason on 30 November 2022. 13 days later, another poisoning incident happened again. Immediately after the second incident, prominent and advanced laboratories and institutions started technical research, conducted several types of special tests (from blood to saliva and lungs), and took samples from the equipment in the classroom, workshop, and environment.
On 6 February 2023, six schools in Qom announced that their students smelled a particular thing or gas. As per a decision made by the Provincial Governorate, schools in Qom were closed on the 7th and 8th of February for further technical investigations. As confirmed by the preliminary results of several ultra-advanced and well-equipped laboratories on 17 February 2023: “Based on clinical symptoms, there are suspicious cases that require further investigations, but we have not reached any abnormal behavior in the environmental inquiries.” A few days later, poisoning incidents spread to other provinces, including Tehran, Borujerd, Mazandaran, Ardebil, Khuzestan, and Khorasan Razavi.
The protection and promotion of human rights are one of the central and fundamental goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In this context, the Country has taken significant measures to respect, guarantee, and implement the right to education. In the meantime, increasing the literacy rate of women and girls, and guaranteeing their right to education are among the components that, as confirmed by the statistics, place the Islamic Republic of Iran in the leading countries in terms of education.
Therefore; the High Council for Human Rights publishes the report of the measures implemented by the Islamic Republic of Iran in response to Poisoning of students.
Click here to download the report.