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Iran challenged to fulfil obligations to women, Kurds and Bahá’ís
Filed Under Human Rights, Iran, Parliamentary, women | Leave a Comment
The rights of women and minorities in Iran must not be overlooked while the world focuses on the country’s nuclear issue, according to a report released by Britain’s leading progressive foreign affairs “think-tank”.
The new report launched at Westminster by the Foreign Policy Centre on Tuesday 25 November, to coincide with United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, examines the religious, legal and social obstacles to equality faced by women, Bahá’ís and Kurds in Iran, comparing the experiences of the three groups.
The report, entitled A revolution without rights: Women, Kurds and Bahá’ís searching for equality in Iran, evaluates the Iranian government’s compliance with its own constitution and looks at how the country’s treatment of women and minorities measures up to the international agreements it has signed.
The report lays out practical steps that British and European policy-makers can take to support the equal treatment of women and minorities with their fellow citizens in Iran. These include:
• Diplomatic pressure to ensure human rights remain on the agenda
• Access for the UN to monitor the situation on the ground
• EU trade incentives such as the EU-Iran Trade and Cooperation Agreement linked to human rights improvements
• Technical and political support for Iran’s WTO membership
• Option of travel bans and financial restrictions for individual regime members responsible for human rights abuses
In is preface to the document, UK Foreign Office Minister Lord Mark Malloch-Brown described the report as an “important contribution to the debate, and an important part of ensuring that improving Iran’s human rights record stays firmly on the agenda worldwide”.
“Iran consistently fails to meet the international commitments that it is signed up to. It ignores its own laws and terms of its own constitution such as arbitrary arrest and the denial of due process. And it is increasingly – and worryingly – using vague, national security-related charges such as ‘acting against state security’ and ‘propaganda against the system’ against individuals who are exercising their right to peaceful protest,” said Lord Malloch-Brown. “The international community must take responsibility to lobby the Iranian government and support those within Iran who are bravely fighting for their human rights,” he said.
The launch of the report was held in the Wilson Room of Portcullis House in the House of Commons. Among those who addressed the audience were Mike Gapes MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Professor the Baroness Haleh Afshar; Iranian human rights activist Nazanin Afshin-Jam; Drewery Dyke of Amnesty International; and Kaveh Mussavi, Head of Public Interest Law, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford.
Highlighting particularly the ongoing persecution faced by the Bahá’ís – Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, Baroness Afshar said, “The treatment of the Bahá’ís is appalling, unacceptable and – in every way – not only against accepted human rights regulations but the ancient traditions of Iran, a culture that has always been characterised by tolerance.”
The launch was chaired by former government minister Stephen Twigg, now Director of the Foreign Policy Centre. ”This report challenges Iran to fulfil its obligations to its own citizens under international law and its constitution,” said Mr Twigg. “We must support the tireless work of Iranian human rights activists working to bring change in their own country and make sure their struggle is not overlooked as the international community focuses on the nuclear issue.”
“International pressure really does make a difference in human rights cases,” said Ms Afshin-Jam, who is President of the Stop Child Executions Campaign.
The report is available online from the Foreign Policy Centre.