MARCH - APRIL 1998
A REPORT ON THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE UN COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
The Islamic Republic of Iran participated as a member in the Commission on the Status of Women’s (CSW) 42nd session during March 2-13,1998 at the United Nations in New York City to monitor the implementation of Beijing Platform of Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women. The CSW monitored four areas of concern: violence against women, women's human rights, the status of girls and women and armed conflict. The participation of the Islamic regime, a gross violator of the rights of women and girls and a perpetrator of state violence against women, was an affront to women’s human rights and equality.
The Committee for Humanitarian Assistance to Iranian Refugees (CHAIR), the International Campaign in Defense of Women’s Rights in Iran (ICDWRI), the International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) and the Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI)-U.S. Branch conducted a two-week campaign to expose the regime and gain solidarity among CSW participants in condemning the regime’s system of gender-apartheid.
On March 1, 1998, activists attended the Non-Governmental Organizations’ (NGO) Consultation facilitated by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, distributed nearly 1,000 flyers on women’s status in Iran to the hundreds of NGOs present, and spoke out against the regime’s violations of women’s and girls’ human rights in Iran.
On Monday, March 2, 1998, the first day of the CSW session, nearly forty women and men gathered at the United Nations to denounce the Islamic Republic and its participation in the CSW and to defend women’s rights. The demonstration was also in commemoration of March 8, International Women’s Day. Speakers, including Ramesh Ahmadi of ICDWRI, Dorotea Mendoza of Gabriela Network, Maryam Namazie of IFIR, Laili Panahi of CHAIR, Hassan Varash of WPI, and Emily Woo Yamasaki of Radical Women, condemned the Islamic regime for two decades of abuses of women’s rights. Homa, a refugee who had fled gender-apartheid in Iran, recounted being beaten due to wearing thin stockings and miscarrying her child as a result. Protestors affirmed the universal rights of women and the impossibility of reform of the Islamic regime. Media coverage of the demonstration was extensive, including Fox 5 television, WFUV radio, Voice of America television, and Arab television. An official Iranian government reporter attempting to spy on the protestors fled the scene when he was photographed.
Namazie was invited to participate in the two-week CSW session after much back and forth. Initially, the UN stated that Namazie had to promise not to "cause any problems" before she could attend. Moreover, the UN would not provide a copy of the regime’s National Action Plan on implementing the Beijing Platform of Action (a public document) or the names of the Iranian delegation. Their position was representative of the UN’s hypocrisy in feigning defense of women’s rights while shielding vile regimes.
During the two-week session, Namazie spoke with numerous non-governmental, inter-governmental and governmental representatives and distributed thousands of information packets and flyers on the situation of women in Iran and several videos on the savage stoning to death of a man and woman in Iran. Though the Islamic Republic attempted to promote its "new" public image under the "moderate" Khatami, its posturing could not divert attention from the regime’s gross violations of women’s rights. Over 450 NGOs working in fifty countries, as well as the Italian and South African delegates signed a resolution "...condemn[ing] the barbaric act of stoning and the Islamic Republic of Iran for its systematic abuse of women’s rights and its unabated suppression, torture and criminal acts against women and support[ed] the struggle of millions of women in Iran for their basic human rights." Organizations which signed a resolution included: Aid Afrique (Guinea), Cambodian Human Rights Task Force (Cambodia), Council for Equality (Finland), European Women’s Lobby (Germany), Harlem Women’s Alliance (NY), Human Rights Concern (Uganda), Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (Costa Rica), International Association of Women Judges (US), International Federation of Women lawyers (Kenya), International Human Rights Law Group (DC), International PEN (US), Irish Council of People with Disabilities (Ireland), Italian Confederation of Workers Trade Unions (Italy), Socialist International Women (UK), Union Internationale des Avocates (Canada), and the World Confederation of Labor (Belgium).
Though the main Islamic Republic delegate, Zahra Shojaie, attempted to hide behind cultural relativism to excuse the regime’s brutal actions and policies, the regime learned full well that the removal of Shojaie’s chador and her "philosophical" speech about their world view could not avert the overwhelming condemnation of the regime. The broad support gained by the successful two-week campaign affirmed the universality of women’s rights, and that women’s rights can only be attained in a free, equal and secular society.
RESOURCES ON WOMEN IN IRAN
The Committee for Humanitarian Assistance to Iranian Refugees (CHAIR) has recently developed two useful resources on women in Iran and gender-based persecution. The first is a Master Exhibit on the Status of Women in Iran which contains 33 English language documents (220 pages) from non-governmental, governmental and inter-governmental sources, law journals, academic publications, periodicals and newspapers. As the only reference of its kind, the Master Exhibit is a valuable resource for refugees, activists, advocates, human rights organizations and documentation centers. Moreover, CHAIR has co-produced "Hidden Faces: Women Seeking Refuge" dealing with gender-based persecution and asylum. The video was developed with several other community-based organizations in New York City who participated in the Education Video Center's (EVC) Community Organizers' Television workshop. For a copy of the master exhibit or video, contact CHAIR/IFIR.