Women’s
Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Public Statement
CONTACT:
press@wfafi.org
February 4
Iranian Women Welcome IAEA’s Move to Report Tehran to the UN Security Council
BOSTON, MA – In its meeting of February 4, 2006, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted to report Iran to the United Nations Security Council. Women’s Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran welcomes this move and calls upon the UN Security Council to also hold Tehran responsible for its gross violations of human rights, particularly state-sponsored violence against Iranian women.
Tehran’s fundamentalist regime successfully hid its nuclear program for 18 years until it was exposed by a woman-led Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. Therefore, it is important to recognize Rajavi’s contribution along with the struggle of Iranian women against Islamic Fundamentalism in the field of international peace and security. Iranian women believe while due focus should be given to their suffering and quest for freedom and equality, a foreign war is not the answer to defeat Tehran’s nuclear danger. On the nuclear crisis with Tehran, Iranian women emphasize on an Iranian solution and trust a woman-led movement against the regime. Tehran’s nuclear disarmament, peace, democracy and gender equality is only possible through Iranians’ endeavor to unseat the fundamentalist regime in Tehran, not a foreign war or continued appeasement.
Women have been the prime victims of the clerical regime in Iran. Thousands of women have been imprisoned, tortured and executed since the inception of the Islamic Republic. Teenage girls are raped, publicly hanged, or sold in human trafficking market in the Persian Gulf region. Women are stoned to death on baseless charges without investigation, legal representation or trial. Women are treated as second-class citizens and violence against women is the official policy of the Tehran’s fundamentalist regime. Therefore, Tehran’s regime should be referred to the United Nations Security Council not only for its nuclear weapons program but also for its gross violations of human rights and inflicting systemic violence against women.
Women’s Forum Against Fundamentalism (WFAFI) in Iran urges UN Security Council to also recognize the linkage between commitments made in the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and the Millennium Declaration. Iranian women emphasize that Tehran must also be held responsible for its gross violations of human rights, particularly state-sponsored violence against women.
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