Oral Statement on “The Right to Participate in the CSW, the Case of Iran ”
Madame Chairperson and distinguished delegates of the Commission on the Status of
Women,
A group of Women’s rights activists from Iran who had been interested in participating in the CSW 56 th
session so as to share their thoughts and experience about the condition and situation of women in Iran decided instead to not attend this session of the CSW as they felt fearful for their security and well – being upon returning to Iran. Since they were uncertain about the consequences of their attendance, they decided to talk to you from a far. In a written statement they address all the Member States’ representatives as well as the worldwide women’s movement to be their voices. They are asking all of us to
“encourage the Iranian government, who is a member of the CSW, to comply with its international obligations to foster gender equality. “ They, also hope that “With the pressure of the world’s women activists and the follow-up of the UN, Iranian women activists would be granted a guaranteed safety to attend the next sessions, and therefore, be able to work with you side by side to reach gender equality.”
In their statement, once again Iranian women’s rights activists, once again they concentrated on the discriminatory laws against women and their impacts on women’s daily lives in Iran, including reduced access to job opportunities and violence against women. They wrote, “The unequal share of women from the national income, which itself is the result of discrimination in employment, wages and financial laws, has a great effect on increasing the discrimination and violence against women in Iran. Because of

the changes in the government policies, women are being pushed away from social fields such as the labor force. The government propaganda in recent years has concentrated on stressing only a mother’s role for women and on persuading them to stay at home. The successful family planning policies of post revolutionary Iran, which have resulted in one of the most important achievements for women specifically and for the society in general, are being changed by the government, and now encouraging women to have more children. …The result of these policies has been more widespread inequality between men and women in regards to the division of resources and welfare, and also the
“feminization of poverty”. ….In addition to the suppression of dissent, the increasing number of arrests of women and men including both social and political activists and ordinary people, the sense of insecurity for citizens because of a police-state environment with the heavy shadow of the police and security forces in both public and private places, the re-enactment of the old policies of the 90’s such as gender segregation, control over university students’ clothing, establishment of single-sex universities, and enforcement of gender and indigenous quotas for entering the universities, we are witnessing the fast widespread of violence against women at a social level.”
As you may know, in recent years - with the international sisterhood support, some of the
Iranian women’s rights activists participated as observes in sessions of the CSW, and enjoyed the opportunity to learn from their sisters, and shared their concerns about the condition of Iranian women. Unfortunately, in May 2011, one of the participants,
Maryam Bahreman was arrested and detained for 126 days in charge of participating in the CSW. Later on, Faranak Farid, arrested on the street in September 2011, facing the

same charges and was released after 43 days. Maryam, currently is waiting for her hearing and Farank for the court’s order. Who else in the world would be detained for having participated in the CSW, or any other UN Conferences, simply for being with their colleagues and enjoying international dialogues? This has never happened before and should be stop here. So, we, as a group of international women’s and human rights activists, organizations and networks, including AI, AIDOS, AWID, CWGL, FIDH,
LDDHI, NWI, OMCT and WHRDs IC have joined to defend the right to participate in the CSW by highlighting the situation of women in Iran in order to prevent any states to prosecute any women simply for being with their sisters from all over the world.
Participating in the CSW as a representative of the civil society is not, and should not be, considered a crime by any countries or international lt is a MUST , indeed, in order to promote women’s rights worldwide. We have to stand together to defend our global sisterhood achievements.
We request all of you as representatives of the Member of States of the UN to stand by us in support of the rights of all women to participate in the CSW and other international conferences without any fear of prosecution in their countries by all means that you know, including the conclusion statement of the 56 th
session of the CSW. We hope that with your support, we will be able to welcome Iranian women’s rights activists to the
CSW in 2013, enabling them to enjoy all the moments of their stay here without fearing the consequences of their participation in the CSW. We sincerely thank you all for your attention and support.