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Iran Arrests Colleagues of Shirin Ebadi
Since the attacks against Shirin Ebadi's home and offices in January 2009, multiple arrests have been made on human rights defenders in association with the Nobel Peace Laureate.
On 14 January, Jinus Sobhani, former secretary to human rights groups of Ebadi’s co-founding, was arrested . According to Coordinator of the International Campaign for Human Rights , Hadi Ghaemi, "If the Center was indeed closed on account of its lack of registration, then why arrest a staff member who has already lost her job? The arrest appears to confirm that the closure of the Center was politically motivated."
Two weeks later , three members of the One Million Signatures Campaign, a grassroots campaign to reform gender discrimination in Iranian laws, were arrested while collecting signatures in northern Tehran. Additionally, dozens of women's rights activists were arrested and charged for participating in a peaceful protest in 2006. One such activist, Alieh Eghdamdoust, has now been undertaken by security agents to serve a mandatory 3-year prison sentence. The verdict awaits for the rest.
Read more »Award-Winning Activist Barred From Leaving Iran
Last week, Iran prevented a prominent human rights lawyer from leaving the country to receive an award in Rome.
Nasrin Sotoudeh, an activist who works closely with Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi on womens legal rights in Iran, had her passport confiscated by government officials at the airport. She was traveling from Tehran to Rome with her family to be honored by the Italian group Human Rights International.
This unlawful seizure of Sotoudehs passport appears to be part of a general crackdown of womens rights defenders in Iran. Last month, two UN human rights experts issued a joint statement expressing deep concern. Special rapporteurs Margaret Sekaggya and Yakin Erturk noted that the women and men active in the One Million Signatures Campaign, a grassroots movement aimed at promoting equality of men and women in Iranian law, have been particularly targeted.
LEARN MORE:
Read the latest News on Women's Rights and the Middle East.
Learn more about our support of Iranian rights activists at our Women's Rights Issue Page.TAKE ACTION:
Join Human Rights First in calling on the Iranian authorities to end their harassment of Nasrin Sotoudeh and other women's rights activists and to respect the right of human rights defenders to travel. Take action here.
Read more »16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence 2008
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. The bookend dates-- November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women and December 10, International Human Rights Day-- were chosen to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates, including International Women Human Rights Defenders Day (November 29), World AIDS Day (December 1), and the Montreal Massacre Anniversary (December 6).
Since its inception, over 2,000 organizations in approximately 154 countries have participated in the 16 Days Campaign. This year's theme is:
Human Rights for Women ‹—› Human Rights for All: UDHR 60.
Visit the official 16 Days Exhibit to learn more.
What is UDHR 60?
UDHR 60 stands for the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in which the United Nations declared that "the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world". Read the full Universal Declaration of Human Rights and learn more about the UDHR 60 Campaign.
Campaigns Highlighted
One Million Signatures Campaign 
The One Million Signatures Campaign is dedicated to challenging and changing the discrimination against women in Iranian laws. Sign their International Support for Women's Campaign Petition.
openDemocracy
Follow the 16 Days on openDemocracy with articles contributed by men and women all over the world on issues of gender equality and empowerment on a global scale.
United Nations Population Fund
The United Nations Population Fund (formerly the United Nations Fund for Population Activities) is "an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity". Read about the UNPF's 16 days of activism and see how they have been committed in ending 16 forms of gender-based violence . Also, check out their online exhibition.
Women's League of Burma
The Women's League of Burma is an umbrella organization over 12 other organizations, united in their commitment to the importance of women's contribution to the struggle for human rights, democracy and equal rights in Burma. Read official statements released by the WLB during these 16 days and see how they are calling ASEAN governments and the UN to action:
- Burma's military Constitution condemns women to a continuing cycle of violence
- WLB issues urgent call for UN Representatives to visit Nilar Thein and other Women Human Rights Defenders in Burma
Take Action
UNIFEM
Join UNIFEM 's global movement and sign your name to the Say NO to Violence Against Women campaign. The campaign demonstrates the united concern over the need to prioritize ending violence against women in governments everywhere.
Read more »Stop the Targeting of Women Activists in Iran
UPDATE: ESHA MOMENI RELEASED ON BAIL
On November 10, Iranian-American student Esha Momeni was released on bail with the freedom to leave Iran until the time of her trial.
However, it was reported a week later that Momeni's travel documents were still being held by authorities and that "it has not been determined when the trial will be held".
November 5. The Nobel Women’s Initiative is calling—with renewed urgency—for the end to the harassment and arrest of women human rights defenders in Iran. In recent weeks, authorities in Iran have stepped-up their targeting of members of the One Million Signatures Campaign - including Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi.
Authorities arrested campaign member Esha Momeni on October 15, and she is still being held in detention. Momeni is a dual American-Iranian citizen who traveled to Iran to visit family and complete her Master’s research on the Iranian women’s movement. Also last month, Iranian officials prevented campaign member Sussan Tahmasebi from traveling and confiscated campaign materials from the home of Parastoo Alahyaari.
The harassment goes beyond the Iranian border. Iranian government officials recently tried to pressure the Malaysian government to silence Dr. Ebadi, who was scheduled to travel to Malaysia to talk to activists about her human rights work in Iran. International pressure resulted in Iran rolling back the pressure on Malaysia. Dr. Ebadi has defended many peaceful campaigners who are increasingly sentenced or charged, insisting that campaigning for women's rights is not a threat to national security.
The Nobel Women’s Initiative joins other groups—including Human Rights First—in calling for Iran to release Esha Momeni and allow civil society groups to freely associate and travel. The Iranian government must stop the targeting of women activists, and respect the rights of those using peaceful, nonviolent activity to promote human rights.
The One Million Signatures Campaign is a grass-roots movement launched over two years ago to promote gender equality in Iranian laws.
TAKE ACTION:
Join Human Rights First's demand to end the Iranian regime's attempts to intimidate and silence Dr Ebadi and other human rights defenders.
Take action HERE.
Sign the Petition for the Immediate Release of Esha Momeni.
MEDIA:
Iran holds student living in the U.S. on security charges, Reuters, 4 November 2008.
LEARN MORE:
Learn more about the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
Learn more about the One Million Signatures Campaign.
Read the latest News on Women's Rights and the Middle East.
Learn more about our support of Iranian rights activists at our Women's Rights Issue Page.
Learn more about the US-Iran conflict at our Middle East Issue page.
Read more »Women of the Year! Nobel Women’s Initiative Wins Award From Glamour Magazine
The US magazine, Glamour, this week named the Nobel Women’s Initiative one of ten winners of their annual Women of the Year award. The magazine noted that since 2006 the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Shirin Ebadi, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams and Jody Williams have used their “clout with world leaders to get them to take a stand against violence and work for peace and human rights”.
Glamour Magazine Announces 2008 Women of the Year on NBC's Today Show
Other winners this year include Hillary Clinton, Nicole Kidman (Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women) and human rights lawyer Shada Nasser who obtained a historic divorce for 10-year-old Yemeni child bride Nujood Ali.
The 2008 Women of the Year will be profiled in the December issue of the magazine—hitting the newsstands on November 11th. To learn more, check out this recent interview on NBC’s Today Show.
Read more »Free Speech Key to Human Rights: Do Not Silence Shirin Ebadi
The Iranian regime has stepped up its campaign against Shirin Ebadi – read more here.
Recently they have pressured Malaysia to silence the Nobel Peace Laureate.
The Nobel Women’s Initiative joins the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran together with the Asian NGOs Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) to call on the governments of Iran and Malaysia to support free speech—and for Malaysia not bow to pressure from Iran to silence Dr Shirin Ebadi.
The human rights groups called on the Iranian and Malaysian governments to respect their obligations under international human rights treaties and promote and protect freedom of speech, rather than collaborating to deny it.
The Nobel Women’s Initiative strongly support free speech as a fundamental freedom, and believes that dialogue between Dr. Ebadi and human rights defenders in Malaysia will be important to promoting and protecting human rights in Asia.
TAKE ACTION:
Join Human Rights First's demand to end the Iranian regime's attempts to intimidate and silence Dr Ebadi and other human rights defenders.
Take action here.
MEDIA:
Malaysia U-turn on Ebadi Speech, BBC News, 24 October 2008
Malaysia Bars Iranian Nobel Laureate Ebadi Amid Protests, Radio Free Europe, 23 October 2008
Malaysia Bans Nobel Laureate from speaking, Nutgraph on AWID's Women's Rights in the News, 10 Oct 2008.
LEARN MORE:
Read the latest News on Women's Rights and the Middle East.
Learn more about our support of Iranian rights activists at our Women's Rights Issue Page.
Learn more about the US-Iran conflict at our Middle East Issue page.
Read more »Nobel Laureates issue declaration in solidarity with Mesoamerican feminists
As women Nobel Peace Laureates we look with great hope to the Americas Social Forum in Guatemala, October 7th-12th, as an opportunity for thousands of concerned citizens and social movements across the continents to affirm their commitment to women’s rights and gender equality. We are optimistic that a powerful message will be communicated to governments about the urgency of protecting and respecting women’s rights and the feminist leaders who safeguard and promote them.With great concern, we witness the deterioration of women’s lives and the unraveling of the social fabric, particularly in Mexico and Central America. Millions of Mesoamerican women live in extreme poverty making them vulnerable to labor exploitation and forcing them, increasingly, to migrate northward to find a better life and leave behind their young children and families. Furthermore, with the privatization and rising costs of healthcare across the region, women’s health and maternal mortality have worsened dramatically while one government after another proceeds to restrict and reverse reproductive rights. Violence has become a daily reality for the majority of Mesoamerican women. Femicide has grown at an alarming rate, as has the impunity with which the majority of cases are treated.
Nobel Laureates Condemn Accusations Against Iranian Peace Laureate: Dr. Shirin Ebadi
The Nobel Women’s Initiative—founded by Dr. Ebadi and five of her sister Nobel Peace Laureates—condemns all accusations against Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi. The most recent incident involves accusations that her daughter converted to the Bahai faith, and appear to be related to Dr. Ebadi’s decision to defend in court seven members of the Bahai minority in Iran.
On August 8, 2008, a long article was published on the website of the official Iranian Republic News Agency (IRNA) and in the newspaper Jomhouri Eslami leveling a series of attacks against Dr. Ebadi and her family. This article followed a series of articles in other Iranian newspapers accusing Dr. Ebadi of various crimes against Islam and subversive acts against the state of Iran. She has publicly defended her right to legally represent members of the Bahai faith being persecuted in Iran. Dr. Ebadi and her family have also gone on record in the Iranian media, denying any family members’ conversion to the Bahai faith and underscoring their commitment to Islam.
The Nobel Women’s Initiative is calling on the Iranian government to condemn the propagation of false statements in Iranian newspapers, and to fully respect Dr. Ebadi’s right to carry out her work defending the human rights of Bahai and other minorities in Iran. The Initiative calls also for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders and the Acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to issue a strong reaction of support of Dr. Ebadi, and to closely monitor threats to Dr. Ebadi.
“The protection of minority groups—including religious minorities—is a hallmark of democracy and good governance,” notes Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams. “We ask Iran to respect international law and human rights, and ensure the protection of Dr. Ebadi and her basic human rights.”
TAKE ACTION
The Nobel Women's Initiative has distributed the above statement expressing concern for the safety of Dr. Shirin Ebadi and her family to Iranian and other international officials.
Since this statement was issued, our concerns for Dr. Ebadi's safety have only increased. While Dr. Ebadi is often faced with adversity in her work in Iran, we believe the recent string of accusations and threats are particularly dangerous for her. We are calling on the international community to mobilize every possible support to protect her.
We urge you to join our efforts to protect and defend Dr. Ebadi. Please write to President Ahmadinejad and ask that he make good on his own promise, made in April 2008, to protect Dr. Ebadi.
Send your letter to:
His Excellency Dr. Mahmoud AhmadiNejad
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: +98 21 649 5880
E-mail: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
Salutation: Dear Sir
MEDIA
- Nobel laureate threatened by state news agency allegation, 8 August, 2008 Reporters without borders
-
Threats against Nobel Laureate escalate, 26 August 2008, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
Read the latest News on the Middle East.
Learn more about the US-Iran conflict at our Middle East Issue page.
Read more »
Support Dora Maria Tellez's Hunger Strike for Democracy in Nicaragua
The Nobel Women's Initiative continues to lend the strength of their prestige to support the Observatorios de la Transgresión Feminista/ Feminist Transformation Watch. The Nobel Women's Initiative issued the statement below in support of Nicaraguan feminist Dora María Tellez's hunger strike to protest and halt steps by President Daniel Ortega to rescind the legal status of the political party she co-founded, the MRS Party (Movimiento Renovación Sandinista).
Dora Maria Tellez “has emerged in the midst of the multitude that is not happy with the situation to demonstrate that liberty is a non negotiable and that in the face of injustice silence and passivity do not have a place.”
Nicaraguan poet and writer Gioconda Belli
Supporting Iranian Women: National Day of Solidarity
On June 12, 2008, the Nobel Women’s Initiative expresses its solidarity with the women’s rights movement in Iran, which has identified this day as a national day of solidarity in objecting to laws that discriminate against women.
On this day three years ago, women's rights activists organized an unprecedented protest in front of Tehran University, demanding that laws which discriminate against women be revised. On June 12, 2006, Iranian women's rights activists took to the streets again and planned a similar protest in Haft-e Tir Square, in Tehran, with similar objectives and demands. The protest was violently broken up and over 70 persons arrested. This was the first major crackdown against peaceful women's activism in Iran.
Since then, scores of women's rights activists in Iran have been summoned, charged, arrested and sentenced in relation to their peaceful activism and their demands for equality.
The brave efforts by the One Million Signatures Campaign to defend and advance women's rights in Iran must not be criminalized. We condemn any action by the Iranian authorities aimed at suppressing the women's rights movement. We urge the Iranian government to stop its harassment of women’s rights activists and to drop all charges against those who have peacefully advocated for an end to discriminatory laws, especially those involved in the One Million Signatures Campaign.
Nobel Women's Initiative supported these women with a statement in 2006.
Take Action to Defend Iranian Women's Rights, here.
Read the latest News on the Middle East.
Read about the US-Iran conflict at our Middle East Issue page.
For information on the Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran, click here.
View citizen diplomacy event Time to Talk to Iran.