In the face of increasing threats and intimidation, Shirin Ebadi remains courageously determined to stay in Iran to defend fellow human rights advocates. She needs your support.

TAKE ACTION:

Join the international community in demanding the Iranian government put an end to the intimidation against Shirin Ebadi and other human rights defenders.

Click here to find the Iranian representative/embassy in your country. Write and urge them to secure the safety and protection of Ebadi and other human rights activists, so they may continue their critical work in Iran free from fear.

The Iranian regime has stepped up its campaign against Shirin Ebadi.

On August 8, 2008, an 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, including false accusations that her daughter converted to the Bahai faith, and appeared to be related to Dr. Ebadi’s decision to defend in court seven members of the Bahai minority in Iran.

On August 11 the Nobel Women's Initiative issued a statement condemning such accusations against her.

In September, the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs canceled a series of university lectures by Ebadi. The Iranian Foreign Ministry pressured their Malaysian counterparts, warning "Her public speaking engagements in Malaysia would cause a disruption of the good relations between the governments of Malaysia and Iran."

On October 1, while Ebadi was in Germany receiving the "tolerance prize" (toleranzpreis), the IRNA warned that Ebadi was exploiting the "patience and tolerance" of government authorities.

Since the 27 December elections, post-election violence has displaced thousands and killed hundreds in Kenya. Women in particular have been targeted: raped, tortured and forced into 'house arrest' (WEDO). In the face of growing political unrest and escalating violence, sister Laureate Wangari Maathai has been working tirelessly for a lasting solution to the crisis. We at the Nobel Women's Initiative support her efforts and urge an end to the violent bloodshed in Kenya, with particular attention to the violence women are facing.

We encourage you to support efforts to end post-election violence against women in Kenya and support peace and reconciliation for all Kenyans. We have listed some of the many organizations working for peace below.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports the Iranian women's rights movement is facing unprecedented obstacles and threats as it carries out its work. A particular target of Iranian authorities has been activists involved in the One Million Signatures Campaign, which aims to revise discriminatory laws against women.

The Iranian government has routinely detained and prosecuted One Million Signatures campaigners. As of March 2008, 43 members of the Campaign had been detained and prosecuted.

Women's rights defenders have been arrested and criminally charged with endangering national security, inciting of public opinion, propaganda against the state, participation in an illegal gathering, disturbing public order and publication of false information."  Campaigners are routinely held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.

Since 1996, sexual violence against women and children in the eastern part of the DRC has been used to torture and humiliate women and girls and destroy families. Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource, Power to the Women and Girls of the Democratic Republic of Congo, initiated by the women of Eastern DRC, V-Day and UNICEF, calls for an end to impunity for sexual violence, for measures to ensure that state armed forces and police do not perpetrate sexual violence against women and girls and for the full implementation of national laws that protect and empower women.

Get involved.  Tell the President of DRC, Joseph Kabila Kabange, to do more to stop the violence against women and girls and bring perpetrators to justice.  Educate yourself on the situation in the eastern part of the DRC.

Tell the Iranian authorities that campaigning for women's rights is not a threat to national security. Tell them to release immediately and unconditionally all those detained in connection with recent peaceful demonstrations for equality, to drop charges and to stop harassing women's rights activists.

Sign a petition :

Stand With Our Sisters in Iran: Virtual March Feminist Majority Foundation

Free Women's Rights Defenders in Iran Meydaan: Women's Field

Write a letter :

You can write directly to the Iranian authorities, including Mr. Seyed Mahmoud Shahroudi, the Head of Judiciary, Mr. Golam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the leader of the Iranian Parliament, and Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The process to reform the United Nations (UN) is well underway. Given the importance of this world body in advancing women's human rights, peace, human security and sustainable development, it is important for us to tell the UN that reforms proposed must protect and promote women's rights. Learn more about women's rights and the UN Reform process and take action now.