Skip to main content

Challenging the status quo - women’s rights at stake

Throughout 2015, the human rights situation of women in Iran hasn’t got any better.

In the spring, Amnesty International has begun an intensified campaign, when the Iranian Parliament held its legislative session and considered Bill 315. This draft law proposes various harmful and discriminatory measures aimed at encouraging early marriage and repeated childbearing. Furthermore, this bill would allow discrimination against female job applicants, particularly if they are single or childless. It would also make divorce more difficult for couples, by incentivising judges to settle family disputes.   
Last month, this draft law moved one step closer to entering into force: its general principles were passed by an overwhelming majority in Parliament. Currently, the legislature's Cultural Commission is analysing the budgetary costs necessary to the bill’s incentive schemes, which would be entitled to families with three or more children.

(Source: www.epa.eu)
Over 2015, the authorities have also intensified their crack down on women who refuse to wear hijab or don’t wear it “properly”. By referring to the country’s Penal Code that penalises women who fail to cover their head and adhere to a strict Islamic dress code, police, paramilitary forces and vigilante groups patrolled public spaces, harassing and intimidating women. They did so in the name of promoting and protecting a “culture of modesty and chastity”. Or in other cases, they were reluctant to investigate attacks on women, such as on the occasions of several acid attacks throughout the country. 
A new development: the police is now deploying a special unit operating in ski resorts. Its task is to ensure that women are wearing hijab and enforce segregation of men and women at the country's slopes. Moreover, women are not allowed to ski in the absence of a husband, father or brother.

However, there are some promising signs of change, as well. To mention one: On 16 December, Iran's first female ambassador since the 1979 revolution resumed her job in Malaysia.

Another, positive change might come at the next parliamentary election, in February 2016. Currently, nine out of 290 parliamentary seats are filled by women. However, if women’s rights activists are successful, the male dominance in the legislature would be diluted. A campaign, called Changing The Parliament's Male Face, first and foremost promotes female candidates registering for being elected. In addition, they advocate for male nominees who support greater rights for women. The activists hope to see the number of women in parliament eventually grow to at least 50 seats, or 30 percent - if not in the February elections, then in the future.

As Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani, a leading figure in the Islamic country's women's movement. said “[..] we in the campaign Changing The Parliament's Male Face intend to use all the existing capacity and legal methods to directly challenge candidates who have a record of misogynistic views and background”.

>>TAKE ACTION! Call on the Iranian authorities to repeal the provisions of the discriminatory bill. 
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Is it worth icing the "candyman"?

There is nothing new about the Islamic Republic ranking second for number of executions , after China. But the fact that the official number almost reached 300 (to be precise: 289) in 2014 is harsh.  It is also obvious that this number and the statistics shown in previous years are certainly below reality, since there are no publicly available data on capital punishment carried out in the country. Reliable sources informed Amnesty International that the figure might be even bigger than 740. According to some ethical principles, all, but only guilty people deserve to be punished, and of course, in proportion to the severity of their crime .  And what does the international law say about the death penalty? It calls on states to guarantee that “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life .”   The law also provides that “In countries which have not abolished the death ...
Read more

How should Cameroon fight Boko Haram?

The Cameroonian security forces don't take into account how many lives they sacrifice when it comes to eradicating the Islamist group, Boko Haram. Amnesty International revealed in its new report that t he military offensive against Boko Haram has resulted in widespread human rights violations against civilians in the Far North region of the country. During search-and-cordon operations, security forces  often arrest people on the basis of very little information or assumptions and sometimes they detain whole groups. In February 2015 for example,  in Kossa,  32 men were arrested based on accusations that the village was providing food to Boko Haram. Most were later released, but one man died in custody. After being arrested, people are far too often held incommunicado at illegal detention sites in military bases, before being transferred to the official prisons. And, as Amnesty International learnt, in secret detention, torture is not a rare method to encoura...
Read more

The ideology of Boko Haram and the Islamic State

Boko Haram had announced the group's pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State on 7 March 2015, therewith aligning itself with the IS in the global Jihadist movement. The IS welcomed the news and promptly accepted a pledge of allegiance to the group , according to an audiotape purportedly from its spokesman. "We announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to West Africa because the caliph... has accepted the allegiance of our brothers [..]”  – IS spokesman Mohammed al-Adnani said in the message. However, this video appearing on IS-affiliated websites could not be authenticated. Although the nature of exact links between the two armed groups are still unclear, it can be confirmed that their ideologies and operations show similarities, despite some remaining differences. (Source: www.dw.com) The ideology of the two armed groups The ideology of both groups is based on a premodern theological tradition that wants the establishment o...
Read more