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

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The most powerful tool against repression: educating people about their rights

Former Amnesty prisoner of conscience Fred Bauma about human rights and democracy Fred Bauma about the human rights situation in the DRC (c) Amnesty International UK I could not have dreamt of anything more exciting than meeting former Amnesty prisoner of conscience Fred Bauma . Together with thousands of activists, I had been campaigning for him and his colleague Yves Makwambala for the past few years. So, I was floating on air when I heard about Fred and Yves’ release on bail in August 2016. I felt extremely honoured to be able to organise an event where Fred could meet the Amnesty UK activists who had been standing in solidarity with him. Struggle for change in the Congo On 11 March, just a few days before the anniversary of his detention in 2015, Amnesty UK hosted a speaker event with Fred Bauma. During the evening, the young Congolese activist talked about his experiences and the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Fred explained ...
Read more

Hidden from critical view: the disappeared of Cameroon

As the number of military personnel deployed to fight Boko Haram in the Far North Region of Cameroon has increased, the number of people detained without trial on suspicion of supporting the armed group has gone up, as well. Families and communities torn apart Since 2014, Cameroon’s security forces have arrested hundreds of people without charge during security operations. One man from the village of Double told us how security forces raided the village in search of suspected Boko Haram fighters: “Early in the morning, we heard gunshots and thought it was Boko Haram. We were scared and fled to the bush; then people called us to say it wasn’t Boko Haram, but the security forces, so we came back thinking we were safe. However, to our great surprise, those forces made us suffer even more than Boko Haram.” During this operation carried out in Double and in the neighbouring community, Magdeme, nine people were killed and more than 200 boys and men arbitrar...
Read more

Are you sure that your laptop is “child-labour-free”?

You can’t entirely be. If you search on the internet, you will probably find that the lithium-ion battery, the thing that powers your laptop, tablet or smartphone and enables you to surf for hours, contains cobalt. If you search a little longer, you’ll learn that 50% of this mineral comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – mined in the south of the country, often by children and for very little money. Kids work in mines under dangerous conditions Children, as young as seven are involved in this dirty industry. According to a UNICEF report from 2014, approximately 40,000 boys and girls work in the mines across the southern part of the DRC, many of them involved in cobalt mining. The majority of the kids work above ground, collecting minerals from the mountains of tailings (or residue) outside both active and inactive industrial mines. They can also work in lakes and streams close to the mines, washing and sorting the stones. Some boys go underground, digging deep to a...
Read more