New Campaign Launches to Ensure Iranians’ Access to Non-Sanctioned Goods

A coalition of civil society organizations has launched an international campaign to ensure access to medical and humanitarian goods for the Iranian people. Just Access, supported by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Arseh Sevom, United4Iran, and Sanctioned Life, aims to establish a payment channel through the European Union to allow Iranians to purchase these non-sanctioned items.

“Economic and banking sanctions as they are currently implemented are hurting ordinary people and do not serve any constructive purpose. The implementation needs to be immediately modified to ensure average Iranians have proper access to medicine, medical care, nutrition, and humanitarian goods,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

“Currently shortages in these domains only strengthen the regime and provide it an excuse to justify its repression with its propaganda that the country is ‘under foreign siege.’ The civil society and its actors are most harmed by this environment and will be significantly weakened if the sanctions continue in their current format,” he added.

In a recent Gallup poll, 50 percent of respondents in Iran reported not having enough money for food and shelter.

“For those of us operating in the diaspora, the pressure put on Iran’s middle class and poor when it comes to access to life-saving healthcare and other humanitarian aid is something we cannot ignore. How can we work for expanding rights and freedoms when many in Iran face a daily struggle just to survive?” said Kamran Ashtary, director of Arseh Sevom.

Just Access aims for EU officials to enact policy changes to create a secure payment channel for Iranians to access items that are already exempt from international sanctions. To support this initiative to ensure access to medical, humanitarian, and other non-sanctioned goods, please sign the petition here.