February 20, 2023

Joint Letter by 39 NGOs Calls on EU Countries to Summon Iranian Ambassadors in Unison on International Women’s Day

February 20, 2023 — A joint letter by 39 women’s and Iranian human rights organizations calls on EU countries to summon their ambassadors in unison on International Women’s Day, March 8, and demand the Islamic Republic:

Stop detaining and committing violence against women who are calling for basic rights and freedoms in Iran.
End the physical and sexual violence against women detainees and protesters.
Cease all executions of political prisoners and annul all death sentences against protesters.

“This action will be recorded as one among several important moves by world leaders who chose to stand on the right side of history and in solidarity with the future leaders of Iran: women and young people,” said Jasmin Ramsey, deputy director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

“EU countries should support this action on March 8 to stand with Iranian women and girls who’ve faced bullets, arbitrary imprisonment, and sexual violence simply for demanding basic rights,” added Ramsey.

CHRI has delivered the letter to several EU countries’ missions and embassies in person in New York and DC, including to Sweden, Germany, France, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Along with the letter’s co-signatories, CHRI is also continuing outreach to all EU capitals.

The full text of one of the letters, in this case sent to Sweden (where CHRI also sponsored digital billboards and a newspaper ad in Expressen linking to an accompanying online petition), is included below.

The Right Honorable Ulf Kristersson
Prime Minister of Sweden

The Right Honorable Tobias Billström
Minister for Foreign Affairs for Sweden

Dear Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs,

We are writing to urge the Swedish Government to take action to support the courageous women of Iran, who have been risking their lives to protest for freedom and basic human rights, by summoning the Iranian ambassador and, in its capacity as President of the European Union (EU) Council, calling on other EU member governments to do the same on March 8, International Women’s Day.

Women and girls in Iran, including ethnic and religious minorities, as well as the LBGTQI community, who all face severe and systemic discrimination in both law and practice, have been at the forefront of the anti-state protests that erupted in Iran in September following the killing of Jina Mahsa Amini, 22, in state custody after she was arrested for her alleged inappropriate hijab.

Many of these women and girls have been shot dead in the streets as they peacefully protested, blinded by the live ammunition used against them by state security forces, violently detained without access to counsel, and sexually assaulted and beaten while in state custody. Still, the women and girls of Iran have persisted in their demands for basic rights and freedoms.

We are asking Sweden and EU member states to act in unison on March 8, International Women’s Day, by summoning the Iranian ambassador to demand that the Iranian government:

Stop repressing women and arresting and imprisoning women who are calling for basic rights and freedoms in Iran.
End the physical and sexual violence against women detainees and protesters.
Cease all executions of political prisoners and annul all death sentences against protesters.

For decades, courageous Iranian women, including lawyers, activists, journalists, writers, poets, actresses, and mothers of the victims of state violence, have been demanding justice, freedom, equality, and basic civil liberties for all Iranians.

Women political prisoners, some of whom have been jailed for years for engaging in peaceful rights activism, support this struggle for freedom even from behind bars, by calling for an end to the executions of protesters in letters smuggled out of the prison.

By summoning Iranian ambassadors on Women’s Day, Sweden would signal to the Islamic Republic’s authorities that it will not stand by as the Iranian government uses lethal force to crush peaceful protest.

We hope your government will take part in this simple action to show the Iranian government that the EU will stand with the women of Iran in their struggle for freedom and fundamental human rights.

Most respectfully,

Center for Human Rights in Iran

United for Iran

Justice for Iran

Iran Human Rights

Iranian Diaspora Collective

Siamak Pourzand Foundation

Iran Human Rights Documentation Center

Kurdistan Human Rights Association-Geneva

Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran

Kurdpa Human Rights Organization

Rasank