Iran is a country which requires the monitoring of the international community regarding developments related to women’s struggle for equality. There are several reasons for such a need.
Iran plays an important role in international exchanges. It is logical for the international community to prefer stability in Iran given the country's important role in world trade. Stability in a country like Iran, however, is attainable only by meeting the demands and needs of society and the Iranian people, on a consistent basis. In other words, the reaction of the international community to the Iranian government, which is based on the Iranian government’s behavior and demands, is not the only factor in determining stability. It is necessary for the international community to take into account the demands and needs of the Iranian people in order to create stability in the country.
The Iranian government does not exist in a vacuum. In general, governments are defined by international exchanges, not in their absence. Therefore, in all exchanges (governmental or nongovernmental) that define the government at the international level, the issue of human rights violations in Iran must be mentioned as a sensitive subject requiring attention. Attaining this sensitivity is a fundamental request of the Iranian people, a people who seriously oppose any foreign attack or overthrow of their regime by foreign intervention and sanctions are adding to their mounting daily problems to make ends meet. As a result, people are not ready to fully and wholeheartedly join peaceful protests under that level of pressure.
One discernible characteristic of human rights violations, which has become systematic, are gender-based human rights violations. In Iran, laws are discriminatory toward women in a clear and obvious way. Discriminatory laws against women are found in every area and women from all social layers and classes lose their “mental health” under the pressure of these laws.
Is it right for the international community to remain silent when tools of oppression against women are so widespread that they distinguish Iran even from other Muslim and hardliner countries? This level of oppression is not even seen in other majority-Muslim nations, and Iran has acquired an especially violent reputation for its treatment of women.
The issue of oppressing Iranian women is controversial in other respects as well. In Iran, the level of women’s protests has increased so much and the Campaign to Change Discriminatory Laws has become so active that it has led to widespread suppression of women. Data shows that during the past year and a half alone, close to fifty people were arrested in connection with women’s struggle for equality.
That level of oppression must be discussed by the international community and seriously protested. In addition, the international community must take practical steps to alleviate discriminatory domestic laws that exist against Iranian women, in reaction to which widespread protests have taken place inside and outside Iran. The international community is gradually beginning to pay attention to the dire condition of human rights violations in Iran, but that attention is still not proportional to the danger facing the Iranian people to voice their demands. The goal of Iranian people’s sustained participation in various civil movements is to make the international community aware of the severity of conditions in Iran so that the international community may react appropriately to the demands and needs of the Iranian people.
Iranians expect their demands and wants concerning human rights to become part of the international discourse and for civil and political institutions across the globe (not just in the West) not to remain silent, and instead repeat their warning, recommendations and insistence on the Iranian government’s observance of basic human rights principles. Western media have a large responsibility in this respect, one which they currently are ignoring. Western media do not pay enough attention to the condition of human rights in Iran, often sacrificing coverage of such violations for political advertisement focused on nuclear crisis and related news.
Even if the continuation of current stance of Western media and governments toward Iran concludes with the resolution of certain disputes between Iran and foreign governments and creation a perception of political stability in Iran, such stability is fragile and vulnerable – because the international community has not acknowledged the demands of the Iranian people, simply focusing on the demands of the Iranian government.
