“Gender mainstreaming is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies and programmes, in all areas and at all levels, and as a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and social spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.” (ECOSOC 1997/2)
This is the claim of the United Nations' Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The very same body is responsible for the establishment of the 'Commission on the Status of Women' (CSW), ECOSOC Resolution 11(ii) of 21 June, 1946. The United Nations’ CSW website contends that it is the ‘principal global policy-making body’ that is ‘dedicated exclusively to gender equality and [the] advancement of women’.
ECOSOC elected 11 new members to fill an equal number of vacancies on the CSW for four-year terms beginning at the first meeting of the Commission’s fifty-Sixth session in 2011 and expiring at the close of its fifty-ninth session in 2015; the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) was elected from the group of Asian States.
Alas, the IRI - the silver medallists of the international championships for transgression of human rights - sits as a 'distinguished member' on the Commission on the Status of Women. The following is a brief examination of the IRI's contribution to the rights of women in the pursuit of 'gender equality'.
Article 1005 of the IRI Civil Code dictates that the husband has the right to control his wife's freedom of movement and behaviour. Article 1117 empowers the husband to forbid his wife from accepting a job in which she may have chosen.
According to the disturbing finding of Special Rapporteur Coomaraswamy (U.N. DocE/CN.4/2002/83) the inequalities in law and justice in the Islamic Republic of Iran convey startling results. Should a man find out his wife has been unfaithful, he is permitted to execute her; however, the very same legal system will execute a woman who murders her husband if the situation was reversed.
Finally, but not last on the exhaustive list of violations, Article 1041 of the IRI Civil Code dictates that a girl as young as nine years of age may be married off by her father or grandfather to a man without her consent; the groom may be as old as whatever the circumstances present.
It is clear that the practice of, and the laws passed and implemented by the ruling authorities in the IRI subjugate women, demonstrating a complete lack of respect for gender equality and its protecting legal instruments.
Article 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966, protects the 'equal rights of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights'. Iran ratified the ICCPR on 24 June 1975; thus, binding the country to the provisions of this instrument. The IRI have heinously offended this provision of international law repeatedly; and yet they have been elected by the international body that claims to be the principal policy-maker in dedication to the advancement of women, to 'achieve gender equality'.
This 'election' serves as an insulting blow to the victims of gender discrimination, and to the efforts and advancements made by campaigners of gender equality. Furthermore, the aims promised by the CSW and ECOSOC have been rendered null and void by such a contradictory act. The damage has been delivered; campaigners, such as 'Neda for a Free Iran' and other bodies dedicated to human rights and gender equality are striving to remedy this international setback by endeavouring to bring sense to the international community's attention.
The representatives of member states convene annually at the UN headquarters in New York to assess the progress on gender equality and identify the challenges, and ‘formulate concrete policies’ to promote the global advancement of gender equality. The next session will take place in 2011 (actual date to be confirmed), at the Commission's Fifty-Fifth Session. Such an event provides the opportunity to articulate resentment at the IRI membership. The IRI must be relieved of their membership; the doors to the international arena must be shut, preventing the IRI from further corrupting the ethics of humanity. The IRI must not be permitted to benefit from their propaganda-filled parade on-stage at the UN any further.
This is the claim of the United Nations' Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The very same body is responsible for the establishment of the 'Commission on the Status of Women' (CSW), ECOSOC Resolution 11(ii) of 21 June, 1946. The United Nations’ CSW website contends that it is the ‘principal global policy-making body’ that is ‘dedicated exclusively to gender equality and [the] advancement of women’.
ECOSOC elected 11 new members to fill an equal number of vacancies on the CSW for four-year terms beginning at the first meeting of the Commission’s fifty-Sixth session in 2011 and expiring at the close of its fifty-ninth session in 2015; the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) was elected from the group of Asian States.
Alas, the IRI - the silver medallists of the international championships for transgression of human rights - sits as a 'distinguished member' on the Commission on the Status of Women. The following is a brief examination of the IRI's contribution to the rights of women in the pursuit of 'gender equality'.
Article 1005 of the IRI Civil Code dictates that the husband has the right to control his wife's freedom of movement and behaviour. Article 1117 empowers the husband to forbid his wife from accepting a job in which she may have chosen.
According to the disturbing finding of Special Rapporteur Coomaraswamy (U.N. DocE/CN.4/2002/83) the inequalities in law and justice in the Islamic Republic of Iran convey startling results. Should a man find out his wife has been unfaithful, he is permitted to execute her; however, the very same legal system will execute a woman who murders her husband if the situation was reversed.
Finally, but not last on the exhaustive list of violations, Article 1041 of the IRI Civil Code dictates that a girl as young as nine years of age may be married off by her father or grandfather to a man without her consent; the groom may be as old as whatever the circumstances present.
It is clear that the practice of, and the laws passed and implemented by the ruling authorities in the IRI subjugate women, demonstrating a complete lack of respect for gender equality and its protecting legal instruments.
Article 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966, protects the 'equal rights of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights'. Iran ratified the ICCPR on 24 June 1975; thus, binding the country to the provisions of this instrument. The IRI have heinously offended this provision of international law repeatedly; and yet they have been elected by the international body that claims to be the principal policy-maker in dedication to the advancement of women, to 'achieve gender equality'.
This 'election' serves as an insulting blow to the victims of gender discrimination, and to the efforts and advancements made by campaigners of gender equality. Furthermore, the aims promised by the CSW and ECOSOC have been rendered null and void by such a contradictory act. The damage has been delivered; campaigners, such as 'Neda for a Free Iran' and other bodies dedicated to human rights and gender equality are striving to remedy this international setback by endeavouring to bring sense to the international community's attention.
The representatives of member states convene annually at the UN headquarters in New York to assess the progress on gender equality and identify the challenges, and ‘formulate concrete policies’ to promote the global advancement of gender equality. The next session will take place in 2011 (actual date to be confirmed), at the Commission's Fifty-Fifth Session. Such an event provides the opportunity to articulate resentment at the IRI membership. The IRI must be relieved of their membership; the doors to the international arena must be shut, preventing the IRI from further corrupting the ethics of humanity. The IRI must not be permitted to benefit from their propaganda-filled parade on-stage at the UN any further.
In the Islamic Republic of Iran,
ReplyDeleteTHE BLOOD MONEY OF A WOMAN IS HALF OF THE MAN,
BLOOD MONEY OF A MAN'S LEFT TESTICLE IS HALF OF THE BLOOD MONEY FOR THE MAN;
BY CONSTRUCTION THE VALUE OF A WOMAN'S LIFE IS EQUAL TO THE VALUE OF A MAN'S LEFT TESTICLE
Islamic Republic