The 24th Triennial Congress of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 14-25 July, 1989 in Sydney, Australia:
Extensive media coverage of the Gulf war has focused public attention on the situation in Iran. The odious human rights violations carried out by the Khomeini regime, as already reported by the UN Human Rights Commission, include widespread torture and execution, especially of political dissidents. According to UN published reports, 14,000 Iranians, one third of them women, have been executed, often without trial. Witnesses attest that the actual number of victims is much higher. Mothers have often been kept in prison with their children, which increases the pressure on the women to give in. Women prisoners have been raped or forced to marry prison staff before execution of virgins.
In addition to the general suppression of human rights (Press censorship, banning of free speech and rights of assembly, etc.), women suffer in many ways from the current situation. Loss of relatives as a result of the war may also mean loss of the family breadwinner. This affects women profoundly, because they have few opportunities to find even poorly paid work. Furthermore, women workers are not protected by industrial regulations. Moreover, the rights of women have been severely reduced as a result of the extension of Islamic Fundamentalism into every aspect of life. For example, every form of independent democratic women’s organization is prohibited.
WILPF has a responsibility to support the securing of human rights and elimination of the death penalty. We therefore, urge the International Congress in Sydney to adopt the following resolutions:
1. To declare its concern about the situation in Iran, especially the massive recent wave of political executions, to the UN Human Rights Commission.
2. To urge the UN General Secretary, Perez de Quellar to renew his condemnation of human rights violation in Iran, at every possible opportunity and to insist on the implementation of UNO Resolution 598 by the Iranian government.