Radka Maxova, MEP from the Czech Republic, is the Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.
She organized a conference at the European Parliament in Brussels on April 9, 2024, entitled, “Championing Change: Supporting the Journey of Iranian Women.”
Ms. Radka Maxova opened the conference with the following remarks:
Madam President-elect, dear colleagues,
Welcome to today’s meeting. Thank you for joining us for a timely discussion on what the EU and we in this parliament should do to support the brave women and girls in Iran who are protesting for their rights and better future. They face a brutal regime whose domestic repression is built on misogyny.
And who better to address this topic, appropriate steps, and avenue of cooperation than our main speaker and guest, Mrs. Rajavi, who joined us via video link.
She has devoted her life to a free and democratic Iran and is leading the most experienced and organized Iranian opposition coalition to the regime, the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Mrs. Rajavi is the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran for the transitional period.
She lost many of her colleagues and friends in the 50 years of struggles against the dictatorship, including six members of her family. She was a leader of the student movement in the Shah’s era. Her 10-point plan advocates a democratic republic for Iran based on gender equality, separation of religion and state, abolition of the death penalty, and a non-nuclear Iran. So welcome. It is a great honor. We look forward to hearing your remarks.
Women and girls constitute over half of the Iranian population but are excluded from the society as second-class citizens in their own country, a serious concern with the UN special rapporteur for Iran mentioned in his latest report.
As he also reported, the regime is executing women and even juvenile offenders. Authorities carried out 853 executions last year, the highest number since 2015, as protests continue and expand in the country.
Also last month, the UN Fact-Finding mission concluded in its report that institutional discrimination against women and girls enables human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the context of recent protests.
The report also documents cases of women and girls being subjected to rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence as part of the state crackdown on protests.
But the brave women and girls are getting organized and leading Resistance Units across the country to advance the fight for a democratic republic in Iran. The slogan today has become Women, Resistance, Freedom, because Iranian women represent the value of resisting against tyranny.
The Council, Member States, and the Parliament should recognize this reality and endorse Mrs. Rajavi’s plan, which offers a way forward for Iranian women, girls, and people to realize their aspirations and shape the future of their country.
We must also do more to end impunity in Iran by making sure those responsible are prosecuted under the existing UN mechanism.
Today, we also have with us colleagues who would like to join the discussion and representatives of the Women and Youth Association in the European country. We welcome you, representatives of the Iranian European Association, from France, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
