Dr. Arteaga Serrano: The NCRI led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi has shown courage and vision in its fight for the consolidation of rights for all, especially for women in Iran
Dr. Rosalía Arteaga Serrano, former President of Ecuador during a transitional period. She was the country’s Vice-President from 1996 to 1997. She is a jurist and has written 15 books.
Following are Dr. Arteaga Serrano’s remarks during the IWD2024 Conference in Paris:
Dear Madame Maryam Rajavi,
Dear excellences, women of Iran, men of Iran,
This is my first time here, but I cannot forget what’s happening in Iran and in other parts of the world.
The essence of human being is freedom. The ability to make one’s own decision as long as they do not affect others.
History in different latitudes, countries, and continents tell us of the need to work for equal rights and options for all, regardless of sex, race, social or economic status. In this sense, I have been a fervent defender of women’s rights from an early age, feeling that being a man does not generate rights by itself and even worse, the possibility to oppress others.
I suffer it in my flesh, the political discrimination in my country, Ecuador, and I do not want any woman to suffer it. That’s why I have joined the call of those who fight in protest against the situation of women in Iran, who have been stigmatized, violated, and are suffering imprisonment, torture and death just for the fact of wanting to exercise their freedoms, which go through the rejection of the forced use of the veil, and that has to do with the ability to exercise public, professional, business, cultural functions, establishing still in this third decade of the 21st century the ominous division of first and second class citizens.
Therefore, several leaders from different parts of the world have raised our voices to call on the international community to leave aside silence and inaction and support the fights of women and the people of Iran to achieve this country the full exercise of freedoms that includes the separation of church and state.
I want to tell you that I resigned when I was minister of education to defend the separation of church and religion and state. As well as the concretion of democratic values that include the separation, the abolition of death penalty, as well as absolute equality between men and women.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran, led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, has shown courage and vision in its fight for the consolidation of rights for all, especially for women in Iran. Its slogan, we can and must, reflects the feeling of an oppressed community in the search of their rights.
The need to advocate for women’s rights in Iran cannot be postponed, which will serve to create, in Mrs. Rajavi’s own words, opportunities for women to make autonomous choices, to achieve the right to employment, free choice of profession, and other rights.
Misogyny cannot be a state policy nor an acceptable practice by any society in the world, nor can women be considered as slaves for men, nor should we continue with obsolete laws that harm women in their ability to leave their homes, interact, decide, and their penalty of being punished with the possibility of even death. It’s also imperative that there be laws that specifically punish violence against women, as exists in most countries of the world. Women have demonstrated through history our capabilities. We have contributed greatly to the invention and advances in science, the arts, literature, and governance. So, it is unacceptable that obstacles are still established for the full development of our faculties and capabilities.
To guarantee access to all rights for women, the exercise of democracy is required with an independent judiciary, which ensures the exercise of the right that benefits all citizens. It is in this sense that I come to raise my voice and testify with my presence, my support for the women of Iran and all of the countries where they are subjugated.
From Latin America, and particularly from Ecuador, the country in the middle of the world, I want to express my solidarity with the women and the people of Iran.
Thank you very much.
