What future for women and minorities, Nasser Boladai / Video and pictures
Respected Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and profound gratitude to the organizers of the Women, Life, Freedom Conference, and particularly to my good friend Taimoor.
Today, I want to address a crucial issue: the future of women and national minorities in Iran, with a focus on the Baloch people’s struggle for religious freedom, national rights, and Gender equality.
The Women, Life, Freedom movement, born out of protests and ongoing revolution, has resonated deeply in Balochistan and Kurdistan—regions where national minorities in Iran have long been marginalized. The Baloch, as a national minority, have been sidelined from Iran’s political, economic, and educational advancements. Historically, both the Monarchy and the Islamic Republic have pursued policies aimed at keeping the Baloch politically weak, disunited, and backward.
Since the movement’s inception in September 2022, the Baloch people have joined with unparalleled determination. Despite a decrease in demonstrations in other parts in Iran, Balochistan remained a beacon of unyielding resistance until early 2024.
The Women, Life, Freedom movement has sparked hope for a renewed perspective on Baloch rights following the anticipated success of the revolution.
On September 30, 2022, Baloch people protested the rape of a 15-year-old Baloch girl by an Iranian security forces commander, as well as the killing of Zhina Amini, a Kurdish girl, by Iran’s moral police in Tehran. The regime, anticipating these demonstrations, deployed security forces and Revolutionary Guards to brutally suppress the protests in Zahedan. The result was a massacre: approximately 96 protesters were killed, hundreds were injured, and many were arrested.
On November 4, another massacre occurred in Khash, with around 30 killed and many more injured and arrested. The regime’s violent response continues, with ongoing arrests and daily torture of prisoners.
The Baloch face multiple forms of discrimination, both religious and national. The Women, Life, Freedom movement has provided crucial inspiration, embodying a revolutionary push for systemic change and addressing all forms of discrimination in Iran. This is why, for over a year and a half, Balochistan has been a focal point of relentless protest, despite the immense suppression.
These sacrifices have fostered some public empathy toward the rights of national minorities. Yet, this sympathy has not translated into significant representation or participation at higher levels within Iranian opposition groups, media, or human rights organizations. The voices of national minorities, including the Baloch and Kurds, have been overshadowed by those who claim to represent the majority population—often inaccurately.
In a 2009 seminar, Iran’s Education Minister admitted that 70 percent of schoolchildren do not speak Persian as their mother tongue. This underscores the widespread marginalization of non-Persian speaking communities. Despite hopes that the Women, Life, Freedom movement would unify diverse groups into a strong revolutionary force, lack of organization and leadership in some sectors has led to a temporary slowdown.
This pause has allowed the regime to intensify its repression of the most active societal sections, particularly women and national minorities, especially the Baloch and Kurds.
The international community must act decisively. We urge the following actions:
- Pressurize Iran to halt the arbitrary arrest, execution, and extrajudicial killing of Baloch people.
- Demand from Iranian opposition groups a clear vision for the equal rights of national and gender minorities, and ensure their programs are based on these fundamental rights.
- Pressurize the regime to cease executions and release all political prisoners.
Thank you.
This conference was held in the in collaboration between Kurdistan Human – Geneva Right group and Ms. Laurence Fehlmann Rielle member of Swiss parliament in Swiss parliament on 11th September on the subject of Iran: Women, Life, Freedom What future for women and minorities, two years after the Movement
