Parliament

Message of Baroness Caroline Cox member of the British House of Lords

• Report rights infringement
• published: 04 Jul 2016
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Remarks by Baroness Caroline Cox, member of the House of Lords: I, together with many of my colleagues in both houses of parliament of the United Kingdom, are deeply concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran, in particular in the months following the nuclear deal have seen a heavy crackdown on the civil society, human rights defenders, and an alarming increase in the number of executions. With over 2400 executions including the hanging of 63 women since Rouhani took office, Iran's government can be seen as the world's leading executioner per capita. According to recent Amnesty International report, Iran is one of the few countries that continues to execute juvenile offenders in blatant violation of international law. We, and especially perhaps the female members of both houses, are appalled and condemn the state sanctioned discrimination against women in Iran that marginalizes women to second-class citizens. Under the Iranian regime's Constitution, women are subjected to a compulsory dress code which give state security organs open hand to harass women in public under bogus charges like mal-veiling. In a shocking report earlier this year, UN Committee on the rights of the child reiterated, "Iran's regime must reform its laws that allows girls as young as nine to be executed for crimes, or forced marriage to much older husbands. Last month, a woman was publicly flogged for having relations outside her marriage in addition to the outrageous flogging of 35 young men and women after they were caught holding a graduation party together in a city in north of Tehran. I join UN High Commissioner of Human Rights in condemning these floggings and the use of barbaric punishments that are prohibited under international human rights law and in particular the Convention Against Torture. On the occasion of International Women's Day earlier this year, I and some 30 women parliamentarians from both houses of parliament supported an initiative highlighting and condemning these harsh realities that the women in Iran are suffering. We called on the British government to act unilaterally on international level to impose punitive sanctions and travel bans on those responsible for these blatant and systematic abuses in Iran. We publicly called on the Iranian regime to stop executions, torture and state-sanctions to discrimination against women and to make any improvement in UK relations with Tehran contingent upon their implementation. In our statement, we also recognized the 1000 women members of the Iranian democratic opposition in Camp Liberty, Iraq, who are at the forefront of the struggle for a democratic and free Iran for the last three decades. That's why I am encouraged to hear that tens and hundreds of parliamentarians and dignitaries will gather in Paris on July 9 in support of the struggle for democracy and the ten-point democratic platform of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi for future Iran. My message to these brave women is a better future is on the horizon and we members and all parties of both houses of parliament would do our best to continue to press the Iranian regime so that your days of freedom and equal rights come sooner rather than later.