We would like to advise readers that the Submissions below include references to violence that may cause pain or distress. Please prioritise your safety and wellbeing when reading.
As a feminist organisation working to advance the health and wellbeing of migrant and refugee women and gender diverse people, Multicultural Centre for women’s Health finds the situation in Iran deeply troubling.
While there is a plethora of issues that need to be addressed, our submission focusses on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s human rights violations and violence against women and girls in Iran and its implications for people’s ongoing health and wellbeing. Our key recommendations are:
- Australia must continue to advocate and take necessary action to support Iranian women and people in their revolution for self-determination and freedom;
- Australia should expel the Islamic Republic’s ambassador and diplomats;
- Australia must list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation;
- Australia should use its Magnitsky-styled sanctions, freeze the assets and impose a travel ban against the IRGC, key security officials and the ‘morality police’;
- Australia should take the necessary measures to support and protect Iranian-Australian activists and Australian residents who have been subjected to harassment and threats by the Islamic Republic for speaking up against human rights violations in Iran;
- Australia should consider establishing a national task force or an expert advisory group to review and develop specific guidelines and policies including specific refugee visas for Iranians under immediate danger and persecution, including those from religious and ethnic minorities, women and LGBTIQ+ people;
- The Australian government and international community must be more vocal in their condemnation of the detainment and executions of Iranian protestors;
- The Australian government should urge all Australian news media to be vigilant in their reporting of the revolution and to ensure they are centring and amplifying the voices of people from Iran, as opposed to narratives that further perpetuate the regimes’ propaganda.
Our organisation employs, collaborates with, and serves many people from the Iranian community in Australia and we extend our support to them.
Particular thanks to MCWH Research Advocacy and Policy Officer Delaram Ansari and Dr. Maria Hach for their work on the submission.