Ms. Zala Tomašič, a Member of the European Parliament from Slovenia, hosted a meeting at the European Parliament on November 20, 2024, on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Following are the opening remarks by Ms. Zala Tomašič.
Welcome, everyone. It is my great honor to welcome you all here and thank you that you attended this event in such big numbers. I’m very honored that I was approached, to be hosting this event.
And, usually I like to talk by heart, but because we gathered here today for such an important and also hard topic, excuse me if I look at my notes, more often than usual, but I do want to get everything right.
So, we gathered here today on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to call for action and to unite to end the violence against women and girls.
Violence against women and girls remains one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations in the world.
I was shocked when I was preparing for this event to find out that 1 in 3 women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner, at least once in their lifetime.
The statistics have remained largely unchanged for over a decade. 137 women are killed every day by a family member according to the UN data. This means that at home is often the most dangerous place for many women.
Then child marriage is still a reality for many with 12,000,000 girls married before the age of 18 every year. And these figures are not just numbers. They represent lives devastated by violence.
And what is exceptionally sad is that in many countries, and I’m going to focus on Iran for the rest of my speech, this violence is done by the state and is justified and promoted in the law and practice.
Women and girls who constitute more than half of Iran’s 85,000,000 population are considered 2nd class citizens.
They’re not even allowed to decide on their own clothing but must obey the regime’s oppressive and misogynistic mandatory dress code.
To this day, the state has established 27 security and intelligence organs and agencies responsible for enforcing the mandatory dress code.
If women and girls do not obey this code, they risk fines, prison, or even death, as we saw in the tragic case of Mahsa Jina Amini, a 22-year-old young girl who was killed in the custody of the morality police after being arrested for allegedly violating the mandatory dress code. Her tragic death in September of 2022 sparked a restive nation to rise against the brutal regime. The world was amazed and inspired while the brave women and courageous girls of Iran led the nationwide protests that continue to this day.
But to break their spirit and determination, the regime has responded to their legitimate demands with extrajudicial killings, executions, and mass arrests.
Unable to subjugate women and girls, the regime is taking revenge on them using sexual assault and rape as a systematic tool of torture in its prisons. And we have to say this is completely unacceptable.
And it’s unacceptable that we are holding such an event in 2024. But today, the brave women’s resistance against the regime and its repressive policy is echoed by the evolved popular slogan, “Women, Resistance, Freedom.”
So, I say to my colleagues in this parliament, let us be inspired by the courage of these women. Let us support the women when they stand up to the Iranian regime.
Let’s look at the brave female political prisoners and detained women rights activists protesting executions and state repression, defying the harsh conditions and torture in prison.
And now there’s no excuse to stay silent. We got to say something. We have to be vocal about what’s happening.
As the UN declares, in this year’s weeklong campaign, on the occasion, the solution lies in robust response, holding perpetrators accountable and accelerating action through well-resourced national strategies and increasing funding to women’s rights movements.
The EU and member states have the resources and must show the political will to support the women and girls of Iran in their fight for a better future.
Let us support them in their fight. Let us support you in your fight because the only way to end violence against women and girls in Iran is to help them overthrow the current regime and establish a free democratic and secular Iran.
And let us support all the women everywhere who are fighting for their rights, for their education, for their safety, for their freedom.
Let’s make sure that one day, we will not need to organize events such as this one because women will have their rights, they’ll have their safety, and they’ll have their freedom.
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