Ms. Ebadi, the CRC and UNICEF Iran
I want to briefly share with you a memory I have of collaborating with Ms. Ebadi in Iran – and thus recognize one of her many many contributions to the struggle for human rights in Iran – in this case the rights of children. At that time, in the early 1990s, I was a young/enthusiastic and passionate staff member of UNICEF Iran – the United Nations Children’s Fund. This is only one of the many chapters of Ms. Ebadi’s career as a human rights lawyer and activist.
At that time, the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child) had just been ratified internationally – the first such document on children’s rights globally – and Iran had also ratified it. We in UNICEF Iran had the mandate to raise awareness on the CRC amongst the public/officials and CSOs. I was responsible in UNICEF Iran for that aspect of our work and very excited to make a contribution in my/our own small way to advance child rights in Iran.
The first step, we had to take was to translate the CRC into Farsi of course – so that it could be accessible to Iranians - and undertake a comparative study with Iranian and Islamic law when it comes to children – to highlight what the gaps and discrepancies are and what needs to change – to align with the Convention & internationally agreed standards for children.
Who better to undertake this task – one that had not been undertaken before in Iran – than Ms.. Ebadi – already a well-established lawyer and social activist. I came to know more about Ms.. Ebadi’s work from the fact that she had done something similar for UNHCR (the UN High Commission for Refugees) on Refugee Rights and also collaborated with other women’s rights activists I knew – Ms.. Shahla Lahiji who led the Rowshangaran Publishing House and Ms.. Mehrangiz Kar, another lawyer and activist – who is with us today as well. I have had the honor of knowing and collaborating with these progressive women in Iran those years.
Thus, we invited Ms.. Ebadi to undertake this task for UNICEF, Iran, and she kindly and fortunately accepted, and the result was an outstanding book that included not only the Farsi text of the Convention but also an in-depth comparative study of it vis a vis Iranian and Islamic Law. That book has stood the test of time.
I still remember the conversations we had with Ms.. Ebadi at that time in our office – and how she highlighted the inequality between boys and girls in the legal system in Iran at that time – the power of fathers over the life and well-being of their children especially their daughters – the criminal law and children – child labour as well as the disregard for refugee children – at that time mostly Afghan children. It was always inspiring and eye-opening to speak with her.
That collaboration and the result – the book – was published at the time in the early 1990s - and used as the basis for awareness-raising, training, networking, advocacy, lobbying etc. on children’s rights by us in UNICEF and by others. It was the first time this was happening in Iran in this way.
A dear colleague from those years reminded me of yet another follow-up activity. After the book was published/disseminated – we in UNICEF also arranged a workshop with the leadership and facilitation of Ms. Ebadi on child abuse in Iran and many officials from GOs/NGOs and parents from vulnerable communities actively participated and shared their valuable comments and suggestions. This workshop resulted very specifically in the establishing of a hot-line for children in need.
That book/collaboration shaped the first such systematic efforts to promote the Convention on the Rights of Children in Iran. It was a strong pillar based on which subsequent work on children’s rights was built in Iran – and of course, Ms.. Ebadi continued to be a leader in this regard with her other colleague – some of whom are in this room today. In addition to UNICEF, Iranian CSOs were established focusing on child rights and they have continued to be active up to the present inspite of all the difficulties and risks. In fact, what Ms.. Ebadi did for us in UNICEF at that time was noted throughout the regional office of UNICEF for the Middle East and North Africa and was an outstanding example of such work internationally.
I thank Ms. Ebadi ,after so many years for her collaboration and support at that time. That was indeed one of my own most significant experiences in my approximately 40 plus years of working with UNICEF and on child rights in many different countries.
At that time, the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child) had just been ratified internationally – the first such document on children’s rights globally – and Iran had also ratified it. We in UNICEF Iran had the mandate to raise awareness on the CRC amongst the public/officials and CSOs. I was responsible in UNICEF Iran for that aspect of our work and very excited to make a contribution in my/our own small way to advance child rights in Iran.
The first step, we had to take was to translate the CRC into Farsi of course – so that it could be accessible to Iranians - and undertake a comparative study with Iranian and Islamic law when it comes to children – to highlight what the gaps and discrepancies are and what needs to change – to align with the Convention & internationally agreed standards for children.
Who better to undertake this task – one that had not been undertaken before in Iran – than Ms.. Ebadi – already a well-established lawyer and social activist. I came to know more about Ms.. Ebadi’s work from the fact that she had done something similar for UNHCR (the UN High Commission for Refugees) on Refugee Rights and also collaborated with other women’s rights activists I knew – Ms.. Shahla Lahiji who led the Rowshangaran Publishing House and Ms.. Mehrangiz Kar, another lawyer and activist – who is with us today as well. I have had the honor of knowing and collaborating with these progressive women in Iran those years.
Thus, we invited Ms.. Ebadi to undertake this task for UNICEF, Iran, and she kindly and fortunately accepted, and the result was an outstanding book that included not only the Farsi text of the Convention but also an in-depth comparative study of it vis a vis Iranian and Islamic Law. That book has stood the test of time.
I still remember the conversations we had with Ms.. Ebadi at that time in our office – and how she highlighted the inequality between boys and girls in the legal system in Iran at that time – the power of fathers over the life and well-being of their children especially their daughters – the criminal law and children – child labour as well as the disregard for refugee children – at that time mostly Afghan children. It was always inspiring and eye-opening to speak with her.
That collaboration and the result – the book – was published at the time in the early 1990s - and used as the basis for awareness-raising, training, networking, advocacy, lobbying etc. on children’s rights by us in UNICEF and by others. It was the first time this was happening in Iran in this way.
A dear colleague from those years reminded me of yet another follow-up activity. After the book was published/disseminated – we in UNICEF also arranged a workshop with the leadership and facilitation of Ms. Ebadi on child abuse in Iran and many officials from GOs/NGOs and parents from vulnerable communities actively participated and shared their valuable comments and suggestions. This workshop resulted very specifically in the establishing of a hot-line for children in need.
That book/collaboration shaped the first such systematic efforts to promote the Convention on the Rights of Children in Iran. It was a strong pillar based on which subsequent work on children’s rights was built in Iran – and of course, Ms.. Ebadi continued to be a leader in this regard with her other colleague – some of whom are in this room today. In addition to UNICEF, Iranian CSOs were established focusing on child rights and they have continued to be active up to the present inspite of all the difficulties and risks. In fact, what Ms.. Ebadi did for us in UNICEF at that time was noted throughout the regional office of UNICEF for the Middle East and North Africa and was an outstanding example of such work internationally.
I thank Ms. Ebadi ,after so many years for her collaboration and support at that time. That was indeed one of my own most significant experiences in my approximately 40 plus years of working with UNICEF and on child rights in many different countries.
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