Gender Apartheid in Iran: Foreign Policy Responses

One year after the “Women, Life, Liberty” protests in Iran following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, Iranian women’s rights activists and international human rights experts have united to denounce the brutal Islamic Republic and call for the international recognition of “gender apartheid”. Countries with values-based foreign policy – including feminist foreign policy – that aims to promote human rights and gender equality can and should support this call, in alliance with like-minded countries.

In this AFFPC issues paper, Professor Jacqui True, Dr Amir Ahmadi and Professor Alison Ross call for all states, but particularly those that espouse democratic, human rights and gender equality values, to implement practical foreign policy options, including codify gender apartheid as a crime against humanity through resolutions of the UN General Assembly and other multilateral bodies, as tools to to hold the Islamic Republic accountable for crimes against women.

Review all publications in the Australian Feminist Foreign Policy Coalition Issues Paper Series on the AFFPC home page here.