Iranian activist and former political prisoner Sima Babaei immediately obtained the Geneva Summit’s 2023 International Women’s Rights Award, introduced by Geneva Tisheva, Vice-Chairman of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination towards Women.
15th Geneva Summit on Human Rights and Democracy
Presentation of the 2023 International Women’s Rights Award to Ms. Sima Babei
Presented by Jenoveva Tisheva, Vice-Chairman of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination towards Women.
It is a superb honor to face earlier than you immediately as we collect to have a good time the braveness, ethical management, and dedication of those that work tirelessly to advance girls’s rights.
This yr on the fifteenthth At the annual Geneva Human Rights Summit, we honor an excellent individual whose tireless pursuit of justice has had a profound impression on numerous lives: Iranian activist and former political prisoner Sima Babaei. .
In 2017, whereas finding out structure in Iran, Sima’s title turned synonymous with the Revolutionary Girls’ Street demonstrations that came about throughout Iran.
She risked her life and freedom to protest for girls’s rights, overtly defying a legislation requiring all girls to put on headscarves. She additionally rallied in help of political prisoners.
As a consequence, Sima was repeatedly summoned by Iranian police, arrested, and imprisoned. She was sentenced to jail for “eradicating her hijab in public” and “publishing obscene materials on social media.”
In February 2018, Sima was positioned in solitary confinement for 21 days in Tehran’s Evin Prison. She was interrogated 14 occasions. She was denied entry to her authorized illustration.
Sima and her husband, Dariush Zand, additionally an activist, had been charged with “gathering and collusion towards nationwide safety,” “propaganda towards the state,” and “publishing falsehoods on social media.” Facing a looming six-year imprisonment, the couple fled Iran in late 2018.
Currently based mostly in Belgium, Shima continues to struggle towards gender discrimination throughout nationwide borders.
When Mahsa Amini’s loss of life in custody sparked mass protests in September 2022, Sima turned the diaspora’s main spokesperson. She advised CNN, “In the exact same constructing on the ethical police headquarters, they handled me like a felony, handcuffed me and humiliated me.”
In November, Sima was considered one of 4 Iranian activists invited to a landmark assembly with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Sima is presently preventing for the discharge of her father, Ebrahim Babaei. He is a human rights activist who has been forcibly disappeared since attempting to flee Iran in December 2021. He continued to be brutally punished for years for his peaceable protests and help for his daughter’s trigger. Human rights activists are calling for his instant launch, or a minimum of for his whereabouts to be revealed.
Eleanor Roosevelt as soon as stated: “In the sunshine of historical past, it’s higher to have hope than concern and to attempt than to not attempt. First, we all know undoubtedly that some folks say, ‘It cannot be carried out.’ It means nothing was achieved.”
Despite many hardships, Sima Babei is a lady who selected hope over concern. She goals of a world the place girls are handled equally and is preventing for that dream of hers. Her braveness and willpower are a beacon of hope for girls not solely in Iran however around the globe.
On behalf of the 25 human rights organizations co-hosting the Geneva Human Rights Summit, I’m proud to current the 2023 International Women’s Rights Award to Sima Babei.
— Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy (@GenevaSummit) May 17, 2023