 Dobro vrste. Všem je Gilbert Askara, konvener delov, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, vseh zelo, se zvalo cezvo. Se začo 25 minuta. Przemo,zaj dr. Ibadi, je tudi 30 minuta začo 21 minuta, po različkih v 10 minuta iz Vrlo, dr. Ibadi, zarobil, začo seba saj del ga, se s otkrišno spotov. that external measures needed. Therefore the director of SOWAS, Paul Weble, will say a few words of welcome, and we have the great pleasure of having the president of SOWAS, Baron Senator MAN比較 ni n испekne verj tukaj. thank you and being our distinguished guest. Thank you very much. I think I'm going to skip my prepared talk. in zelo pripoživajte, da so odličili, da mi je všeč sem žel, ali všeč sem počimovati, ki se v Brumormon 6 izložil na števnje, ki so srečen, da je všeč nekaj zelo. In da se pripravila svoj imaš, da so neko se poživajte na svoj srečen. Ne se poživajte. To je vse izgleda, da se nekaj maš del neku, da se nekaj neku, da se nekaj neki, vse moraš počiši, da se ta nekaj sem spravil. Tudi je SOS jao je veliko nekaj. Zelo sem počišila, da bomo odkušal in počišila vse, in je vse nekaj, da se počišila. Vse nekaj vse nekaj. Tudi je veliko nekaj, da se počišila. Ako se tako bo, da se tokih izvok, nekaj nekaj izvok, da se tokih izvok, nekaj izvok, da se tokih izvok, nekaj izvok, da se tokih izvok, nekaj to bi bilo veliko, da se tokih izvok. če so jaz svoj načil. Sve qeško, ko se dobro odkroibo s saj s genu, in da si peče drugi student inki in del, da imam svoj načil po svojтiffsnih počeli. Pojedna sem, da se to ne več in ne več drugi student in ne ne več. Tako jo je pasačo mnogoč, načo se tako ne več ne več. Ko pa so dobro priprávo, načal, nače dneš le taško vno, je bolj začela in kilograma. Preporno, načal, da bom če način, če porvo, ozelo, da je načeki. Imamo ovo, da so skupaj, če je vzelo, da je prist. Todi si, da je načo, že si ne bi zr仮i zapani, može se počutiti, zato, da so zrti, bo se način ozelo. To je pa izživato, da bo vzelo, bo vse izgleda, bo vsogo ploče, bo če ne bo kaj in v Londonu, nač. A pa to včo izgleda. Zdaj ti, da si izgleda,orge. What we have in the Brunei at the moment. Those of you, who are visitors, you might love the exhibition we have at the moment on the Bridge of Knowledge. Looking at the links between the Islamic world and the west is tremendous. So if this is your first visit, please don't let it be your last, please look at our website and come back. I said we have the best set of events because we're special. And the S evening's event is particularly special. Dr. Rabadi will be introduced by Baroness Helena Kennedy, president Sias. Je, da se izvok narednje, ki je Zilber se izvedila, nekaj ne pomembno si taj vso težko o Baranese Kennedy, ki se zvok naredno. Baranese Kennedy je obročen, da je doktor Avadi. Zelo je zelo propešnjiv, zelo, ki je povajst, kaj negao nebo vstah v systemu, izgleda z vseh zbojnih, izgleda in vseh zelo. Ovo je izgleda Barastur. Zelo se izgleda in je obročena v zelo. je biljant, Barista. To je biljant, ki je, je biljant, ta kombinacija za herj neko izstavljana, ki je z vsega da všečno vsega tudi izgleda, da se izgleda očnega in sošnjena reforma, da se je tako izgleda. Znača, da se izgleda očnega, zato je to, ki se se vsega, kaj je, da je to, ki je inšla všečnega. Se je zvrte in tudi povrte, ki je vsega zvrte in pomečnega, se vse jih ga navo, je zaradi s vsem, je v to, kjer je ampak, v Ivacu v Rešine. Čerja je ta Slovenska rešina, ko je v Sebnej maili, kaj je jih se compete občas, kaj je nekaj načo način na prinspešenju. Ničo se begam, kaj je začna sred, če vse je fočil na čas strane s dva v propr Trihe, societyjstveča in kultur. So ni da ne zamos tudi istu prijevam, danes iz prezidenta Helena Kennedy. I cant begin to tell you what an honour this is. Everyone has heroes. And Sharon Abadi is one of mine. She is one of the world's great jurists. She is one of the world's great champions of human rights. And as Gilbert said, one of the great public intellectuals of our time. I have the great good fortune of being the president of SOAS. And I've done that now for, I think, ten years. It has been a privilege because SOAS is where the world meets. It's a wonderful university. It's a place, probably, the most diverse college, I think, in the world. College of higher education. We have students from all over the world. And here the great conversation of mankind takes place. Sometimes, boys are raised in that conversation. But it's always challenging, interesting. It's always an exciting place to be. But tonight is special. Even in all the events that we have, it's special. Because the woman who sits before you is a truly special woman. This is a woman who qualified as a judge, studied in the 60s, became a lawyer, and went on to judicial appointment, sat as a judge in the courts in Iran. But following the revolution in 1979, I'm afraid conservative clerics insisted that Islam did not allow women to sit as judges. Of course, it's not quite the interpretation that Sharon Abadi would put on it. But she was demoted from her post. Was really demoted to really a clerical position. After a great argument with other lawyers and women judges, she was translated upwards to be accepted as someone who had legal expertise. But it was only in 1993, after much battling, that she was able to practice as a lawyer and put all her commitment and passion to the service of perhaps the most disadvantaged in her society. She's lectured also on law extensively. She's played a key role in Iranian society. In 1997, she was very much involved in the election of the reformist president, President Khatami. She has over the years represented dissidents and the family of murdered intellectuals, murdered by extremist hardliners. She has been the voice for women and children within Iran. And she has paid the price, incarceration, interrogation. And she has argued perhaps more effectively than anyone I know for an interpretation of Islam that is in harmony with equality and democracy. Not, she would say very strenuously, a religion that binds women. But it has been used selectively by some to cloister women and to take women out of public life. She believes that Iran will change, is in the process of changing, but will change from within. In 2003, Sharon Abadi, for all her precious work on human rights, on championing democracy and the rule of law, was given the Nobel Prize. It was a day when my heart sang and the heart of many around the world sang because it was recognition of someone with such courage, such strength of character and such commitment that we could only marvel that she even existed. So tonight it is our pleasure and our honour that we have her in our midst. I've had the opportunity of meeting, Sharon twice in the past, once when I was chairing the British Council and she came to London, I think about 2004. I then met her again only about a year, I think or two ago, when we had an exhibition at the British Museum in which an exchange was made and the great artefacts from Tehran came to be shown in an exhibition called Shah Abbas at the British Museum. And Sharon came at that time. And I was thrilled because she had just brought out her autobiography in which she, with great honesty, described the life that she'd had and some of the battles that she'd had to fight. But she tells that story with honesty and humility and sometimes is harder on herself than she needs to be. Her new book is going to be published in April, a book which is a story really of suffering and life which perhaps tells the story of modern Iran better than anything. And I hope that you will all buy that book and champion her accounts because no one tells the story better than she. And so it is my great pleasure tonight to say that we have in our midst a woman who can only be described as a heroine, Sharon Abadi. Hjavstat moh terem sohas, asatide, ažemand, khanom, habagaja. Honourable Chancellor of SOAS, Honourable Lecturers and distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Bezjar hošanem, ki tavonistim emšap inčo bašoma sopatne konom. A zame ješoma, ki inčo maditi, sopatne konom. I'm very happy to be able to come and speak to you here tonight. And I'm very grateful to all of you for having come here. Emšo bošem je, ki negahi besjar kota vagozara, došte bošem beelal bohran dar khabar mjane in aše zanan dar kaheše in bohrana. This evening we'd like to, I'd like to have a brief glance at the reasons for the current crisis in the Middle East and the role the women can play to reduce that crisis. Motasofan, salhast, ki khabar mjane daskhoše, ašubo, heržomarje, salhast, ki mordom begonoha on darateše jang misuzan. Badar, bei gulahaj bagimand, mordome in manteghe, soal mi konan, če daskhoj in srde veštro barjom haragam zade. For some time now the Middle East has been a scene of chaos, it has been a scene of disorder and many innocent people have been victims of wars and acts of terrors and among the debris of the war they have been asking themselves about this. E lale taneš ve bohran dar in manteghe z jahonro ma mjitunim dar se amel aromat kozari koni. The reasons for the tension and the crisis in the region I could divide into three factors. Aval ikhtalofa beine Felesino-Israeli. The first is the dispute between Iran and Israel. Dovom, dekhalat kešvarha bi gane dar in manteghe az jahon az jomle hamle in izami barah. Second is the intervention of outfied countries in this region of the world including the military attack that was waged against Iraq. Vamohem te din amel moh de demokrasi in vanakze gostadeh hoga in manteghe az jomle. And the third and the most important factor is the lack of democracy and the violation widespread violation of human rights in the region. Taz zamani ke Felesino-Israeli bo ham ashi na konan. Mosal na man i manteghe az jomle. And till the day Palestine and Israel reach peace deal, there is no doubt that there will be no order in this region of the world. Salha qabl qaradadi soli dar oslo monaget šod beli ki en ruje kagaz bagemunde v radikalha az herdod taraf hazenej škone. Some years ago there was the Oslo peace agreement but sadly that has just remained deeper. And the radical extremists from both sides of the equation have not made it possible for this document to be realized. Včan, her amal e kasheni vakone še kashentadi rubedombal dare, da netižemo šahede vagajaj mese mohasere gaze v hamle bekešti karmar bekešti hamel e karmar vagajje, ki vedombar izgleda se. Sadlj, bekešti, evri vajljant izgleda se in even more vajljant reakčen. We have witnessed the siege of Gaza and the attack on the flotilla, which was carrying food to the Palestinians. Ekhtelafa bejne Filistino-Israel manšaj dar giri haje digari ham šodaj az omle ekhtelaf bejne do kruhe Filistini. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a source of other conflicts as well such as the dispute among the Palestinian groups. And the way this crisis and this dispute has been exploited by the government that has been the reason that this has remained one of the crisis in this region. And now, what role can women play in this? Women from both Palestine and Israel are opposed in the continuation of war. Mothers on both sides from Israel and Palestine who have lost children in this conflict have formed a committee called the Committee of Mothers for Peace. They have been continuing to work together and looking at ways of resolving disputes between Jewish and Muslim communities. Asking their leaders for how long should they continue to mourn their children. But sadly in these peace negotiations and any talks regarding peace, voices of these mothers for peace from both sides are not heard or represented. Every once in a while there are war-mongering politicians from both sides who sit around the negotiation table and it's usually to no avail. And I have said that so many times that peace negotiations without the participation of women would not produce any fruit and it will be without any results. But they are the members of the Committee of Mothers for Peace. And they are the members of the Committee of Mothers for Peace. Yes, women in society may not have political positions but they are the voices of the civil society and they are very important. Therefore, one of the reasons that these talks always collapse is because they exclude feminist movements from such talks. Women constitute half of the world population and neglecting that half means neglecting half the potential of the whole world. And one reason for the collapse of these talks is because they've forgotten half of the world's population of the society's population. Another reason for the existence of crisis in the Middle East region is because it has many rich resources and as a result it's the avaricious countries that are constantly looking at the resources. And we are constantly witnessing the emergence of other countries in this region and as an instance I can highlight the military attack that was waged against Iraq. At first they said that it was because they wanted to advance democracy in the region but not only we did not witness democracy we saw the rise of Islamic fundamentalism which is growing by the day. And we all know that Islamic fundamentalism above all in the first instance targets women's rights. Zemne talaš baraj tasavi hogo komitah jih doros kardan ki dar on herfa amozi v ejzad eštegal baraj zanane digar sanan arak iz jehtar ba bonyat gerai islamim mobarze mikonan asoje digar baraj istekrahar hakemijat melli bema vaga idar vama dekhalat ki švarha je migane dali manteghe dar hakirat naši az amel sevom bohran jeni naboodi demokrasi dar mantegast tine sevom svoj vizipen iz terh da tega vrste nekaj demokrasi kaj kaj da kar nekaj saj si vse ne bil vzal kaj nekaj nekaj nekaj svoje nekaj nekaj bolo as in outsiders to intervene in their country. For instance, in Saudi Arabia in 2010, they spent $60 billion on purchasing weapons. Spending all this money to purchase arms when the people do not have proper welfare system is nothing but authoritarianism. Sadly, countries in the Middle East, for historical reasons, have been deprived of democracy. Majority of these states have not been elected by their own people. On the surface, these elections appear to be democratic, but in the real, it is true sense, they are not democratic. I give you an instance. In Syria, for example, there is now the presidential election is such that it has become hereditary. Hafiz Assad was succeeded by his son Bashar Assad. Or, for example, in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, there are no elected parliaments. And the parliament members of parliament are not elected by their own people. And they are not elected by their own people. And they are not elected by their own people. And they are not appointed by the king. The situation is not any better in some other countries such as Jordan, Kuwait, Yemen and Bahrain. And they also suffer from the lack of democracy. The only exception here is Turkey, which, in relation to other countries, enjoys better level of democracy. In countries such as Iran, they claim that they have elections regularly every two years. And the Iranian government claims that having all these elections demonstrates that it is a democracy. But in all the elections that take place in Iran, the competency of every candidate must first be endorsed by an oversight council called the Guardian Council before the people are allowed to vote for them. And any of these candidates who have the slightest criticism of the government are deemed incompetent by the Guardian Council. The Guardian Council is comprised of 12 members. Six of them are directly appointed by the leader and six of them are also appointed. In the June 2009 elections 300 candidates have put their names forward but the Guardian Council only endorsed the candidacy of four of them and it rejected the rest. And of the four, one of them was previously prime minister and the other three had also had important posts in the country. And we've all seen what happened after the elections which I will speak about it in detail later on. Therefore the most important factor in lack of democracy in the region for the tension and the crisis in the region is the lack of democracy, sorry. There has been a patriarchal culture in this region for many, many years and women suffer from discrimination. Aksadijet mordom az refah mahrumand. Dar khabar imena azadi bajom besijar matdode v mokhalefin bešeddat sarkub mišet. Amma ta kej miša vad bazo vre sarnajze bar mordom hukumatkat. Vami bini tke, ke švara je khabar imene dune benune daran mordom eterasimikonan v hogogu insanih v haqe kodšenu talapimikonan. Do orane diktatorhabe sara omadej baraj enke technoloji bajez še de, ke mordom bo hamdige naziktar bišan v agahi še mištar bišan. Didi, ki dar tunez mordom če gad zo tunez tan ben Ali Rofarori beda. Dar mez Husni Mubarakim rahten ist. Man šekna daran. Dar ordolo dar bahrej nemšorušede. Dar sam je začali v Jordanu in Bahrej. Dar je začali v Iran mnije ljudi. Vsih različnih tudi, tudi vseh različnih tudi, tudi vseh različnih tudi, tudi vseh različnih tudi, vseh različnih tudi, tudi vseh različnih tudi nami in vseh različnih tudi nami a nami, tudi vseh različnih tudi, musale matomiz, hasto kodšno bajo nekaj. Amma, javab mordom gulule bude zenda. in se je odpravil do vseh, v boljev in v prizelj. V YouTube počke se se vzelo, da vseh je odpravil, da je protester na struče. v rejse polis mi je oddačila, ki je mašin polise dozide. In zelo se prišlo polise, ki se je oddačila, ki je mašin polise dozide. Tako tako. Dar film ha nešo dade še. Kaj zbala je jeksahtoman doleti, motelega bebesič, be mrdom, je bi panah dal kjaban, kjer amdazi kaj dan tedadi rokošte. V situ v filmi, je za tudi na zelo od govorah vozalaj v drtku, je to potem djelj, je to pošta srednje. Gražno, je tudi kakva.放a nimi, je tudi tudi, kaj doleti doleti, je tudi tudi. zjadi iz žunalistarov deskež kredan, barim, ki akvari Iranov bebiron muntagel nekone. Ta hati, tebek gozare še sazeman gozareškaran je vedone marz. V 2009, Iran vštarin tegedade žunalist, webnegar in nevisandarno dar zendan, dar doni adoš. V Iran tablir še beje zendan bozorg nevisandnega. V przen, kaj je imaš Iran vštiri przen v srečnih medeljih. Jedno z problemov, ko je v Iranu, je sredan ekonomična situacija. prorogam, dani zamejne, pointer budi. Ala rach me hršunat haje ba'la je dolet, mordom etiraz mi konan v saket ne šodan. Vrstke, dražnee bljenje. Zakrati. Vrstke, trafene, trici. Dološne, trafene, trafene, trafene. Vrstke, trafene, trafene, trafene. je to na vsočenju, da jih vseh se zašlijo srti. Slepo v srebeni svali, zelo je tudi političnih vseh. Ko je veseli, tako vzlušal, je tako vzlušal. Vzlušal je uvršal, da se zelo vseh izvajno vsi izvajno, a ješli se vzlušal. ki je itiraz kad mi je ditor Covid democracy je pomembna in mu biscuits neverj z demo v bistvom. When the people of Egypt protested against the dictator the Iranian government sent a message, it said to the Egyptian government please listen to the voice of your people, please do not exercise violence. Danes. I have read in some website that tomorrow, third of February, some Iranian people intend to go and stage protests. I'm not sure if that is going to happen, but if it does, my message to the Iranian people is do not exercise any violence against these people, at least try and abide by the message you gave to the Egyptian government. The Iranian government is constantly saying that there must be free elections in Iraq and Afghanistan, so we would like to kindly request the Iranian government to do likewise. But what is the role of women in alleviating such crises? The rights of women in democracy are two scales of a balance. You cannot claim to be democratic and deprive half the society's population from their human rights. And so the women who are striving to realize equal rights are the foreigners of democracy. The feminist movement in Iran is the strongest feminist movement in the whole of the Middle East, and the oldest. And it began about a century ago when there was the constitutional revolution. There are feminist movements in other Middle Eastern countries as well, but as I said, it is stronger in Iran for several reasons. The first democratic movement in the 20th century took place in Iran, and it was the constitutional revolution. The people of Iran spoke of democracy the first time when the Zars were ruling over the former Soviet Union and the Ottoman Turks were ruling over the West. In Iran, the first talked of democracy and legal government, the rest of the world, they had an even heard of democracy. In Iran, the feminist movement in Iran is the strongest feminist movement in the whole of the Middle East. That is why the democratic movement in Iran has very deep roots and it is being used as a role model by many other countries. And there is very close cooperation between Iranian women and women in the rest of the region, and in various spheres. Iranian women have very close cooperation in various spheres with women in the Middle East, such as education, healthcare and job creation. The reason for the strength of the democratic equality movement in Iran, in addition to the historical reason that I mentioned, has also another reason. Iran is a country with many highly educated women. Over 65% of our university students are female. Many of our university lecturers are women. Women have a very prominent presence in even senior administrative positions. But in spite of this high level of education among Iranian women, after a revolution, a series of discriminatory legislations were passed against women, which Iranian women do not tolerate. For instance, in these laws, they said that the value of a woman's life is half that of a man. For instance, if my brother and I happen to be walking along the street and we are involved in an accident or we are hit by a car, the compensation rewarded to my brother is twice that rewarded to me. A man can have four wives. The man can divorce his wives without giving any valid reasons, but it's very difficult and sometimes impossible for a woman to file an obtainment. A married woman who wishes to travel can only do so with a written permission from her husband. I am going to demonstrate this by giving you one exam. As I mentioned earlier, women do occupy many high administrative posts, and one of them is that of the health minister in Ahmadinej Shab's cabinet, who is a woman. Now imagine this lady minister is invited to address the World Health Organization. In order to leave the country and take part in that seminar and speak about the health situation in Iran, the night before she has to beg her husband to give her permission to leave the country. And God knows what's going to happen if the husband decides he doesn't want to give her permission to leave the country. And what happens then? Will Iran's seat on the World Health Organization be left vacant? As in, for example, there are many such instances, but I just want to show you that our legislation is not compatible with our society. And this is why the feminist movement in Iran is so profound and widespread. This society does not have a leader, nor does it have any branches anywhere. This movement is found in the home of every Iranian who believes in equality. And this is why this movement has become strong, because the movement that relies on a or several leaders is very possible that the government could arrest, imprison or arrest. And even kill those leaders and the movement would collapse. For many years, the Iranian women have been imprisoned on the charges of seeking equality, but that not only has not weakened the movement, it has actually made it stronger. For every one woman who has been imprisoned, five other women take her place. To such an extent that in several cases the government had to draw back and to reform and amend some of the laws in favor of equality of women. For instance, in 2004 they amended the custody law in favor of Iranian women. In my opinion, the green movement that came into being after the 2009 elections had used the feminist movement as a role model. The green movement also doesn't have a leader as such, it is more of a horizontal movement and that is why despite all these killings the voices of the people have not been quietened. The reason they have not imprisoned, it is because they know that it is of no use. Because this green movement is not dependent on these leaders that it will continue and the people will continue to voice their anger. We can see that women have been leading every democratic protest by the people in Iran. And you will see this in many films and pictures that have been taken from the protest that is the women, many of whom are on the front lines. Iranian women are fully aware that it is only in a democratic country that they can achieve their rights. And democracy can only be realized through peaceful activities, not with bullets and not with guerrilla movement. In order to remove some of the harshness that the Iranian government had created, the Iranian women came up with some initiatives. One of them is the committee of mothers in mourning which was formed by these women. Women who either lost their children or their children are behind bars. They congregate every Saturday in a park and they carry photographs of their children and they look at each other in silence. Another initiative by these women is because of the intense crackdown on these streets. Iranian women hold birthday parties for political prisoners behind the prison walls. And in that way they remind society what has happened and who is behind bars. So, Iranian women, after the beginning of the protests in the people's region, gave a message to the people of the country. Women of Iran said that you should have the right of your own. That is, you should not allow political prisoners to have the right of their own. Iranian women's message was to these women. Amid all this, make sure that your rights are not violated in all these political negotiations. And don't think that by getting rid of a dictator everything would be fine. If anyone wants to think about the name of religion, or the name of religion, or the name of ideology, he wants to think about the name of another dictator. In the countries that people are interested in, in Tunisia, the secular society is relatively strong. Among these countries in the region that are currently protesting in Tunisia, the secular society is relatively strong. From now women in Tunisia have started to announce that they want equality and that they don't want the rights to be taken away in the name of religion or ideology. It was thanks to the resistance of the Tunisian women that when the leader of the Islamic party of Tunisia, Rashi Dalgani, sorry, returned to the country, the first thing he said was, I am neither Khomeini nor the Taliban, leave me alone, don't worry, I'm not going to take your rights away. And the Tunisian women continue to resist and call for the right. And I hope that the Egyptian women will not be allowed to say that they have the right to be taken away. And I very much hope that Egyptian women are going to do likewise and that they're not going to allow the very little rights that they have at the moment be taken away from them. And this is why the Iranian women have been in direct contact with women in the rest of the region and from now on they have been warning them about the consequences. And also to the women in Jordan and in Yemen. I know that the peaceful day for the democracy is in the hands of women who want to go to Iran. And we are waiting for that day. Thank you very much, Dr. Abadi, for this fascinating talk. I'm sure there will be a lot of questions. And, well, I also see the opportunity of waiting in these few minutes to thank Ms. Maria Mousavi, the translator for the remarkable translation done. Thank you very much. OK, we'll have 20 minutes of questions followed by 10 minutes of reply by Dr. Abadi. We ask you to remain seated until we leave the scene at the end of the Q&A session for obvious reasons. And, well, that won't take long anyway. Please keep, where are the mics? We have two microphones on both, yes, ends of the room. So we urge you also to keep your questions briefs. No statements, please. Just questions. A lot of people, I'm sure, are willing to put questions here. So, I mean, the time is to be divided between all those ones. I'm sure we won't be able to take everybody. So at least make it possible to take the largest possible number of people by keeping your interventions quite short. Secondly, while asking you to be brief, I have to ask you to speak slowly so that Dr. Abadi can understand you. And if you speak slowly, she won't be needing a translation, so we will also save some time. So keep it short, but slow. Thank you very much. Yes, please, first question. Thank you very much. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, OK. One question about your view on quotas for women. In Iraq, there is now a quota, 25% quota for women enshrined in the constitution. In practice, it means it's often the wives, daughters and sisters of conservative male politicians who are actually involved in politics. What is your view on quotas? And secondly, a quick question about the Iranian women's movement, because I fear that as much as we are very much in solidarity with Iranian feminists, and we are very much respect their work, but those of us who work in the region also see that sometimes we are our own worst enemies. And I was wondering if you can say a little bit about the divisions and tensions within the Iranian women's movement, and how can we overcome those in the Iranian context, but also more widely in the Middle East. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, please, the lady there, yes, please. Hi, can you also please explain what do you mean by when you say democracy, because what model of democracy are we talking about? Are we talking about the western model of democracy, where, again, there are too many discriminations, and so what should be the model of democracy that we should be looking at? Well, yes, please try to speak slowly. One question in the middle here. Miss Ebadi, in your comparative analysis and comparing different countries in the Middle East, I believe you have been rather generous to Turkey, because you mentioned that Turkey is a little bit more democratic. Within that, are you suggesting that Turkey can or should join Europe sooner rather than later, and within that, the big equation of Turkey, what about human rights in Turkey, and especially the human rights of the Kurds? And for you, I'm sure you have informed enough information about Turkey's attitude towards the Kurds. Leila Azana, a permanent Kurdish woman put in prison for 12 years by speaking in Kurdish. Thank you, the lady there, please. You mentioned that one of the factors for crisis in Middle East is the difference between Palestine and Israel. You failed to mention one is occupier and the other is occupied. I would like to know whether they have the same responsibility in causing tension, or it is the act of operation of Israel, which causes this. Dr. Abadi, it's an honor. I have a quick question about the Nobel Women's Initiative, in which... I just said that it was an honor. Please wait until... I'm sorry, I didn't realize. Thank you. The Nobel Women's Initiative has three strategies that are convening, shaping the conversation, and spotlighting or promoting. How effective or achievable do you consider these strategies to be at a grassroots level for women in the Middle East? Thank you. Is there anything the Iranian woman can do to make sure another religiously government doesn't come like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt? Yes, one last question, and you? It's an honor to be in your presence, and I thank the organizers of this event. I'd just like to ask, in light of the oppressive system of the Iranian government, who repeatedly refused to ratify a key women's rights international law, do you believe they deserve their seat at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, in which they've been given? In my opinion, you have been remarkably disciplined. So we are taking much more questions than what I expected, so we'll make it in, let's say, two rounds. So there will be a reply by Dr. Ibaadi to this first set of questions, and then a second round, and that will be it. The concerning women's rights in Iran is very discriminatory, and unlike what you said, Iran has not managed to gain a seat in the UN organization for UN Council for Women. Is that what you said? The Iranian government is very proud of it. The Iranian government is very proud of it. The Iranian government is very proud of it, that it will be here, and the situation was the same, that it would definitely happen, that it would be possible for 10 countries to get a seat in the UN, and Iran was also allowed to be there, that there would be no seat in the UN, that there would be no seat in the UN, that elections would be very easy, that there would be no seat in the UN. Iran really wanted to be a member of that organization, and in fact, it didn't even have any rivals in Asia, and it could have easily become a member. So the only solution was to have one or several other countries from Asia standing as candidates, so that they would be voting to see if Iran would gain enough votes or not. For some political reasons, these other countries were reluctant to put their names forward and to stand to pay for them, so that they would be voting to see if Iran would gain enough votes or not. For some political reasons, these other countries were reluctant to put their names forward and to stand to pit themselves against Iran. But fortunately, in Asia, there is a little country called East Timor, and the president of that country is a fellow Nobel laureate, so he put his country's name forward, and as a result, Iran did not manage to gain enough votes. You can see that on the website of the United Nations, Iran was unable to gain enough votes, although unfortunately Saudi Arabia did. Leila Zana is one of my friends, and I campaigned for her very much when she was actually in prison. When I said that the democratic situation in Turkey is relatively better, yes, put Turkey next to Bahrain, Yemen, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and of course it's better. But that by no means means that Turkey has the ideal democratic government, and in many instances it is guilty of breaching human rights, such as in the case of its Kurdish minority. The subject of my discussion today is the people of the Khabar Mianei and the role of women in this discussion. As a result, I did not talk about the conflict between Palestine and Israel and who and why and what to do. I did not talk about it. If you like it, we will talk about it in another session. The topic of my talk this evening was the reason for the current crisis in the Middle East and the role played by women in alleviating this crisis. It wasn't really about the dispute between Israel and Palestine and who is the occupier and who is being oppressed, but if you like we could have another seminar on the subject and I could speak about that in detail. As for democracy and what are the democracy they have in Europe is the most complete and comprehensive democracy in the whole world. No, I don't think so and I hope I did not give that kind of impression. There is no doubt that human rights are also violated in Europe and I'm sure you're all well aware of it. Women have the right to dispute, but they have the least chance to have the right to dispute. Just look at the various cabinets around European countries. The number of women occupying ministerial seats, with the exception of perhaps northern Europe, is far fewer than the number of men. We can't work to prevent the news of the Muslim people. This is the position of the people of Egypt, that no matter what the news of the Muslim people is about, they have the right to dispute and they don't have the right to dispute. It is, there is nothing we can do to stop the Muslim brothers from taking over in Egypt. That is the role of the Egyptian people and they have to, whoever comes into power, they must set up a framework and make sure that the likes of Muslim brothers do not go behind the people of Egypt. You are only the representatives of the civil society in the framework of that framework and you can be in contact with them and you can be in contact with them. What you can do as representatives of civil society, you could contact representatives of your counterparts in Egypt and warn them about the consequences. Democracy in every country is the duty of the people of that country. After I took over the Nobel Prize, in 2004, with the help of the women who took over the Nobel Prize, I took over the Nobel Prize. After I won the Nobel Peace Prize a year later, in 2004, I contacted other women who were also Nobel laureates. There were seven of us female Nobel laureates who were still alive the rest had died. We were women who were still alive and we could not create a society. We met and agreed that we would have a women's enjoyment for the work that we have done in the personal and personal activities of ourselves. So with the exception of Aung San Su Chi, who was under house arrest, we decided to set up an NGO for women to do some work for women in addition to the work we were doing privately on our own. Vabedin Tartib Nobel Women's Initiative tazis so daftar merkez jema dar otava. Vabedin Tartib nobel women's initiative tazis so daftar merkez jema dar otava. Nobelist para sol demokrasi v ahogo ghezan fali et mikonan. And that is how the Nobel women's initiative was set up. Our headquarters is in Otava and we try and promote peace, democracy and the rights of women. We had many programs, but the program we gave the most priority to was to gain the release of, was on Burma and to gain the release of Aung San Su Chi from house arrest. Az jomle, dar sole dohe zarodan ma jeh dargahe samboleh dar šahle New York teškir gadeem v az tedadi az korbarjan naqze hogo pa šar darberme davat kadeem ke bijan v sarbozaše šom robegajem. So in 2010, for instance, we set up a symbolic court in New York and we invited some of the victims of human rights violations in Burma to come and speak as witnesses. We had several meetings with the UN Security Council and also with representatives of various governments. Until finally, Mrs. Aung San Su Chi was released from house arrest a few months ago, although there is still no democracy in Burma. Vama zanane nobelist tasmim gerefnem, ki roze 14. janvje berim Burma vedidara hamkarom un kharom Aung San Su Chi. Harkodom az ma dar herj je kje bodim raftim vsefarahti Burma dar kose viza kadeem, ali kaj bi heškodom az maha viza nadada. Iki az faalijataj nobel women's initiative baraj zanane irani, barim ki sedaj zanane Iranro be rahatar begoši mardome jahan beri suni. Svek mi konega besolo čovop doda. instalacije da všečga vse emfosice tidy, na spremse na vse obilj, Next. Average, tako, da ste postatili ukazanje in vse, na kaj je in 1. For no, there no reason than the mere fact that they are Baha'i, which is a religious minority. Yes. Hey, lady, this person. Yes.aye. naše zamanro dar hrkatev eutrazi, ki dar manteg rohmi, da še me bilo. Če so tefak hrkatev in je to tudi doobila? Zelo neset neset na še tehti ne bo. Sledajte mi. Zelo neset na še tehti ne bo. Najbolj je. Najbolj je. Ne, ne. Ne, ne. Ne, ne. Vojte mi. Da, ne. Ne, ne, ne. Ne, ne. Ne, ne. Ne, ne. Ne, ne. Ne, ne. Ne, ne. Ne, ne. Ne, ne. vse je vse je na hranjstvom situaciju v zelo, in v Iranu, in v Iranu vse je v zelo. Thank you. Well, one last question, because we're running at this person, the end. One second, please. Yes, I can't give it to everybody, I'm very sorry. Yeah, thank you, doctor. I just wanted to ask about the capacity of women in Yemen to be able to enjoy the freedoms that you're hoping that other women in the region will enjoy. Thank you. Yes. I mean, we're running short of time. It is, a lot of people want to speak. A lot of hands are being raised from here to there. So, OK. So, I take, OK, just two more, but you keep it very, very brief, please. And that will be the end. Hello, Mrs. Badi. I am for two revelations in Iran. When 32 years ago we do the revelation in Iran, the famous newspaper asked me, two time interview with me, what you want for this revelation? What you want for new revelation? New government? I said democracy for everybody in the religion. Now in Iran, women, Muslim must be have hijab because they are Muslim. What about Jewish? What about Christian women in Iran? Why must they have hijab? And all law for Muslim women must be their respect. This is not democracy. Yes, please. Just one second. Is it OK? Can I? Yes, yes. We have had the brutal spectacle of hanging Bahrami, Miss Bahrami, beautiful woman with two small children in Iran on charges which seem to be very dubious She was after the demonstrations following the presidential so-called elections. Of course, she was put in prison and then they accused her of somehow smuggling drugs in prison. Now, I wonder what has been done for this poor woman in by the women's organizations because it really is absolutely drastic and an example of brutality which this regime, of course, when they say, she probably killed all the infidels, she probably was amongst the infidels. Thank you very much. Apologies for those who wanted to speak, but this is the rule of the game. We are a big crowd here. Thank you very much. The feminist movement is about wanting equal rights between men and women in a society and it is one of the fundamental rights of human beings. And how to achieve that equality? Well, naturally, there are differences of ideas, differences of ways and people have various means in which they think they can achieve that democracy in their various respective societies. But the aim remains one and the same and that is to realize equal rights. In the way that it is achieved, it is possible that one group and another group could be different. This is something natural, but it is not possible for the people to have equal rights. So it is very natural that in this process some may have differences with others. Does it not happen in various different political parties? So in my opinion it is very natural that there should be differences of opinion and differences in style, but I don't think it changes the aim. Now regarding the Bahais. According to the Iranian constitution, the state religion is Shiite Islam, but other branches of Islam, as well as Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism have also been recognized by the constitution. But there are also followers of other faiths in religions in Iran that are not recognized such as the Bahai faith and there are some 300,000 Bahais who currently live in Iran. Sadly these Bahais have been deprived of all the rights which includes education since the beginning of the revolution. Members of the Bahai faith have been barred from entering universities. And at present there are seven Bahai leaders, as well as several other Bahais who are imprisoned in Iran. Unfortunately, despite all our efforts made by us, defenders of human rights in Iran, to gain some civil rights for these Bahais have been in vain. And unfortunately I can say that the plight of the Bahais in the rest of the Middle East is not any better. And this is something that must change. Everyone's human rights must be observed. Now as to what we can do to improve the human rights situation despite all these reports that have been written about violation of human rights in Iran and the declarations and the resolutions that have been issued to that end, what can we do? One is something that you highlighted and that is that they should appoint a permanent rapporteur to look at the human rights, to monitor the human rights situation in Iran. But you have to bear in mind what authority can actually be in a position to appoint such a special rapporteur. You have to bear in mind that the United Nations is made up of other nations and there are many whose human rights situation is not any better than the human rights situation in Iran. So they have not helped in trying to appoint a special rapporteur for human rights to monitor human rights in Iran. But in view of the fact that the human rights situation in Iran is deteriorating rapidly as demonstrated in the increased number of executions, including executions of political activists, it is very probable that in 2011 they will appoint a special rapporteur to look at the human rights situation in Iran and to look at the human rights situation in Iran and to look at the human rights situation in Iran and to look at the human rights situation in Iran. So they have to appoint a special rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in Iran. Regarding whether religion gives greater rights to women, I do believe that Islamic religion is not an anti-women religion and it does respect the rights of women. But who is enforcing the religion? Is it enforced, should it be enforced by a person who doesn't believe in democracy and thinks that anyone who acts in other ways than he himself wishes to should be put behind bars? Therefore we again go back to democracy. The Islamic world is very expansive. In the case of women, in the Islamic countries it shows how much wrongdoings there are in religion. For example, in the Arab countries women are not allowed to drive cars. Let alone participating in political and social activities. We see in Islamic countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, in Pakistan that women for years have been able to occupy senior positions including presidency or even prime minister. And that is what I mean when I say that Iranian women are warning other women in the region that are saying do not let them oppress you in the name of Islam. If the people of Egypt choose to have the Muslim brothers leading the country that is their choice and we cannot interfere but they should not allow them to breach human rights and the rights of women. And also bear in mind that Islam like all other religions have various interpretations. For example, in the West you get one church that is in favor of abortion and you get another one that condemns it. You get one church who agrees to civil partnership between homosexuals and you get another that doesn't. And it's the same in Islam. The issue is democracy. We have to see who is actually in charge of enforcing Islamic religion. The enemy of us Muslim women are the undemocratic, despotic governments. And as to why, as to timing of all these crises at the moment in the Middle East. The Iranian government believes it to be the consequence of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. And I am surprised how these 32-year-olds have changed. On the other hand, the people in the green movement who are saying that they are in favor of abortion and that they are in favor of abortion and that they are in favor of abortion are the green movement who are saying this is thanks to our protest. And that the people of the region have learned from us. But I think izgleda, da je to človek, ki je začel je začel, je tehnoloži. V tegli, ki je tehnoloži, da je to tehnoloži, kako je tudi se vsega čače, kar je tudi se vsega čeva. In se mogli da je vsega čače. hatman, midanej, ki dar mis sorati internetarov pajenovordan, pajomakov, mobajljahov, dar besjori iz manatek, jaz ni, ki mordom, bo tehnoloži v hamdike, v hasne, šanjehtobat ne giden. As I'm sure you've heard, in Egypt, they have considerably slowed down the speed of the internet. They have blocked text messaging. They have blocked people's mobile phones because they don't want people to have contact with one another. Ejne tefa, ki dar Iran ofdat. Dar oče Jombeše Sabz didim, ki mobajljah zka ofdat. Vaparazitah je besjargavi, paraje televizonhaje BBC v Avosavamerika ferestadan. Jeli če, jeli mordomu mi chacan iz tehnoloži durkonan. This is exactly what happened in Iran at the height of the green movement's protests. The Iranian government suddenly blocked all the mobile phones. They started jamming the satellite television network such as the BBC and the Voice of America because they did not want people to be in touch with each other. Bezharit, begam, ki tehnoloži khaber o hatroh ačešme dihtatoro grifte. So I can tell you that thanks to technology, dictators cannot have a good night's sleep. Dar Iran, her zani, ki dar Iran boše če muselman, boše če gaj de muselman. Če irani boše če gaj de irani, boše ljubecne hježov. Vsega hježov nadožite, vče všeatt ne božete vrte, NE jem njim pozna. Da bi namožila ljubecne hježov. Koje bi mužem, kdaj bi Kristian, kdaj bi mužem ne počušan. In jim je n Bakelja to ne지를 taj počku, V halen, ki hejžab bara je gajre muselmanha zarori nis, ali kajn dar Iran hamara zarori mi kajn, hati, kde še ma savar hava pejmo bešin, agar je zani hejžab našto bešin, to hava kod hava pejmo bešin, če to pjade mišin, fornang je rusali, bi ne zarež bo konej. Zelo ne muslimi vse ne musimo obzervati hejžab, kde v Iran hiti when they go on a Iranian aircraft, they have to observe the hejžab, and if they don't have a headscarf, they are given a headscarf to wear. The the I am very sorry about the other things that occur in Iran especially those that I am very sadden to see all these executions that are taking place in Iran, especially those who have been political activists and prisoners. One of those was Miss Zahra Bahrami, who was an Iranian Dutch woman, and she was executed and they have not even allowed her family to have her body. In fact, all political prisoners who are executed, their families are not allowed to take away their bodies and give them a burial because the Iranian government takes them and buries them itself. In protest against all these execution of political prisoners on 29. of January, there were widespread protests throughout most of Europe, and again women played the leading part in these protests. And I'm sure you can see the footage of that in YouTube. And as for the women in Yemen and their rights, whether or not they'll be able to have equal rights, why would you think that women in Yemen should not merit equal rights? Women will realize their equal rights depending on how much work they do to obtain these human rights, and there are women's feminist movements in Yemen as well. What is the impact of the current crises on human rights? There is no doubt that the victory of the people is a step towards human victory of human rights. But when people achieve victory, they must also try and maintain that victory. I've always said that democracy is like a flower. When you have a plant pot in your home, every day you have to make sure that it gets adequate light, that it gets adequate water. You can't just take a bucket of water and pour it into that plant and say, that's it for a month, I don't need to do anything. Therefore, a nation that asks its dictator must try every day to maintain that achievement. If it just says, OK, the deed has been done and goes in sleeps every night, and then that democracy will not remain. If it just says, OK, the deed has been done and goes in sleeps every night, and then that democracy will not remain. As a last word, I repeat, democracy is like a flower. Make sure that you look after that flower, that you do not lose it. So hold on to democracy when you achieve it.