A symbolic position.
Twelve women foreign ministers, led by Canadian Mélanie Joly, jointly condemned on Wednesday the violent crackdown on protests for women's rights in Iran, which have lasted for forty days.
“As female foreign ministers, we feel a responsibility to echo the voices of Iranian women,” say ministers from Albania, Andorra, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Kosovo, Libya, Liechtenstein, New Zealand and Norway in a joint statement.
“Solidarity with brave Iranian women”
The 12 leaders express their “solidarity with the courageous Iranian women who exercise their right to peaceful assembly and defend their fundamental rights”.
The ministers also condemned the "violent application" of Iran's headscarf law and the "current ongoing crackdown on protesters", which has left at least 141 people dead, including children, according to a new report revealed on Tuesday by the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Oslo.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman of Kurdish origin, died on September 16, three days after she was arrested in Tehran by morality police who accused her of breaking the Islamic Republic's strict dress code, including imposing the veiling for women.
His death sparked a wave of protest that continues across Iran.
Young women and schoolgirls took to the front line, many bareheaded, burning their veils and defying the security forces.
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