Friends of Humanity co-sponsors Paris Conference On the initiative of the International Confederation of Women Against Fundamentalism and Friends of Humanity a conference was organized in Paris on Saturday 26th Nov 2005 as part of the international day of protest against violence to women. Activists from the U.S.A., France, U.K, Sweden, Spain and Italy took part, led by Mrs. Elisabeth Sydney, UK president of the International Confederation Against Fundamentalism and ex-chairwoman of the Women’s Liberal Federation, Mrs. Linda Asmondson, US president of Social Action to prevent violence against women, and Mrs. Violet Dagger president of the Arab League for human rights in France.
Mrs. Sydney, in presenting shocking statistics from many different countries, described the Mullahs’ rule in Iran as a hell on earth, where women are daily subjected to violence, not only by the state but in their own homes. She showed how the regime has institutionalized violence against women into law, and how the fundamentalist attitudes of the state encourage backward male attitudes and normalize domestic violence against their womenfolk.
In her speech, Mrs. Asmondson from Florida explained that violence against women is a political as well as a social matter. She said that it had been one of the achievements of recent decades to persuade society to consider violence against women as a violation of human rights. In contrast, she emphasized how religious fundamentalism encouraged and intensified the harassment of women, and showed how the Iranian regime provides daily proof of this.
The next speaker, Mrs. Dagger explained how in a country like Iran, thanks to its political structure, violence against women has been so extensive and so considerable. She emphasized that what the fundamentalists endorse against women has nothing to do with true religion.
The last speaker was Mrs. Alice Rose, a lecturer in psychology from the US Georgia State University. She praised the struggle of Iranian women against the Mullahs regime in Iran, and she lit a candle of solidarity for those who lost their lives in that struggle.
