Canada says it will host an online meeting of the world’s female foreign ministers on October 20 to discuss the current unrest in Iran, which was sparked by the death of a young woman who was in police custody for “improperly” wearing a hijab.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced the meeting on October 19, saying it would give an opportunity for the ministers to hear “directly” from women of Iranian heritage and discuss the “grave state” of women’s and human rights in Iran in the midst of ongoing protests against Tehran.
“My counterparts and I will gather to send a clear message: The Iranian regime must end all forms of violence and persecution against the Iranian people, including their brutal aggressions against women in particular,” Joly said.
“Canada will continue to stand by the courageous Iranians who are fighting for their human rights and standing up for their mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters. Women’s rights are human rights.”
Iran has been roiled with unrest — one of the deepest challenges to the Islamic regime since the revolution in 1979 — since the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing a hijab, or headscarf, “improperly.”
The government has met the protests with a brutal crackdown that the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights says has killed at least 215 people, including more than two dozen children.
