Letter to National Organization of Women, Feminist Majority and Code Pink to Establish Their Position on HR1371

Image courtesy of feministatsea.wordpress.com

Mission Free Iran sent the below letter to three organizations in the US that hold themselves out as representatives of women’s interests and/or women’s equality: Feminist Majority, National Organization of Women, and Code Pink. We want to know their position on the new House Resolution 1371, which has echoed MFI’s demands by calling for the condemnation of the seating of the Islamic Republic on the UN Commission on the Status of Women, demanding that the US Government put all of its effort towards removing this criminal regime from the Commission, and reaffirming “solidarity with the Iranian people in their continuing struggle for freedom and human rights, including equal rights for women.”

Despite having made two attempts to contact each organization with an inquiry about their position on this important legislation, MFI has had no response from any of the three.  We invite you to email or tweet these organizations to ask them about their position on HR1371, and let us know if you get a response. 

Feminist Majority: [Email] feedback@feminist.org   [Twitter] @FemMajority
Code Pink: [Email] info@codepinkalert.org [Twitter] @CodePinkAlert
NOW: [Email form] http://www.now.org/comments.html [Twitter] @NationalNOW

If we have not received a response from these organizations by Friday June 25 2010 at the close of business, we will relay that information here on our site and on Facebook, along with an appropriate critique.

Dear friends at NOW:

Immediately after the Islamic Republic was given a seat at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), we at Mission Free Iran (MFI) opened a campaign to condemn the seating of the Islamic Republic on the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women, and to demand the Islamic Republic’s removal from the Commission.

We believe that seating the Islamic Republic on the UNCSW is deeply troubling for women in Iran who are fighting and dying on the front lines of a revolution for equality and an end to gender apartheid in Iran. It is also deeply troubling for women around the world to have a virulently misogynistic government such as the Islamic Republic seated on this Commission, which is charged with setting global gender policy.

MFI’s international campaign has targeted its demands to both the UN and to our respective national governments. Recently in the United States, House Resolution 1371 was introduced by Representative Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), “Condemning the selection of the Government of Iran to serve on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.” This legislation responds directly to the objectives of our campaign, and we therefore support it.

Because the National Organization of Women has long been a prominent defender of women’s rights and gender equality, it is important for us (Mission Free Iran) to know that NOW will be supporting and promoting the passage of this legislation.

We would like to know what NOW’s position is on this legislation, and would greatly appreciate it if you could convey that to us so that we can rest assured that one of America’s most prominent women’s rights organizations is standing with women in Iran and worldwide by supporting this important piece of legislation.

Please feel free to contact me by email (maria.rohaly@gmail.com); I thank you in advance for your time and consideration of our request.

Best regards,
Maria Rohaly
Mission Free Iran
June 18, 2010
https://missionfreeiran.wordpress.com