441-02387 (Foreign affairs)

WHEREAS:

• The pervasive crime of gender apartheid is a grave injustice that undermines the very fabric of human rights in Iran, and the principles of equality, freedom, and justice are systematically denied to women and girls under the current regime in the Islamic Republic of Iran;
• The Iranian regime amounts to rule centred on gender apartheid;
• The omission of gender apartheid in the Draft Articles on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity represents a significant oversight in international law. This neglect fails to address the laws and policies of systematic oppression that subjugates women based on gender;
• Following the murder of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Iranian regime, hundreds of thousands of Iranians participated in an unprecedented popular uprising known as the 'Woman Life Freedom' movement, with hundreds of solidarity marches occurring globally;
• The Iranian regime's subsequent crackdown and new, Bill to Support the Family by Promoting the Culture of Chastity and Hijab, sanctioning new and more severe punishments for women and girls who fail to wear hijab in public, is further evidence of Iranian regime's systemic discrimination with the intention of suppressing women and girls into submission;
• Apartheid based on race is a violation of the UN Charter, and a convention exists that criminalizes it;
• Perpetrators of apartheid hold criminal responsibility and are subject to prosecution, and UN member states have obligations to respond when other states' practice apartheid, and member states can call upon the UN to suppress and prevent apartheid;
• Sex and gender-based discrimination and persecution are violations of international law; and
• Gender apartheid specifically lacks a comprehensive international legal protection framework that protects women and girls from institutionalized gender-based discrimination.

THEREFORE:

We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:

• Adopt the position that gender apartheid constitutes a crime against humanity;
• Spearhead international efforts law recognize gender apartheid as a crime against humanity in international law; and
• Take effective, concerted action to adopt proactive policies and exert pressure on the Iranian government and any regime that uses systematic gender apartheid, and to take steps to convince other countries to adopt similar policies.