BM83: Resolution on international solidarity against the Iranian regime

The European Students’ Union (ESU) stands with all those who fight the terroristic authorities in the theocratic islamistic state of Iran. 

People in Iran have been revolting since last month. In Iran, Kurdish student Jina Mahsa Amini died in police custody on September 16. She was detained because, according to the morality police, she had violated the Iranian regime’s strict dress code and had not worn her headscarf as instructed. Amini’s death sparked a wave of protests, with women in Iran and Kurdish areas protesting for their rights, freedom, and equity and against the oppressive regime.  Especially Women, Inter-, Non-binary and Trans-persons are at the forefront of the protests. The ongoing protests have continued to expand, with many students and academics protesting as well. 

The protest emanates mainly from the northwestern part of the country, Eastern Kurdish Rojhelat, but has already reached almost all of Iran’s major cities. The regime is cracking down on the protests: Police violence and brutal procedures against demonstrators are the order of the day; the fight for one’s freedom can only be waged during constant danger. Hundreds of people have already died in the course of the protests. Women, Inter-, Non-binary and Trans-persons are at the centre of the repression. The first death sentence for a protesting student was issued on November 13, many more are to be expected. Students have been demonstrating at several universities since the protests began; as a result, entire university buildings have been sealed off and lectures cancelled. At Sharif University, classes were held online only for a while, which is hardly feasible in reality due to the Internet blockade. Even if this conflict seems to be far away, there is a need for international solidarity for the struggle for equal rights! 

These are only few examples of the horrible actions this so-called “republic” has taken in recent times. Political opposition has already been oppressed, if necessary, by using force, for years and years. Since the 1979 Islamist revolution, people in the country have been brutally oppressed. Especially women, who are forced to wear headscarfs, suffer under the dictatorship. Since the beginning of the dictatorship, the regime has also suppressed the Kurdish freedom movement and, in its anti-Semitic madness, recognizes neither the Shoah as a historical fact nor Israel’s right to exist. 

But since last month, protests have been flaring up again, in new strength and at more and more places in Iran. 

While the regime is cracking down harder and harder on the protesters and has already killed hundreds of demonstrators, European countries continue their commercial connections with Iran, have not stepped back from investing in Iran and have as of yet failed to put mentionable sanctions in place.  

It is necessary to stand on the side of the protesters, clearly on the side of the progressive forces fighting for an end to the dictatorship, in Iran and in exile. 

The European Students’ Union

• expresses its unyielding solidarity and support for all those who fight for a world of justice, freedom and equity. ESU opposes the theocratic Islamist, unjust and violent government in Iran and supports all those who rise up against it. 
  
• expresses its solidarity with the protesters in Iran, especially with the students of the Sharif University and calls for possible demonstrations and rallies for solidarity 
  
• demands the termination of all regime-beneficial European trade relations with Iran and demands sanctions to be put in place. 
  
• condemns the monitoring of demonstrators by Iran in foreign countries and shows solidarity with all protesters. 
  
• advocates for direct help for Iranian students in and on their way to Europe, in particular by advocating for the inclusion of Iranian students in existing “Students at Risk” programmes and by advocating for more countries to implement such programmes.