Speaking Out Against War, The Lorestani Salamander, More Publishers Banned, and the Cyberspace Patrol
March 12, 2012
A New Year, No-War Campaign, Special Rapporteur Delivers, Underaged Marriage Rises
March 21, 2012
Arseh Sevom — The hum of war has been constant in the Islamic Republic of Iran since its inception. There were eight years of devastating war with Iraq. The region has seen decades of war and unrest. For people living in Iran, war is palpable and terrifying.
There has never been a time when calls for a preemptive attack against Iran were louder than now. These calls are a gift to hardline forces in Iran that have worked so hard to keep the nation in a kind of permanent insecure status. They use the threat of war as an excuse to consolidate power, crackdown on civil society, jam satellite transmissions, and stifle all forms of open communication.
Civil Society cannot thrive under the threat of war. Human rights and those who defend them are easily dismissed as a result.
Human rights defenders do their work to improve the situation of people — especially those most vulnerable — and to prevent wars from starting. Working for respect for human rights is not done to punish a society, but to make it better. Arseh Sevom is concerned when the work of human rights defenders is distorted into an argument for preemptive attack against any nation.
More reporting and more action to improve the human rights situation will lead to peace; not bombs or threats.
Arseh Sevom wishes a good new year to all of our friends and readers celebrating Norooz! سال نو مبارک
