Yaser Qoreshi: Iran’s Red Crescent Society Violates the Charter of International Relief Organizations by Promoting Hijab

An international relief and rescue activist says the Red Crescent Society of Iran has violated the principle of neutrality in the charter of international humanitarian organizations by engaging in issues including the promotion of hijab.

The secretary-general of the Red Crescent Society announced on Tuesday, April 13, programs of this relief organization in the field of “promoting the culture of chastity and hijab” based on the “voluntary willingness” of this institution and said that implementing large-scale hijab promotion plans requires “government funding.”

Dr. Yaser Qoreshi, a member of Doctors Without Borders, emphasizes in a conversation with the Persian service of Voice of America that this action by Iran’s Red Crescent Society, in addition to violating the charter of international humanitarian organizations, will cause public distrust in this institution that receives the most assistance from people.

This institution, whose field of work is defined as humanitarian relief services, established a working group called “Chastity and Hijab” last year. Yaqoub Soleimani, the secretary-general of this institution, said in a meeting of this working group with representatives of the Interior Ministry that the Red Crescent’s activities regarding hijab needed to be “organized” and we need “cultural promotion” in this regard.

Also, Mohammad Golfeshan, head of the Youth Organization and responsible for the “Chastity and Hijab Working Group” of the Red Crescent Society, announced that over the past year, in addition to forming this working group, a directive was also drafted for “expanding the culture of chastity and hijab” and was circulated.

Yaser Qoreshi, in a conversation with Voice of America, referring to the charter of international humanitarian organizations regarding “neutrality,” emphasizes: “Humanitarian organizations must be completely neutral with regard to gender, religion, ethnic groups, and nationality of individuals, but with the procedure that has been followed in Iran’s Red Crescent Society, this clause of the charter has been violated.”

Stating that the Red Crescent is not accountable to international higher-level institutions, he explains: “In recent years, the government has planned in such a way that even professional bodies like the medical and nursing systems are not independent professional institutions from the state and, like parliamentary and presidential elections, they approve and reject people’s qualifications, therefore I find it unlikely that protests will be made by these institutions.”