Statement by a Number of Christians Protesting the Deprivation of Christians’ Right to Education
A group of former Christian prisoners and their family members issued a statement on the occasion of the International Day of Education, protesting the violation of Christians’ right to education in schools and universities. These citizens stated in their statement that, contrary to international commitments and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, many citizens are deprived of their right to education solely because of their belief in Christianity.
According to Hrana news agency, the news organ of the Human Rights Activists group in Iran, a number of former Christian prisoners and their family members reacted to the violation of these citizens’ right to education in a statement issued on the occasion of International Education Day.
The signatories stated in their statement that, contrary to international commitments and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, many citizens are deprived of their right to education solely because of their belief in Christianity. They also addressed the Islamic Republic as an enemy of science, wisdom, free thought, and the pen and book.
These individuals, referring to the fact that Christians in Iran are considered an unofficial religious minority and deprivation of the right to education is only one of their violated rights, wrote in their statement: “According to Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Principles 1 and 4 of the Convention Against Discrimination in Education, and even Principle 30 and Clause 1 of Article 43 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, the right to education and learning is recognized for ‘everyone.’ Unfortunately, the Islamic Republic of Iran, contrary to its international commitments and its own constitution, expels us Persian-speaking Christians and our children from schools and universities and leaves our hands empty of a written document that would testify to our deprivation.”
These Christians also referred to the negative effects of depriving Christian citizens of education in their statement and stated that the violation of the right to education and indifference to it deprives society of the potential to develop specialists, and its consequences will affect the entire society.
Former Christian prisoners and their family members concluded: “Regardless of ideological boundaries and personal and group interests, in order to avert evil and build a future not only for Christians but for any individual with any ideology, whether from the current generation or future generations, we will not remain silent about the deprivation of Persian-speaking Christians of the right to education.”
Names of signatories in alphabetical order:
Amin Afsharanaderı, Milad Eyqani, Manizhe Bagheri, Gilda Bardbar, Mostafa Bardbar, Donia Javadeh, Shapoor Jozi, Payam Kharaman, Sam Khosravi, Fariba Delir, Parasto Zariftash, Mohsen Ali Abadi Rauri, Farshid Fathi, Sahab Fazli (mother of Naser Noor Del Tapeh), Kavian Fallah Mohammadi, Maryam Fallahi, Shourash (Sorosh) Mohammadi, Mary Mohammadi, Ali (Parsa) Mostafaei, Reza (Davoud) Nejat Saabet
It should be noted that this statement was prepared by the Kehma campaign. The “Church is the Right of Christians (Kehma)” campaign began its activities in 2018 with the efforts of a group of Christians and civil activists. The main content and essence of this campaign is the necessity of stopping violence against Christians, which it pursues by addressing one of the major problems of Christians (namely deprivation of church and security).
It should be noted that although Christians are recognized by law as a religious minority, security apparatus pursue the matter of Muslims converting to Christianity with particular sensitivity and conduct forceful treatment of activists in this field.
Treatment of Christians in Iran takes place while according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of religion and to change religion through belief, as well as freedom to express it individually or collectively, publicly or in private.
Source: Hrana
