End Gender Apartheid Campaign

The term “gender apartheid” in reference to Iran’s systematic segregation, subjugation, persecution and abuse of women in Iran has been used for about two decades by Iranian activists inside and outside of Iran. Since the Mahsa Jina uprisings, more attention and focus have been placed on this issue, transforming the idea into a formal advocacy campaign.  The aim is for this campaign to mirror the successful, large-scale global campaign to end racial apartheid in South Africa. 

Several IJC members are involved in this campaign, seeking to persuade Canada’s government to recognize gender apartheid as a crime. The office of Global Affairs Minister Melanie Joly is organizing a meeting with the IJC  team, government lawyers, and Global Affairs Canada experts to assess feasibility. The  IJC hopes to organize a workshop for those interested in replicating this campaign in their own countries and pressuring their ministers of foreign affairs. 

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Expected achievements: 

• Educating the international community on the egregious misogyny of the regimes of Iran and Afghanistan, thus swaying public opinion in favour of the recognition of the crime of gender apartheid.

• ⁠Expanding the definition of apartheid under international law to include apartheid based on gender.  Such expansion may allow those responsible for the crime of apartheid to be prosecuted in an international tribunal like the International Criminal Court.