01/22/2026
Amid internet blackouts imposed since January 8, escalating state violence, the loss of countless lives, and the mass arrest of protesters, journalists, and women human rights defenders, the courage of the people of Iran - especially inside Iran and in the diaspora - persists in the face of violence and repression at home, while amplifying the struggle abroad. Iranian women and men have sustained a nationwide resistance, confronting lethal force, surveillance, and imprisonment while the state works to sever their connection to the world. Journalists and women human rights defenders, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, remain imprisoned for demanding dignity, freedom, and accountability.
In 2022, after the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini sparked protests across Iran under the call of Woman, Life, Freedom, Iranian women activists issued a clear political demand to the international community: a government that systematically represses women cannot represent women’s rights on the global stage. Vital Voices stood with them. Alongside a coalition of Iranian women and global allies, Vital Voices helped mobilize an international campaign rooted in Iranian leadership — including a public letter published in The New York Times and signed by global figures such as Hillary Rodham Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey, urging the United Nations to act.
The campaign gained diplomatic momentum when Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, then Prime Minister of New Zealand, became the only sitting head of government to sign the letter, helping build cross-regional support. In December 2022, member states including the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Albania, Israel, Liberia, Guatemala, North Macedonia, and New Zealand voted at the UN Economic and Social Council to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women- the first country ever expelled from the body. The decision did not end repression inside Iran, but it established a critical precedent: governments that jail, silence, and kill women cannot claim legitimacy in global women’s rights spaces.
Today, as violence escalates and Iranian women continue to resist at immense personal cost, this history underscores a central truth: solidarity is not symbolic, it is a form of pressure, protection, and accountability. Vital Voices stands with the women of Iran, those imprisoned, those forced into exile, and those continuing their resistance inside the country.
Woman. Life. Freedom.
زن، زندگی، آزادی
