Nobel Laureate speaks on human rights, Iran at Duke
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By: Amy Eagleburger, Senior Writer
Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: State & National
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The Persian-speaking audience first erupted in cheers at her pronouncement, followed by the English-speaking audience once her words were translated:
"We love Iran, and we will not permit Iran to become another Iraq."
Throughout her speech Ebadi forcefully addressed the need for human rights to be the backbone of every democracy and spoke of the state of human rights in her country, Iran.
In her memoir, "Iran Awakening," Ebadi said she was not aware how high up she was on the prize's shortlist. When she got the surprising call in 2003, she was about to fly back to her home in Tehran after attending a conference in Paris.
Her continued commitment to pursuing justice, even at a high personal cost, is unwavering.
"In general, all defenders of human rights are subject to danger wherever they are," Ebadi said. "But if I want to spend my time thinking about these issues I could not do my work."
Her speech was the keynote address in the weekend-long "Moral Mathematics: The Science of Human Rights" conference, sponsored by the Duke Human Rights Center and RTI International.
In 1975 Ebadi became the first woman to preside as a judge in an Iranian court.
She served in the Tehran courts until 1980. The victory of the Islamic Revolution the year before dictated that women were no longer permitted to be judges, and she was dismissed and given a clerical position in the legal office.
"The life of a woman is worth half of that as a man," she said of Iranian gender policies. "If a woman and a man get into an accident on the street, the compensation for the woman is half that of a man."
Despite the large gulf between the legal rights of men and women in Iran, 65 percent of all Iranian college students are women.
In the face of such discrimination, Ebadi co-founded the Association for Support of Children's Rights in 1995 and the Human Rights Defence Centre in 2001. She continues to take on human rights cases in Iran that few other lawyers will touch, enduring prison time on one occasion for her efforts.
"We cannot use the excuse of Islam to violate human rights," she said.
She stressed that, despite Iran's struggles, the right answer is not another war.
"A military attempt, even with the intent of bringing democracy to a country, not only damages a country but brings violence," she said. "Democracy is not a gift to be brought to a nation; democracy is a process, and it has to take its time.
She said in Iraq, people are "dying in the fire of the war with the excuse of democracy."
As to the future of relations between Iran and the United States, Ebadi was hopeful, noting that just as the members of the audience do not see her as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, she does not see Americans as President Bush.
"I do believe a correct policy in the United States can better the world, and I do believe that the people of the United States can rectify U.S. problems," Ebadi said.
"We are friends, and we will forgive our governments."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
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