Khazali made the call in her address to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York on Monday.
Earlier this month, Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi called for expelling the Israeli regime from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
Gharibabadi made the remarks in a letter to the secretary general of the United Nations, referring to the Tel Aviv regime's crimes against the women and girls in the Gaza Strip.
The full text of Khazali's speech at the UN session is as follows,
Mrs. President, ladies and gentlemen!
Today, we have come together to share reports on women's progress at the time when Palestinian women are struggling for survival amid an ongoing, well-documented genocide. Over the past 5 months alone, more than 30,000 Palestinians, including 22,000 women and children, have been killed, about 3,000 widowed and thousands of children made orphaned.
According to a UN Women report, on an average, two Palestinian mothers are killed every hour. More than 126 journalists and media workers have already been murdered.
Ladies and gentlemen!
Our current meeting’s focus is the poverty alleviation of women, but at the same time, the United Nations is warning about the occurrence of famine in Gaza. According to the official report of this organization, more than 82% of the Gaza women stated that the amount of food their families consumed is half of what they had before the war and that over the past weeks some family members were forced to cut some meals. In 95% of such cases, these were mothers who starved so that their children would have food. It is one of the most unprecedented statistics of people who are on the verge of death due to hunger - in addition to the recent painful images that we witnessed how children waiting for food aid were mercilessly shot down.
An incredible number of 10 out of 12 women's institutes in Gaza have reported that due to the restrictions caused by Israel's genocidal policy in importing basic food needs, less than one percent of the allocated aid reaches the people.
Dear audience! Let's try to at least this meeting makes a decision on immediate delivery of food to the hungry oppressed in Palestine and stand firmly against this cruel obstacle to aid for innocent women and children. As we strive to eradicate poverty from our country, let us consider the pain of all women as of our own pain, as the famous poet Sa’adi says:
“Human beings are members of a whole
In creation of one essence and soul
If one member is afflicted with pain
Other members uneasy will remain”
Helping the hungry and the wounded is the minimum service. But the fact is that millions of people around the world are now aware of the nature of the illegal occupation borne of colonialism and know that the Zionist terrorists backed by some veto-wielding powers are currently engaged in a genocide, the documented Gaza Holocaust. This issue has serious consequences for the United Nations, which should be the support and refuge of nations.
The expectation of the liberals of the world is that the regime which is responsible for decades of displacement, rape and murder of millions of women and children, should not have a place in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Therefore, on behalf of the powerful women of Iran and in unison with the resilient and peace-loving women of the world, I demand the cancellation of the membership of terrorist Israel from this commission.
The second part of my speech is a report from my dear Iran that despite the cruel and unilateral sanctions, the powerful women of the country have been able to take great steps in removing deprivation and we have seen their rapid progress in the years after the Islamic Revolution.
It is due to this independence and self-sufficiency that today in my country the maternal mortality rate during complicated pregnancy has decreased to 23 cases per 100,000 people. All Iranian pregnant and women with breastfeeding babies as well as children under the age of 7 enjoy free health insurance. This excellent level is not only for Iranian women, but it is abundantly offered to immigrant women in a way that our Medical Science Universities have become the first to provide such services.
Also, gender justice in education has grown to 97%. 60% of our teachers and 40% of our specialist doctors are women. Also, home business licenses and employment loans for women have increased 25 folds in the last two years alone, and two percent women's job opportunities added last year.
In line with the removal of deprivation, a food package is being provided to pregnant mothers and children of lower income groups, which is aimed at supplying the required nutrients and adjusting the growth index of children under the supervision of the Ministry of Health.
One of the priorities of the department dealing with women and family affairs is to provide proper nutrition guideline to improve the health of families, which has been initiated by a working group of students in 10 provinces of my country.
In the end, I emphasize the immediate action to eliminate the poverty and hunger of the oppressed Palestinian women, I remind that these women's loyalty to the resistance is endless but their trust in the international community is rapidly fading away.
Thanking you
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