 This summer in Athens, there will be another international Olympic Games where Iranian women will be denied by their Islamic government once again to show on the world stage their athletic abilities. Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation, is a nonprofit 501 C (3) organization concerned with all violations of human rights, focusing on defending the rights of women against religious, cultural & social based abuse. We are working with Atlanta Plus -- an international women's rights non-governmental organization -- to change this injustice continued to be done to Iranian women athletes just because Iran is an Islamic country. We need your help. Iran has many female athletes talented enough to win medals, however due to Islamic laws they will not be able to compete on the international stage. Olympic Games were established to bring closeness between nations and to show how we -- the people of the world are alike--, so that we can become friends rather to remain strangers and frequently stay to be enemies. There is a saying, "if women of the world become friends the men of the world would not fight each other." Iranian women deserve better and should be part of international sporting events. In Summer Olympics held in 1992 at Barcelona, there were 35 participating countries‹18 Muslim and 17 non-Muslim -- that did not have women in their delegations (see the list below). As a result a group of women from Belgium and France came together and formed the non-governmental organization, Atlanta + (plus). Their mission is to enforce the Olympic charter as well as to ask the Olympic Committee to set aside one cent of every ticket sold at the summer Olympics to help poor countries train their women athletes and to force the Islamic countries to allow their women to also participate. Olympic charter stipulates that "Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, sex, or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic movement." The countries, which did not have any female athlete¹s participation in 1992 and discriminated against women, were: American Samoa, Botswana, Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Caiman Island, Cook Island, Djibouti, Gambia, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, British Virgin Island, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, Libyan, Mauritania, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Qatar, Samoa Occidental, Salomon Islands, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad et Tobago, Togo, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, and Yemen. Some of these countries like Haiti are quite poor and as a result they choose not to train their female athletes for the Olympics, that is why we are asking for financial help from the Olympic committee. However, not all these countries are poor. Many of them such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Libya are actually quite rich and the only reason for discriminating against their women participating in international games are religion based. According to Islam women must cover their bodies from the eyes of strangers. Following the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, due to the efforts by Atlanta + and in cooperation with another NGO, Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation from USA, the Islamic Republic of Iran under the direction of Faezeh Rafsanjani has organized and conducted Islamic Olympics for female athletes from Muslim countries. The competitions have taken place under ground with only female participants, both the athletes and the inspectors with no pictures or any coverage of such competitions by the media. The only time an athlete is recognized is a few days later at the handing out of the trophies when women are so covered up that it is difficult to recognize who is who. In January '95, the answer given to Atlanta +'s demand was that "the Olympic hierarchy would be reluctant to take the lead in combating sex discrimination when other international organizations such as the United Nations have not taken strong diplomatic action." (Associated Press, 13 January 1995) >Atlanta + has obtained from the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament very clear resolutions supporting our views that the Olympics charter must be enforced by the Olympic Committee. Due to Dr. Homa Darabi's efforts for the right of participation of Iranian women athletes in the international Olympic Games in Atlanta, Iran sent a token female pistol shooter to participate in the games. This was the only so called sport that a woman could participate while covered with 50 yards of fabric from head to toe and not allowed to participate in any other activities. She was guarded at all times and whisked in and out of the Olympic stadium by the Islamic Republic thugs so that no one could even get close to her. However, the Iranian male athletes were given the opportunity to commingle with their expatriates in Atlanta. In 1996 the president of the Olympic Committee, Luan Antonio Samaranch was not very responsive to our demands for ending discrimination of women in sports. However, the new president, Mr. Rogge has agreed to meet with representatives from NGO's including Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation during the next summer games in Athens. It is very important for us to go to Athens and meet with the President of the Olympic Committee on behalf of the Iranian women in particular and Muslim women in general. However such a trip will cost around $7-8 thousands dollars for two persons and at this time we dont have any money or a place to stay in Athens for the period of August 10-15th, 2004. We would appreciate any help we can get in this regard. Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation is a nonprofit 501 C (3) organization. Please make a tax-deductible donation either on the Internet at www.homa.org or by sending a check to: Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation
PO Box 11049
Truckee, CA 96162-1049 _______________________________________________________ Iranians taking part in Ice skating | Irani people Ice Skating
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